If I Were...

If I were there as a photographer, I would try to capture that scene from different angles. I would pay attention to the artistic quality of that shot, stabilising my camera on a tripod.  I would take hundreds of shots, especially the closeup ones that focus on his anguished look, before choosing the best few that would serve to evoke the strongest emotion or thought in my viewers. In the end, I am pleased with my shot, at its overall effects. I sure am good in photography. 

If I were there as a painter, I would set my mounted canvas on my easel, park myself in front of that scene on a stool, and having chosen the best angle that best captures the moment, I would begin my eventual masterpiece. In the end, I would attach a price to it and sell it for a good return. I sure am good at what I do. 

If I were there as a musician, I would bring along my keyboard and compose a morbid sounding melody that would evoke the guilt and depression of the onlookers and passersby. It would definitely be in the minor key. I might then alter the mood of the music into one that is brighter, changing the minor into a major key, and bring about a shift in the moods of the listeners, manipulating their experience with my music. I sure am good at using music to influence others. 

source

It would be all too easy for us to approach the scene and do what we do best with whatever talents we may have. But what if the call is for us to approach this scene with a different identity? What if the call is for us to be there not as another passerby or bystander, indifferent or ignorant, but rather, as one for whom He hangs up there, as one whose sins have not caused Him to turn His back on us, as one whose eternal life has been purchased by His dying on that cross? 

Would our eyes still see the angles, the colours and the shapes of the clouds we need to replicate, the moods of the setting, or the notes that form a melody? Would our minds think of our viewers, our potential customers or our monetary returns, or perhaps, our listeners' responses? 

If not, then what would we see? What would we really begin to notice as we fix our eyes upon Him hanging there before us? What emotions would stir in our hearts if we were truly present there as humbled children of God, consistently being invited into that loving relationship with our Father, by our Father, who cannot ever bring Himself to give up on us? 

Do you see Him?
Do you truly see Him?

Channels of Grace

A father returns home after an exhausting day at the office. He is tired and just not in the mood. Period. He opens the door of his house and a chuckle sounds from the other side of the door and then... "Dad...dy...!!" A little toddler emerges from her little hideout behind the door and reaches out for daddy, almost missing a step. Immediately, the father is energised. He gives in to the warm welcome of this innocent child. He smiles, drops his bag, hugs his wife and picks up his little girl and starts swinging her up and down. 

In that moment, the realness of his tiredness and moodiness fades into a complete nonexistence. Suddenly, all his worries and stresses from work lose their hold of him, and he is totally uplifted again. From feeling desolated to consoled. And the evening went by. What would have otherwise been another inevitable miserable and gloomy night was transformed into one which was joyful, hopeful and heart-warming.

Have you ever had one of those days too which later unfolded into a totally contrasting experience? 

What are the things, who are the people who weigh you down, that cause that depressing blockage within you that prevents the river of life from springing forth from your heart?

Who are the people, what are the things which, in that encountering with, lift you up, put back that smile on your face, energise you, and leave you with a calm? 

What causes your daily ups and downs?

Our consolations are channels for God's graces; the source of strength we need to see us through our down moments, and far more than just seeing us through, they lift us out of those dreadful moments. It may be a child's chuckle, a gentle, cool breeze blowing upon our faces, a beautiful sunset, a favourite song, a friend's firm and gentle grip of our hands, a friend's presence, an afternoon of coffee and cakes with colleagues or just simply a good movie. 

Just as there are specific things and people who seem to always set us in desolation, so too are there those that move us into consolation. Sheila Linn in Sleeping with Bread wrote that we need to do more of the things that give us life. Amidst the many things we do everyday, we need to deliberately choose to dedicate more time to the things that are life-giving for it is from these that we can draw strength and energy.

However, before we can make discerned choices everyday and in every waking moment, we need first to arrive at a deeper awareness of who we are as a unique person with different consolations and desolations, allowing these inner movements (the consolations and desolations) to enter into our consciousness and speak God's Will to us. 

So... What caused your up moments and down moments today?

Prayer - Bearing Your Trademark

My dear Jesus,

Sometimes, when I face the demands, expectations and unjust treatments thrown at me, I cringe in depression and wonder where You may be hiding in all these. I forget all too often that You are with me and with You, no giant can oppress me. 

Move my heart and influence my reaction towards all that I find tough accepting, and help me to believe that Your love and grace are enough for me, especially in those most difficult moments when Your glory shall shine through my life ever more brilliantly as Your strength and power lift up the weak person that I am from my helplessness.

In Your loving embrace, hold me secure and comfort me, as I in turn share Your love with others. May my life this day bear Your trademark of the cross of love.

The Lord Hears the Cry of the Poor

How do you feel when you switch on the news channel or flip the papers and read about that 23 year old girl who did not survive the inhumane torture on that fateful night in New Delhi, one of the largest economies in the world? Anger? Helplessness? Disgust? How do you really feel towards the victim, her male friend, the gang? How do you feel towards the Indian government? The Indian culture? Indian men? And perhaps, as a result, towards God?

While some have appealed for peace and calm, is it truly possible to feel peace and calm within, in the face of such injustice? Can anything really appease the fire burning within, the soul's outcry for justice? Perhaps the death sentence of those 6 men? And for that matter, of all those who have ever committed such a demeaning act? Can any amount of torture, caning, fine, jail term, death sentence diminish or alter the cruelty that have already stained the innocent lives? The shame and scars permanently left? 

Does not the anger within start the mind on the generation of even more cruel ways of getting back at those men? Skin them alive? Immerse them into boiling water? Perhaps even castrate them? Sure it can quell the anger in our own hearts. But to what extent can these bring about the healing that the victims and their families really need? 

Where is God in all these?
Where is God when He is most needed?
What kind of God do we have who seems to sit back and do nothing in the face of suffering?

In our limited capacity to love, we are indescribably disgruntled. How much more it must have pierced the heart of Jesus. When our unknowing and incomplete understanding of God's Will put our faith to the test, shaking it right at its foundations, and we begin to question if there really is a God somewhere up there, can we hold fast to our believe in this God who always keeps His promise, who loves us far more than His own life? Can we trust still in the hope that God hears the cry of the poor and will raise them up from their nothingness, that He has always been and is still continuing to be at work in the world to bring about our salvation? 

Is He not found in those who have taken to the streets to put pressure on those who have been less than responsible in maximising their authority and resources for the voiceless, and who perceive their mediocre efforts as "best"? There are thousands who have felt and have owned up to their feelings towards all these injustices and are now standing up for justice, to be the voice for the voiceless. Is He not found in the specialists who worked tirelessly, trying their best to preserve the life that was discarded by others? Is He not found in our own hearts, in the hearts of those who have stormed heaven with sincere prayers? Is He not found even in the death of the victim, whose every wound, every scar, regardless of its depth, is now fully healed and made whole and perfect again with the fullness of God's love that He must have received and embraced her with? What would life be for her should she have survived and lived on?

Peace and calm can only return when we decide to let go of our mixed feelings and our need for everything to be under control and in order, and then humbly seek God's healing (because we are wounded ourselves by such savagery) with the childlike trust in the hope that in His hands and with His love, all will be ironed out. To allow Him to help us forgive even when those involved really do not seem to deserve any forgiveness, keeping in mind that even in our "lesser sinfulness", we too do not deserve the death of an innocent Man who died for all sinners, "big" and "small".

The 3rd and 4th verses of this song (found in Breaking Bread hymnal):

Every spirit crushed, God will save; 
Will be ransom for their lives;
Will be safe shelter for their fears, 
And will hear the cry of the poor.

We proclaim your greatness, O God,
Your praise ever in our mouth;
Every face brightened in your light,
For you hear the cry of the poor.

Where in our lives have we in large and small ways been robbed of our human dignity?
Where in our lives have we in large and small ways robbed others too of their human dignity?

Song - Make Me Whole

Praying with Silence

Not too long back, I was engaged with a friend in a conversation. And there came a moment of silence. I cannot recall for how long it really lasted but it was one of those silences that I would not mind it continuing for long. A very rare occurrence. There was no eye contact but in that silence, I felt the whole space around us being filled with the fullness of emotions. A connectedness and togetherness that need no words for an ongoing communication of ourselves to each other - of what resided in the depths of our hearts about this shared relationship.

Even as time passes me by, I still at times think back and reminisce that silence, which brought me to realise how quality time spent with another can actually just be a conversation with this type of silence. I need not find the right words to convey less perfectly my true intentions and desires. Neither do I have to worry that the other misunderstands me because this silence speaks of a mutual understanding that words can only distort and under-represent. 

Have you ever tried this silence with someone close to your heart?

This encounter with silence led me to accept, in my own friendship with Jesus, that at times, the best prayer is spoken in this same silence. Sitting down beside Him, not knowing what to say because so much have happened, so many emotions that all seemed mixed up and too varied to really begin to name them one by one. 

In that silence with Jesus, like the silence shared with my friend, there is the continuous communication of what resides in our hearts. After having walked closely together through the cycles of rainbows and storms in our lives, roughing it out together and coming to know each other more, do we really need words to communicate that one thing that still holds our friendship in an ever stronger bond - mutual love? Can any words complete this task? Perhaps, in that silence is the moment of savouring the sweetness of the friendship, the company of each other, the enduring commitment to continue walking with each other. In that moment, I am connected with His love, and I respond to His love with my love too. 

I am grateful for this dear friend of mine, who, in our friendship, allows me to catch a glimpse of what my friendship with Jesus can be like. 

Have you ever sat with Jesus and prayed with silence?

How may Jesus be inviting us, as Christmas arrives, to sit with Him, and far more than just sitting with Him, to make room in our hearts to welcome Him in?

Prayer - Make Me Whole

Lord,

You know every wound that needs Your healing,

every weakness that needs Your overturning,

every sin that needs Your forgiveness,

every fear that needs Your calming,

every anxiety that needs Your peace,

every doubt that needs Your assurance,

every pride that needs Your humbling,

every unknowing that needs Your light. 

I ask, with faith and confidence in Your infinite love for me, that by Your body and blood I receive now in the Eucharist, You come more fully into my body and soul, mind and heart, and restore me to wholeness again.

Amen.

Prayer - Not I but You

I am not the one who has seen with clarity all that I have ever seen with clarity, 

nor have I realised and found the way out of any difficulty I have ever emerged from.

I am not the one who has ever known any way and paved any path that I have ever walked.

I am not the one who has understood anything that I have ever understood, nor have I written anything spiritual that I have ever penned. 

I am not the one who has sung anything that moved any heart that I have ever moved, nor have I spoken of anything spiritual that have ever exited from between my lips.

I am not the one who has forgiven the many deep pains I have ever let go of, nor have I been the one offering any words of comfort that I have ever uttered. 

It is God.

It has always been God...

Him

who shows me,

who strengthens me,

who assures me to forgive,

who encourages me to forgive,

who knows the way and prompts me in the way,

who pulls me out of the pit, 

who reveals to me,

who gives me His insights,

who opens my mind to understand, 

who opens my heart and fills it with love and compassion,

who speaks through me,

telling me what to say,

who inspires me with the words to write,

who moves my heart so I can sing with self-giving and conviction,

who directs my heart to know the heart of others in their pain and struggles.

It has always been God.

And will always be. 

May You, my Jesus, humble me more and more, so that I may surrender myself without anymore reservations to be that pencil in Your hand, writing Your letter of infinite love to Your beloved people. Amen.

Feeding a World Hungering for Intimacy

By Br. Jude David
Taken from Journey 2012 - a publication of the St. Francis Xavier Major Seminary 

Feeding a World Hungering for Intimacy 

I was recently sitting in a secondary catechism class at the parish that I am attached to this year and the topic for that day was on prayer. The topic was being presented from the perspective of the Lord's Prayer and how we should know the prayer and pray the prayer as Catholics. Whilst listening to the students, I felt a stirring in my heart to ask the students an important question that turned out to become central theme for my own reflection this year. I asked the teenagers present who Jesus was and many could give the right answer that he is God or the "Son of God". I went on to ask them, "If Jesus was God, why did he need to pray?"

Many remained silent at this question. Some whispered that he needed to ask the Father for what he wanted. Those who are more familiar with scripture would know that Jesus has also said that the Father has handed over all authority to him (cf. Jn 3:35). Why then did Jesus have to pray? The most important, yet so often overlooked reason why Jesus prayed was because it was his means of intimacy with his Father.

Most of us have been brought up thinking that prayer is a duty or obligation and whilst we started off with this notion of prayer as kids, we have sadly never really outgrown it. Prayer that is reduced to merely Christian obligation or a means of asking for favours takes away the essential dimension of love that is at the heart of Christian prayer. God reveals himself in Jesus Christ to invite mankind into a profound intimacy with him. God, who is love, invites us to love by entering into this communion of love with him.

There is an insatiable hunger for intimacy in the hearts of men and women which has become more glaring and alarming today with it being expressed in various forms, such as sexual promiscuity, pornography and even an obsession with technology that camouflages the deep inner longing to love and be loved. This deep longing of the human heart points to the fundamental intimacy we are each created for - intimacy with our Creator through Jesus Christ which flows into a self-giving intimacy with others. 

We as a Church must pay heed to this crisis of intimacy that many amongst us are facing and we need to be signposts to lead people back into this most fundamental intimacy with God through prayer. For such intimacy would certainly rejuvenate the faith of many which has waned and must be part of the programme of the New Evangelization we are called to embark on in this "Year of Faith". May many come to say with St. Augustine, "My heart has been restless, O God, until it rests in you!" 

You're Always On My Mind

What's on your mind?
What fills your mind everyday?
Which, of all the thoughts that run through your mind in every conscious and subconscious moment, take up the greatest percentage?

Could it be that the answers to these questions suggest what we value, what our distractions are, what our priorities are? After all, the thoughts that linger for the most time in my mind are about the very things that I give the most attention to. And isn't it true that what we give the most attention to suggests what we value as most important to us? Therefore, also suggesting what our inner desires are?



This oldie "Always on My Mind" is one of the songs I grew up with. It sings of a man who is reflecting on a failed relationship, who has his ex-lover always on his mind. And having realised his falling short of loving his partner who has left him, he is pining for one more chance, desiring for her to return to him. His mind is filled with nothing but thoughts of his remorse and his hopes. He has lost someone important, though that importance was not realised any earlier.  

Tomorrow marks the beginning of Advent, the first day of the new liturgical year. Learning more about Advent, I have come to know that this joyful festive season means far more than just a time of preparation for the celebration of Christ's birth at Christmas, a preparation in which I most often find myself clueless in my poor attempts of finding ways precisely to go about this preparation. It extends beyond making room for this baby Jesus through the sacrament of reconciliation. It calls for us to spread our focus to the 2nd and 3rd comings of Jesus too. The first being Christ's birth in Bethlehem, the second being at the end time.

More permanent, concrete and significant is the third coming of Jesus which lies in between the first and second. It is the coming of Jesus into our lives, here and now, everyday and in every moment. And I'd like to think that it is right here in our hearts that He wishes for us to prepare a crib for Him, a home, a dwelling place for permanent residency. 

But to think that I not only have to welcome God into my life and make room for Him in my heart over a span of 4 Advent weeks leading up to Christmas but that this is ongoing, daily, for the rest of my life... Wow. Big commitment, big task, overwhelming, intimidating. Maybe not. I don't think this is for me. The thought of "maybe not", perhaps translatable as "I am not entirely willing to make all the necessary sacrifices". It points towards my inner desires (or lacking / weak desires)? I want to be a disciple... but... a part-time one. There are too many things I cannot let go of. 

If I exit the arrival hall of the airport and see my most beloved spouse whom I have not seen in a month, I, carrying in both hands the several DFS bags and briefcase and laptop bag..., run over to him. He hugs me tenderly and in my hands, I am still holding on to all the bags of various types. I cannot possibly embrace him and return his hug. I'm carrying too many heavy bags; my hands aren't free to embrace. Not until I drop everything that is keeping my hands occupied, not until I connect with and admit that embracing my spouse is my strongest desire at that moment.

So what have your thoughts been about today?
Our minds cannot think of more than one thing at the exact same time. To think of something requires us to let go and stop thinking of another. To pay more attention to God requires us to pay less attention to other matters that do not matter as much. 

How much do you desire for God to enter into your heart and life today?

01 Dec 2012, Saturday
11.36pm

Prayer - The World as God Wants

The World as God wants

Spirit of God, where you want mountains, you pile up rocks with your mighty hand;

And where you want plains, you crush rocks with your mighty feet.

Where you want lakes, you dig a vast hole and fill it with water;

And where you want deserts, you send heat to dry up every drop.

Where you want trees, you draw them out of the earth;

And where you want fields, you sweep the earth clean.

The world is just as you want it to be.

May we behave just as you want us to behave.

~ the prayer of Shona people

Finding God in the Waiting (*taps fingers*)

Looking at the jelly hearts cheesecake in the refrigerator, I cannot help but feel like a little kid who cannot wait to cut it up and chomp it down. Staring at it with eyes glowing with great delight. The anticipation is almost killing me. The wait seems too long and painful. I wish I could eat it right now! Still, I have to wait because the cheesecake needed to set before the jelly is poured over, and then to wait some more because now, the jelly needs time to set. I don't want to eat liquid jelly hearts cheesecake...! 

Quite coincidentally (or not), today's Gospel reflection pointed me towards this whole idea of 'waiting'. A waiting that is not a period of sitting by and letting time pass aimlessly and meaninglessly. Rather, it is a waiting that encompasses an evolution of some sort. A wait that hangs a "Work in Progress" sign on its door. 

Luke 2:41-52

Jesus was 'lost' and then 'found' in the temple when he was twelve. (v.51-52) He went down with them (His parents) and came to Nazareth and lived under their authority. His mother stored up all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom, in stature, and in favour with God and with people.

In the next chapter of Luke's Gospel, we see John baptising in the river Jordan, preparing the way for the Messiah's coming. And then Jesus reappears again, at about thirty years of age, for baptism and the beginning of His ministerial work. What was going on in between, for almost 18 years? A tremendous wait. What was Jesus doing in those years? What could be happening within Him for Him to have increased in wisdom, in stature, and in favour with God and with people?

There seems to be many accounts of  'waiting' throughout the Bible. Zechariah's speech was taken away for months until the birth of his son, John the Baptist, when he regained his speech, was filled with the Holy Spirit and began to prophesy (Luke 1:67-79). A striking shift from his lack of faith in the message of the angel foretelling of his wife's pregnancy. What happened in those months that could have possibly brought about this shift?

Then, there is the beautiful waiting between Jesus's death and resurrection. The plunging of the spirits and moods, hopes and faith of the apostles as they waited without the knowledge of the impending resurrection. The plunge that was a necessary emptying out so as to make room to welcome the ecstatic joy and consolation of the Master's resurrection. The most dreadful wait, the feeling of losing one's bearings, being in a complete loss. Yet, masked within the desolation was the presence of an ongoing evolution.

On top of the many 'waits' my life consists of, isn't my life itself a whole lifetime of waiting? A waiting for the final arrival of my reunion with my Father? A wait that does not see me sitting on a bench and awaiting that final moment but on the contrary, a wait which encompasses an evolution of ME, a metamorphosis into the image and likeness of my Creator? Eager I may be, to allow God the time and freedom to shape me?

What then, do I do in this wait? Perhaps, I need to pay attention, to listen attentively, and to respond actively. And blanketing these with a patience that allows the moment of readiness, the end of my wait to arrive in its due course. Could this be what Jesus and Zechariah did in their waiting? To pay attention to the Spirit's promptings, to listen attentively to the soft voice of God's teaching and direction, and to respond actively in doing all they could to cooperate with God's working in them? There seems to be far more within a draggy wait that I have previously been aware of. 

What is waiting like for you?

Humanising the Divine Love

We often find that the human love of the lover runs in proportion with the goodness of the one being loved. For instance, I may start out loving someone so intensely and wholeheartedly. So it seems. But being human, I am surely to be hurt at some time and to some extent by this someone and with each time I am hurt, I pull back my love little by little. I ration my love increasingly. I rationalise how much of me I can entrust to this person according to his capabilities of taking care of my vulnerability. It might even reach a point where that love diminishes completely and turns into hate. 

Our perception of love is very much, more often than not, influenced by such encounters with a love that consistently undergoes renegotiations. A love that requires us to keep investing our time and caution to upkeep. A love that needs to be earned by an exchange of my good deeds and my own initiatives which prove me to be worthy of this love. A love that seems to be inconsistent and thus, provides me with more insecurity than security. A love that can be lost at any time when I am proven unworthy. 

And with this knowledge of what love is, isn't it true that we often find it beyond us to understand the love of God for us? Definitely, we can never fully comprehend God's infinite love for us. But to trust in God's love for us, to accept this love, to know this love, to live in this love, to rest in this love, to rely on this love... all seem too far-fetched for anyone who has no experiences with and who has little concept of a love that is given freely without conditions, a love that remains consistent across time, space and circumstances. 

Is the love that God has for us proportionate to our sinfulness? In theory, by faith, we know the obvious answer to this question but in the reality of our lives, in the way we actually live out our faith, can we find traces of an underlying distortion of the love we think God must have for us? When we realise how we have sinned, how tough it is to even want to ask God for forgiveness because to us, at least to me, I find myself so undeserving, so unfit even to be in the sacred presence of God. 

If God's love is proportionate to the sinfulness of mankind, then history would be markedly different from what it is today. Jesus would not have emptied Himself of His glory and power to take on human flesh. The Father would not have parted with His Son and witness Him hang lifeless on the cross. Is there anyone on earth who deserves His love? Is there anyone of us whose life can justify His coming? Is there anyone who is so pure and spotless as to be fitting to come in direct contact with the body and blood of the pure and spotless Christ on our tongues at Communion? No, there isn't. 

Yet, God came to us on His own accord, by His own initiative, before the majority of mankind was even born. The love that He has already fixed, nailed onto the cross. This love needs no renegotiation, needs no renewal. It does not require us to do anything to earn it and neither is it something that can be earned. It is not a commodity put on sale on the shelves, tagged with a price. This love remains a constant while the state of our lives go on fluctuating. From the beginning all through eternity, it will not move one inch. Regardless of my unworthiness, regardless of my distance from Him, whenever I turn to this love, I will always find it there in its totality, in its fullness, not an ounce short. This love that never changes, that has already been given freely without any of my doing... this is the love that I can, at every moment, rest secure in. This love that surrounds and protects me, that provides for me everything that is good, that promises good and hope amidst pain and sufferings. This love that calms the storminess of my heart when trouble stirs with the assurance that all is well and under control in the loving hands of my God. 

What is your image of God's love?
In what ways have you humanised God's divine love? 

Touching God's Divinity

I touch the divine love of God as I reminisce the journey of my life.

I touch the divine compassion of God as I recount His kindness towards the undeserving me.

I touch the divine mercy of God as I recall the moments He crossed the distance of infinity to reach me in my humanity to bring me home.

I touch the divinity of God. as I behold before my very eyes the unfathomable mystery of my life.

Before the God whose hands crafted the miracle of my life,

I am left dumbfounded, awestruck, helplessly humbled;

Before this God I am just beginning to know. 

I Love ... (?) ... You

Can you imagine what our world will be like if everyone did anything and everything he/she pleases? Perhaps, to some extent, this is already a widespread way of living in our world today. And what do we have? Pain, more pain, increasing pain... So much brokenness. Rampant brokenness. Brokenness played down by a so-called 'resilience' which, unmasked, reveals fear and helplessness. A mess that we can only stare at helplessly. Speechless.

People do anything and everything they please because they have no regard for anyone else and it isn't hard to understand why. Why should I care for anyone when I myself am suffering, when I am being ill-treated, when I am not cared for? Why should I bother how people feel? Why should I help another at my own expense, and inconvenience myself? To each his own...! I fend for myself. If I don't, who will? 

But who is bullying us, who is removing the care for one another, who is causing our sufferings? Isn't the biggest culprit the absence of true love? True love, distorted, repackaged and sold cheaply in the marketplace to reach the masses? 

How often do we mean 'I love me first, then you' when we say 'I love ... ... you'? Perhaps, we aren't even aware of the strength of the 'I' in ourselves. Perhaps, we know... but not the full extent of it. Perhaps, we  really do know and are already working to minimise this 'I'. And why do I keep going on about this 'I'? Because true love has no 'I'... only 'other'. 

Those who have stuck on in their marriage, in their priestly and religious vocations... not just for the sake of keeping everything status quo, in name, but truly to live out these vocations... these are the ones who are daily fighting against all odds to deny this 'I', renouncing self, taking up the cross and following the One who emptied Himself completely for others, for us. And what happened to this Person? He died on the cross. True love comes with a price... the purer and deeper the love, the bigger the price... but it doesn't end here in such a morbid state. The bigger the price paid, the more glorious the resurrection. True love nourishes our souls, giving us a happiness that is real and lasting. And are we not, in all our searching and seeking, in all our trials and errors of what to do with our lives, looking for happiness of some sort? True love isn't without pain... but it is a different kind of pain; a pain that builds us up rather than destroy, a pain that affirms us that we have fought the good fight and have returned victorious. 

But if we are so unloved and going through so much sufferings because of all the hurts people inflict on us, how can we love anyone? We're so broken ourselves. To be loved, to be embraced, to be healed, assured and affirmed, to be restored to wholeness... We need to go to the Fountain of everlasting love, the Source of love - God. To be filled with the most secure love, to be renewed, refreshed, to be brought to restful waters and have our drooping spirits uplifted and revived. 

To know in theory makes no difference to anyone's life until we actively seek this Living Water... 

What kind of love do you want to settle for? 

1709h