The Best

The inevitable topic of conversation, whenever late Friday nights catch me at the Center and members of the Solas' Caring Group start arriving, is my "precarious" civil status. Precarious, meaning that, from all indications given, majority of these married couples seem to think that I'll soon be joining their ranks, and their CG. Not that I mind - their good natured teasing is very cute - because I do intend to get married one of these days, perhaps sooner than later. All in God's time, of course.

Tonight, as I was saying my goodbyes to this very pleasant and Spirit-filled group, Ate Mayette Salvedia said, with a meaningful smile, "The best, Honey, the best." Meaning of course, if taken into the context of my continuing series of (predominantly one-liner) conversations with her, pray for, wait for, and finally choose the best that God has prepared.

God's best. Oswald Chambers once said that "the greatest enemy of the life of faith in God is not sin, but good choices which are not quite good enough. The good is always the enemy of the best." (My Utmost for His Highest) "As soon as you begin to live the life of faith in God, fascinating and physically gratifying possibilities will open up before you. These things are yours by right, but if you are living the life of faith you will exercise your right to waive your rights, and let God make your choice for you. God sometimes allows you to get into a place of testing where your own welfare would be the appropriate thing to consider, if you were not living the life of faith. But if you are, you will joyfully waive your right and allow God to make your choice for you. This is the discipline God uses to transform the natural into the spiritual through obedience to His voice."

Ate Mayette (her previous "one-liner" was on hearing wedding bells), Ate Ardis (whose wisdom as a Christian missionary, wife, and mother I've benefited so greatly from in all our long talks at the kitchen table) and I are on the same page. As beloved daughters of the King, we have to always remember that His Majesty knows and wants only what is best for us, and all we have to do is allow Him to choose the "one" - the right one. Good is good, but that would be settling for so much less, when the best awaits. And I await the best, whoever my Father may reveal him to be! May He grant me the grace to recognize the "one" when the time is right. :-)

P.S. For a great read on waiting for the best that God has to offer us, especially in terms of the man He has chosen to be our life's partner, check out my good friend and sister-in-Christ Tere Gum-apas' recently released book, When My Bridegroom Comes, available at Don Bosco Makati Seminary bookstore, Christ the King (E. Rodriguez) Seminary bookstore, Books for Less outlets, Sto. Domingo Parish
Bookstore, St. Joseph Care & Share Shop (Robinsons Galleria, across Edsa Shrine) and Nuestra Señora de Aranzazu Pilgrim Store (San Mateo Plaza).