He First Loved Us

It's always a wonderful thing to encounter God's specific word several times in the course of the day - since I no longer believe in coincidence, I sincerely take it as His gentle way of getting His point across (short of nagging, since sometimes I need to be told twice!). Today, my "scheduled" Bible verse was one of my favorites: the lesser-quoted scripture on love (1 Corinthians 13 being the more popular, much-used and abused verse). Later this morning, at a wedding, I was pleasantly surprised to hear exactly the same verse read:

My dear friends,
let us love one another
since love is from God
and everyone who loves is a child of
God and knows God.
Whoever fails to love does not know
God,
because God is love.
This is the revelation of God's love
for us,
that God sent his only Son into the
world
that we might have life through him.
Love consists in this:
it is not we who loved God,
but God loved us and sent his Son
to expiate our sins.
My dear friends,
if God loved us so much,
we too should love one another.
No one has ever seen God,
but as long as we love one another
God remains in us
and his love comes to its perfection in us.
This is the proof that we remain in
him
and he in us,
that he has given us a share in his Spirit.
We ourselves have seen and testify
that the Father sent his Son
as Saviour of the world.
Anyone who acknowledges that
Jesus is the Son of God,
God remains in him and he in God.
We have recognized for ourselves,
and put our faith in, the love God
has for us.
God is love,
and whoever remains in love
remains in God
and God in him.
Love comes to its perfection in us
when we can face the Day of
Judgment fearlessly,
because even in this world
we have become as he is.
In love there is no room for fear
but perfect love drives out fear,
because fear implies punishment
and no one who is afraid has come
to perfection in love.
Let us love, then,
because he first loved us. (1 John 4:7-19)

(More to follow)

It is better...

It is better for a man to be silent and be [a Christian], than to talk and not to be one. It is good to teach, if he who speaks also acts. There is then one Teacher, who spake and it was done; while even those things which He did in silence are worthy of the Father. He who possesses the word of Jesus, is truly able to hear even His very silence, that he may be perfect, and may both act as he speaks, and be recognised by his silence.
-- St. Ignatius

What is in your hand?

Yahweh then said, "What is that in your hand?' 'A staff," (Moses) said.- Exodus 4:2

This was the recurring theme today, as Kuya spoke about how God uses our hands to do His work, seeing as His own hands are nailed to the cross. A simple staff can part the mighty waters, summon up the boon of blessings and the bane of plagues, determine the outcome on the battlefield...but only through the power of God.

What is in our hands? What do we hold that God wants to us to use, for His greater glory, no matter how insignificant an object or talent or gift we may think it is? As I look back on my life, I see how He has transformed the little I offered Him and returned it tenfold, in amazing proportions to, to evidence His power and glory. When He touches the ordinary, it becomes so very extraordinary - be it material possessions, spiritual gifts, or a sinner's repentant heart.

P.S. Today, during worship, He kept reminding me over and over of Psalm 37 (without my knowing which particular Psalm that was). And so I looked it up as soon as I could, and was reminded of His goodness, His faithfulness, and of the reasons I put my trust in Him alone:

Put your trust in Yahweh and do right,
make your home in the land and live secure.
Make Yahweh your joy
and he will give you your heart's desires

Commit your destiny to Yahweh,
be confident in him, and he will act,
making your uprightness clear as daylight
and the justice of your cause as the noon. (Psalm 37:3-6)

Bad Moods and God's Love

I do not understand my own behavior; I do not act as I mean to, but I do things that I hate...And really, I know of nothing good living in me - in my natural self, that is - for though the will to do what is good is in me, the power to do it is not: the good thing I want to do, I never do; the evil thing which I do not want - that is what I do. - Romans 7:15,18-19

Fell into a foul mood earlier this evening; what a horrid state of being! Even worse was that it came about right in the middle of a mission, when one is supposed to be bringing light instead of darkening the atmosphere with cloudy attacks of temper. I hate it when I get this way; I'd been in much worse moods than this, but I still don't like what I become when I get so wrapped up in the threads of my emotional cocoon.

It got so bad that I hardly said a word in the car on the way home (those who know me well are aware of what this means - driving while talking is one of my greatest passions!). Consequently, the people in my car hardly said anything either (perhaps the mood was contagious). Except of course for one curious voice belonging to someone who pretty much knows what I'm all about and who had earlier unwittingly suffered the brunt of my temper tempest.

"Bad mood" - the first few words out of his mouth just then were the very words in my mind. Bad mood, indeed, and I did not entirely understand why I'd been overcome by all these negative emotions. But what my "angel" of the evening asked me next was even more incomprehensible, although I immediately understood why he had to say those words. "So, what did God tell you last Sunday?"

In the wee hours of Sunday, I had an intense, gut-wrenching, tear-jerking conversation with God, during which I felt embraced and loved unlike ever before. The next day, the "angel" had noticed the swollen eyelids and the tired eyes, but he chalked it up to a weekend of partying until some busybody set him straight with the truth. I tried to find the words to explain what God had revealed to me during that particular time, but was a little apprehensive about anyone else's reaction. But my "angel" wasn't expecting too many words; he filled in the blanks by himself, whether unwittingly or not. It is always such a blessing to share these things with someone who knows exactly where you are coming from, and who does not need much explanation; someone who knows what to say, and when to be silent. And who knows how to break the ice, just when things are getting too serious...merely by innocently saying two words: "pet monkey."

Consequently, the bad mood passed, relatively quickly but with lots more tears: and very quickly too was it revealed that there is a beautiful rainbow after the flood (of tears?). The next day was so chockfull of blessings - gifts from the Lord that I would never have appreciated as much, had I not weathered the tempest. And even while I tossed and turned in it, desperately seeking His calming presence, He did not leave me helpless...He first gave me the reassuring "life preserver" of His incomparable, indescribable love before allowing me to flounder about for a while in the deep. And thus with Him as my lifeguard, I know that I shall never drown even in the darkest, most turbulent waters churned up in my soul!

Stars

I love looking up at the stars. Nothing quite compares with staring up at a billion sparkling diamonds set against a black velvet sky, but because I live in the smoggy city, I rarely have that luxury. On an ordinary night in Manila, I hardly even attempt to take a look at the night sky because I know I will be disappointed. But, tonight, I didn't even have to open a window for my stars - my Star - to shine on me. :-)

"All men have the stars," he answered, "but they are not the same things for different people. For some, who are travelers, the stars are guides. For others they are no more than little lights in the sky. For others, who are scholars, they are problems. For my businessman they were wealth. But all these stars are silent. You--you alone--will have the stars as no one else has them--"

"What are you trying to say?"

"In one of the stars I shall be living. In one of them I shall be laughing. And so it will be as if all the stars were laughing, when you look at the sky at night . . . You--only you--will have stars that can laugh!"

And he laughed again.

"And when your sorrow is comforted (time soothes all sorrows) you will be content that you have known me. You will always be my friend. You will want to laugh with me. And you will sometimes open your window, so, for that pleasure . . . And your friends will be properly astonished to see you laughing as you look up at the sky! Then you will say to them, 'Yes, the stars always make me laugh!' And they will think you are crazy. It will be a very shabby trick that I shall have played on you . . ."

And he laughed again.

"It will be as if, in place of the stars, I had given you a great number of little bells that knew how to laugh . . ." - From The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. Just what I needed to read right now. :-)