Huwebes, Mayo 23, 2013

Jeremiah 23:23-24 NIV

"Am I only a God nearby "
                   declares the Lord,
     "and not a God far away?
Can anyone hide pin secret places
  so that I cannot see him?"
                     declares the Lord,
"Do not I fill the heaven and earth?"
                    declares the Lord.


These passages from the Bible really reminds me of how as a child, I tend to hide whenever I want to do things that I don't want my parents or anyone else to find out. It's foolish, really because after all, it turns out that my parents, especially my mom still knows what I am up to even if I don't tell her directly. There are also those times when I try to hide how I feel and just keep those things all inside of me no matter how angry or distressed I am because I don't want to bother the people who cares for me. But then, it still shows. They still feel the anguish, the pain, and all the things that I am trying to hide no matter how hard I try to act as if nothing is wrong.

As I was reading those passages, I realized that those instances of hiding and thinking that no one will notice is like what we are doing to the Lord when we think that He doesn't see us, when we feel as if He isn't there when the truth is that, He feels our pain and He, being an All Knowing God knows about everything we engage ourselves into, our mundane practices and all other kinds of endeavors, and even those things that the closest person to our hearts doesn't see or feel. He Knows, He feels, He gets hurt, and He wants to free us from all the guilt and all the depravity that we know that we have unintentionally done. He forgives us no matter how dire our experiences might be and no matter how stalwart we stand by our pride. He never gets tired on reminding us always that no matter where our hearts will lead us to, He will still be there, waiting for us to return to Him, to ask His forgiveness and to obey His will. 

If only we'd open our hearts and submit all our worries and cares to Him, then we won't have to make things hard for ourselves every time we try to hide from him. You see, there's no sense hiding. He knows. I know it's hard, but, we can start by putting in our minds that no matter what we do, where we're at, or who we're with, HE IS WATCHING. It's up to us if we're gonna do things that will make Him cry, make Him frown, or put a very large and heart warming smile on His face and make Him feel how much we love Him as our Father and Savior.


Happy WORLD OF WORDS! :) GOD BLESS!

Lunes, Mayo 20, 2013

Whatever You Say....





"Truthful words are not beautiful;
beautiful words are not truthful;
Good words are not persuasive;
persuasive words are not good."

-Lao-tzu in Tao Te Ching


Reading the passage above, what comes into your mind? Have you ever given this a thought? Have you ever thought of the effect of the words that you're saying? Have you ever thought about those words as important? 

My loved ones have always told me that I should be careful with the words that come out of my mouth because those words cannot be taken back and once those words have inflicted pain, the pain will take a very long time to heal and though it does heal, the person may forget what the exact words that I said were but they will never forget how I made them feel. 

Now, back to the passage. This passage was written by Lao-tzu, a philosopher of ancient China who wrote the book Tao Te Ching from which this passage was gotten. He says in this passage that certain words are confused with certain thoughts. For example, we often confuse spontaneity of knowledge with truth and Good with that of beautiful.. We somehow overlook that beautiful things aren't always good, beautiful words aren't always true, impressive words aren't always facts, ugly things aren't always bad and painful words aren't always discouraging. There will always be instances, instances where we have to really think about what we are hearing or what we are saying. We can't just assume that what a person says is not for us or for us. We should ponder upon such words, such things, before judging their purpose and their worth.

As I was reading this passage, I have come to a realization that it is easier said than done, to say that we should watch our words because it still depends upon the hearer upon how they will interpret, understand and accept the things that we are saying and so all we can really do is to state things completely and clearly and never assume that the person truly have understood the things that we're saying without them showing us that they already really did. Another is that we should think before we judge how the person or a thing looks like, how he or she acts, how he or she functions, and what he or she says. 

Generally speaking, the world is too complicated for us to assume anything about anything at all. Things' meanings and worth change in a wink and I guess all we have to do now is to trust our instincts, be careful in judging, and trust the One who really knows everything of this world. Again, this is all really easier said than done as the cliche line goes, but c'mon, they're still worth giving a thought. Even I can say that I haven't really thought of these things until now and it really is a great challenge to try and change my ways when it comes to handling words since these are one of the most powerful products of the abilities that were bestowed upon mankind.



Have a Happy WORLD of WORDS! 

Scrutinizing the Idea of Human Nature






"Human nature is full and acceptable, the past is valuable(in some respects preferable to the present), the present is intolerable and correctable, and the future is hopeful -- but only if we alter existing institutions."

by Charles Fourier


This statement from Charles Fourier, a French philosopher back in the 18th century gives us his idea of human nature. He says that the past is valuable and in some respects is preferable than the present. For me, looking though this generation's view point, this is quite true because we learn things from the past and we, sometimes, think that we want to travel through space and time to go through the past once again. We somehow think that the past is better than our present because of the things that we are going through now. Then, he says "the present is intolerable and correctable" which is all too obvious. I mean, the present which is NOW, is intolerable in a way that we shouldn't just let the present pass by without doing anything, right? Even if you're just lying around, you somehow tend to come up with something to do in the present time which then corrects every single thing that you are doing during the moment. Even when we're just thinking, reflecting, we tend to change our point of views and so this puts things into light , or not. Everything we do in the moment, changes everything that is to be done afterwards. Lastly, "the future is hopeful-- but only if we alter certain institutions." These institutions are the things that make us function as human beings, like the way we talk, the way we see things, and the way we socialize. Each of these things affect the one another therefore affecting the whole being which include the actions and decisions of a person which then affects his/her future.

I picked this quotation because I think that if we dig deeply through this idea, we will be able to ponder upon how we can make our past, stepping stones to correct our present and how to make our present, materials and gates toward a bright and desirable realm of our future.


Have  a Happy and Idealistic World of WORDS!
I hope that every time you read, you will not only find delight in extracting knowledge and wisdom through each story or write up but I hope that you will find delight in scrutinizing each word of every line that composes each sentence that is in every paragraph of every material that you read. :)

Huwebes, Mayo 16, 2013

Inexhaustible Treasure

Luke 12:22-23; 31-34 NIV

22-23

"Then Jesus said to his disciples:'Therefore I tell you do not worry about your life, what you will eat; dont worry about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes...'"

31-34

"...But seek His kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

         
           Wouldn't you want to have overflowing treasures? Treasures that will continue to exist even if the world already ran out of people? Treasures that will allow you to have the freedom to do whatever you want to do? 


           Well, WHO WOULDN'T WANT THAT, RIGHT?

           Believe it or not, this kind of treasure exists. Yes, it does. So, I know that you already read the passages that came before this essay, right? And whatever religion you may be a part of right now, I know that you know who it is that those passages are talking about or should I say you clearly know who the speaker in those passages is. Because if you don't know Him, then you're probably an alien.

           The problem with us, human beings nowadays is that we settle for less. We settle with the things that are of this world, we worry about the things that we don't have. We never get contented. We intend to have more, then when we get that more, we demand to have another layer of more into the storage of our earthly treasures. It's foolish, really, and it's embarrassing to think that we tend to crave for more of these things and we tend to sometimes forget about sharing it to other people who needs them when the things we should do are the exact opposite of what we are doing right now.

           Admit it, we tend to get anxious about what to wear when going to a party or even when going to work or to school, we worry about what we will eat, what we will buy, and what else we should do in order to attain a higher status in this society's quo. We tend to do everything, work our ass off just to gain earthly things that we will never be able to bring with us when we die; things that can bring us happiness but never joy; things that most probably will drag us down; things that will never be able to quench the thirst that our spirits have been suffering since we turned our backs from our Saviour and chose this almost hell like place we call home, though deep inside our hearts and our spirit's core, this place will never be our home.

We're doing these things, wasting our time and efforts for basically nothing in the end. When all the Lord is asking, is for us to Believe in Him, for us to trust Him, for us to serve Him, for us to love Him, and for us to lift up our lives to Him. He saved us and He continues to save us up to this day. He prepares houses laden with gold for us, His children, and He weeps for every lost soul that does not tend to even care to pay Him a visit. His love, His Salvation, being in His presence, enjoying every ounce of His love, being without problems, living without worries, no more hurt, no more pain, no more struggles and no more shame but with love, peace, contentment and most especially with Redemption. Now, being able to live like that is the true and the most inexhaustible treasure that anyone could ever have.

         I realized these things not only as I was reading these passages. I realized these things way ahead, but in an earthly view. Then, the Scriptures hit me. And by the moment that it did, I didn't have the difficulty of pondering about the meaning of each passage. Why? How? Because we already have ourselves as an example of people that often forget where to put our hearts at. We seem to have been blinded by the deceitful things that this world offers and the short term happiness that we think those things sustain. Most importantly, we seem to deliberately push aside our Saviour, our Deliverer, the One who offers us the greatest and most considerate deal of all.

      Foolish, Harsh, too serious, yep, I know. I'm not saying that I'm doing the right thing, but I am trying. And so I hope that this inspired you enough to repent and turn back to Him. After all, I wouldn't be writing this if He didn't guide me to do so. And so, I thank the Lord God for giving me this talent and for always being patient with me and with the rest of this world. :)

Have A JOYFUL WORLD OF WORDS! :)


       

Miyerkules, Mayo 15, 2013

"Understanding 'I am'"



"I am a stag:of seven times,
I am a flood: across a plain,
I am a wind: on a deep lake,
I am a tear: the Sun lets fall,
I am a hawk: above the cliff,
I am a thorn: beneath the nail,
I am a wonder:among flowers

I am water, I am a wren,
I am a workman, I am a star,
I am a serpent,
I am a cell, I am a chink,
I am a depository song.

                                             from Wales and Ireland
                                             before civilization came.

This poem I read from the Frank and Wagnalls New Encyclopedia Vol. 1, page 16, preceded by the "Mind Before Civilization" essay on the next page, uses repetition which is a "basic unifying device in poetry". 

I have read that repetition is done by the poet in this poem to multiply his substance as a poet. He/She uses this device to unite himself with the things that are stated in this poem. This way, the poet comes to a certain fullness of words which every poet wants to happen to each and every write up that he/she produces. He/she wants to be one with things that he/she writes,  things that he/she is writing about, and he/she wants to be able to freely communicate with all the odds and with the people that he/she is writing to. 

So, as the article speaks about people's minds before civilization, we can conclude that people by those times were looking for a meaning in every thing that exists in the vast expanse of this world. 

As weird as it might seem for you readers and fellow bloggers to think that a seventeen year old girl like me reads this stuff, well, all I can say is that there are things that we become informed with through knowledge that we may or may not transform into wisdom. The choice is all ours. We, readers, make an explicit world in our minds while we read. We, writers, formulate the ideas for the worlds that readers' minds create. 

HAVE A WONDERFUL WORLD OF WORDS! :)


I made this blog so that I will be able to share to you, my fellow readers, and to other people who doesn't have as much passion as we do for reading, the things that readers like us acquire through the number and variety of books that we read. I am hoping that this blog will help stimulate the reader ad the writer in you. I ask for your participation in this blog through your suggestions and opinions as to what or who to read and on sharing your insights about specific books or sections of books that I will be sharing in this blog. :)

Have a nice WORLD OF WORDS! :)