I have been unusually busy from the moment January rolled around and the pace has not let up since. Busy is good for if I don't work, I don't get paid. As always I am awed at how God takes care of my needs without me even saying a word for I was not working most of December.
Ever since I quit corporate life, I have learned what providence truly means for even through the initial difficult times, He has always made sure I had enough, just as He provided manna, quail and water for the Israelites as they wandered in the desert.
We are given many things in life, talents, gifts, and yet, often we take them for granted and look at what we do not have and crib about it. Worse, we waste the talents we have, never taking time to develop them.
Aside for developing talents, it's equally important to develop the proper life skills or a good navigation system, in order to live a rich and meaningful life. Whether it's a value or belief system, a moral code that we live by, we all need integration of reason, will and emotions in order to consistently make good decisions in life.
The sudden death of Whitney Houston has sent shock waves around the world and the prevailing reaction (the autopsy report is not yet out) is that it is drug-related due to the singer's past struggles with substance and alcohol abuse.
Houston's songs are woven into the fabric of my young adult years and I am greatly saddened her incredible talent and beauty could not overcome addictions that diminished her vocal gift and possibly took her life.
Two weeks ago, Father David shared a Spanish saying: If you don't live according to your beliefs, you end up living according to your deeds.
As he pointed out, no one starts out in life desiring to be a thief or an alcoholic. However, the choices we make in life will reinforce subsequent choices and that is how habits, beliefs and finally character are formed.
There are no short cuts to making good decisions in life for they are, not uncommonly, hard decisions, and may require much time, hard work, to bear fruit. Wisdom and fortitude are absolutely necessary to keep on the right path, while temperance and a developed sense of justice help minimize the inevitable internal struggles and conflicts one encounters.
And when one begins to despair of ever seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, it is faith, hope and love that ultimately keep one on the right track. (I know I am boringly repetitive but I am sold on virtues as being the answer to living a fulfilling life.)
It will be, by no means, an easy journey for living "good" is often unglamorous, thankless, pedestrian and draining. Good choices even call for supreme sacrifice at times, and supernatural strength (which thankfully is provided by dint of grace), but they are satisfying, mind, body and soul. And, they keep us in right and tight relationship with Jesus - always a good thing, in my book.
To show that I do not take what is given to me lightly, I strive constantly to be a good person, one who lives out my beliefs in thought, word and deed.
I may not always be successful - integration being a life-long endeavour - but I know He will provide the means to a perfect end each time. And if I follow His lead, I will invariably make good, and even the best choices in life.
Ever since I quit corporate life, I have learned what providence truly means for even through the initial difficult times, He has always made sure I had enough, just as He provided manna, quail and water for the Israelites as they wandered in the desert.
We are given many things in life, talents, gifts, and yet, often we take them for granted and look at what we do not have and crib about it. Worse, we waste the talents we have, never taking time to develop them.
Aside for developing talents, it's equally important to develop the proper life skills or a good navigation system, in order to live a rich and meaningful life. Whether it's a value or belief system, a moral code that we live by, we all need integration of reason, will and emotions in order to consistently make good decisions in life.
The sudden death of Whitney Houston has sent shock waves around the world and the prevailing reaction (the autopsy report is not yet out) is that it is drug-related due to the singer's past struggles with substance and alcohol abuse.
Houston's songs are woven into the fabric of my young adult years and I am greatly saddened her incredible talent and beauty could not overcome addictions that diminished her vocal gift and possibly took her life.
Two weeks ago, Father David shared a Spanish saying: If you don't live according to your beliefs, you end up living according to your deeds.
As he pointed out, no one starts out in life desiring to be a thief or an alcoholic. However, the choices we make in life will reinforce subsequent choices and that is how habits, beliefs and finally character are formed.
There are no short cuts to making good decisions in life for they are, not uncommonly, hard decisions, and may require much time, hard work, to bear fruit. Wisdom and fortitude are absolutely necessary to keep on the right path, while temperance and a developed sense of justice help minimize the inevitable internal struggles and conflicts one encounters.
And when one begins to despair of ever seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, it is faith, hope and love that ultimately keep one on the right track. (I know I am boringly repetitive but I am sold on virtues as being the answer to living a fulfilling life.)
It will be, by no means, an easy journey for living "good" is often unglamorous, thankless, pedestrian and draining. Good choices even call for supreme sacrifice at times, and supernatural strength (which thankfully is provided by dint of grace), but they are satisfying, mind, body and soul. And, they keep us in right and tight relationship with Jesus - always a good thing, in my book.
To show that I do not take what is given to me lightly, I strive constantly to be a good person, one who lives out my beliefs in thought, word and deed.
I may not always be successful - integration being a life-long endeavour - but I know He will provide the means to a perfect end each time. And if I follow His lead, I will invariably make good, and even the best choices in life.
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