Mind Over Heart

It was raining hard when it was time for me to go home. But still I decided to face the rain (and eventually the heavy traffic) on my way home. I was surprised (ows?!) when I saw the cars were piling up approaching Aurora Blvd. "Oh well, this would be a long way home", I said to myself. I was getting quite impatient because all vehicles were finding their way through the traffic. Vehicles were moving inch by inch. If I could just leave my car and walk away (haha, escape route!).

Anyway, I decided to endure the traffic and started to think of ways to divert my growing "impatience". I suddenly thought that probably this is an opportunity to be patient. Because of the heavy traffic I was able to read the traffic advisory posted at the corner of the flyover going to Marikina. Actually I noticed it yesterday on my way home but I wonder who might have read that long verse of advisory when all the vehicles at that point are either speeding uphill (going to flyover) or downhill (going to Antipolo or Cainta). I thank God for my car's good wipers. I noticed that it really wipes the water cleanly off the windshield. I was enjoying my ride after all. I put on the radio and Christmas songs were already being played and the radio dj announced that it's 62 days to go before Christmas. I was getting emotional (i.e. reflecting on life, Christmas plus the gloomy feel of rain) when suddenly cars were attempting to cut my lane. I recently discovered that cutting my driving lane makes me feel so irritated. In just a split second I was on my "high temper" mode. I managed to blew my car's horn a couple of times or make it one looong time.hehe. By God's grace, He reminded me to calm down. Thoughts popped out of my mind: "I don't want to suffer heart attack while driving on a rainy evening...tsk, tsk, my cause of death: traffic jam?! oh no!" (hehe!)

Well, I managed to get home safe and sound with normal pulse rate and blood pressure. ;)

Afterthought: Emotions are really hard to control especially when you're feeling "high". But by God's help and by doing our part, we could overcome our feelings. Now I understand why there's a statement such as "love is a choice". :)

Love Languages

Last Sunday, I was able to listen to the sharing of our area pastor (Pastor Bert) about the Five Love Languages. Well, I think it wasn't planned that he should be there in our dgroup meeting but anyway his presence is always very welcome. He was the officiating pastor in our dgroupmate's wedding recently so the topic of conversation was related to LCM (Love, Courtship and Marriage). I think we had an overview of what a pre-marital counseling is minus the partner (haha!).

Pastor Bert shared about the Five Love Languages. I know it is a book title by Gary Chapman (hehe, it's in my book-buy-list but I wasn't able to buy it for some reasons). Anyway, in a short span of time, Pastor Bert was able to explain briefly what are the Five Love Languages. Though the Five Love Languages was originally meant for a husband-wife relationship, love is applicable to all our relationships so as the Five Love Languages as well.

5 T's of Five Love Languages:
Time - spending quality time
Task - acts of service
Treat - giving gifts
Talk - words of affirmation/encouragement
Touch - hug, kiss, pat at the back, etc.

Every person has his/her primary love language. He/she feels loved when you "speak" to him/her through his/her love language. Some people feel loved when you speak to them with words of affirmation/encouragement. Others feel loved when you serve them. Some feel loved when you give them gifts. Others feel loved when you spend quality time with them. And others feel loved when you hug, kiss or touch them. Knowing the love language of your partner, your friend, your siblings, your parents or anyone dear to you will help you make certain adjustments to the way you "speak" to them. If you "speak" in their love language, you will express your love for them better. I think generally for most parents, their primary love language is task. So they appreciate more their kid's act of service like cooking breakfast for them or doing household chores instead of giving them gifts. :)

I know that love seems like a complicated thing. But I think it's not bad to try loving the people you love better. ;)

Thought-provoking

I'm not into movies so I seldom watch movies in the big screen. I think my last visit to a moviehouse was January of last year. hehe. Anyway, I was able to watch the video of Evan Almighty with my brother the other day. I just found some thought-provoking insights in the movie. When God wants to speak to us, He uses many ways and most of the time through little things like alarm clock, delivery receipt, a statement of an officemate and of course through His Word, the Bible. When God asks us to do something, most of the time we resist, we resent. We resist, we resent, we give a lot of excuses because the work looks great. We forget that God didn't give us something we cannot bear. Of course, nothing is impossible with our big God! (hehe, I should always remind myself of this one!)

The part I like most in the movie is the conversation of Evan's wife (Joan) with the waiter who happens to be "God" (played by Morgan Freeman). Joan is deeply troubled by Evan's behavior. I like God's dialogue: "Let me ask you something, if someone prays for patience, you think God gives them patience? or does He give them the opportunity to be patient? If you prayed for courage, does God give him courage, or does He give him the opportunity to be courageous? If someone prayed for family to be closer, do you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings, or does He give them the opportunities to love each other?" I like this statement because I could relate with the first few lines. I always ask God to give me patience whenever I drive but I keep on wondering why I also encounter traffic jams and all kinds of "interruptions" when I drive. All kinds of "interruptions" could mean a slow moving vehicle I'm trailing, people crossing the street (I wonder why people like to cross the street when it's my car's turn to move!), or animals (like cats, dogs or even frogs) obstructing my path. Little did I know that God is already answering my prayer for Him to give me patience. He's giving me opportunities to be patient! God's answers to our prayers may not be really what we wanted but we could be assured that it is for our best. Besides, He's sovereign, He knows everything, He cannot make a mistake.

A chorus of a song says, "God is too wise to be mistaken, God is too good to be unkind, so when you don't understand, when you can't see His plan, when you can't trace His hand, trust His heart." :)

This Pain

If given a choice, I would not choose pain. Who would welcome pain with open arms, anyway? I experienced sort of numb feeling on my right arm for few days. I have some speculations on the cause of this numb feeling. Eventually I found out that the pain is caused by a stiff muscle in the upper back/shoulder area. I'm not used in taking pain reliever right away. I know pain relievers just keep you from feeling the pain but the pain is still there. It just stops the cells from producing prostaglandins (the chemical released by the cells when injured or damaged). Pain is the body's early warning system that something is wrong. My principle is: "it's good to know where it hurts!" My mom used to scold me because of my principle. But the pain became unbearable and I opted to take a pain reliever.haha funny me. :)

In life, we also experience painful moments. I believe it's also an early warning system to signal that something is wrong. But sometimes, pain is just there for no reason at all to help us grow in our character. Hello, Pain! ^_^