Categories
Best Life Quotes

The measure of happiness

Most people measure their happiness in terms of physical pleasure and material possession. Could they win some visible goal which they have set on the horizon, how happy they could be! Lacking this gift or that circumstance, they would be miserable. If happiness is to be so measured, I who cannot hear or see have every reason to sit in a corner with folded hands and weep. If I am happy in spite of my deprivations, if my happiness is so deep that it is a faith, so thoughtful that it becomes a philosophy of life, —if, in short, I am an optimist, my testimony to the creed of optimism is worth hearing. -Helen Keller

Categories
Spirituality

Serving God?

How often have we heard the phrase “in the service of God”?

This morning, it occured to me that such a service is no easy thing, nor is it something we can just claim and add to the fulfillment of our egos.

Serving God.  What service can we offer to a God who possesses everything and who has within His power all that He could ever desire?  What service does He need from us who at most, could only render a sincere yet imperfect work?

Service is an act of love and an act of gratitude.  If we should ever perform it, it is nothing that we should hold Gold in owe to us, but something we ought to be happy for, for God has allowed us to render it and make our joy complete!  🙂

Categories
Self-Development

Hurried world

As I make my way to office each day, I notice how people seem to be so hurried trying to fetch a cab or make it aboard the train.  It’s funny at times coz you rarely see people look back or look up.  People only move straight on, not noticing anything else but the one thing on their mind, which more often than not, is just to be able to get that ride to work.  I feel weird when I sometimes stop and look up at the wonderful morning sky or when Ilook back and see the nice view of the city.

I wish people can set aside allowances to their activities rather than always being in such a hurry, never having any minute to lose even if just to be able to breathe, to smile, or to be more patient in waiting in line for the next bus to arrive.

Categories
Life Spirituality

Who are blessed?

I’ve often heard people saying “I’m truly blessed”, or “God blessed me.”

Does that mean other people weren’t blessed? 

If God causes the sun to shine both on the good and the bad, will He withhold His blessings to some and give it only to a few?

Who are we to say that some people are less fortunate than us?

I believe that God pours His blessings upon us all… always.

And maybe, when we say that we are blessed, it is only like saying we have finally found the faith to receive what God is giving us.  Finally, we have recognized God’s goodness, and for that, we say that we are blessed! 

Categories
Prayers

Battered Wife Prayer

battered wife prayerMy God, I can no longer recognize the face that I see in the mirror. Where was the radiant bride that stood here merely five years ago? Where was the young woman full of hope, full of love and full of the promises of a brand new life ahead of her?

For the woman who stands here now seems no longer a woman at all. Gone was the light in her eyes that used to be the envy of all. Gone was the blush on her cheeks that used to be caressed with tenderness and love. Those eyes are now swollen from endless tears. Those cheeks are now shadowed by bruises and scars.

I have been transgressed and defiled, and I have allowed it all! I have allowed it for the most cliché reason of all. O how I thought I loved him, but the truth is that I don’t even know how to love my own self. How conceited indeed can a woman be? To think that she could change the man who doesn’t even want to change himself? Am I a God who can look into the hearts of men and seek the goodness that can be drawn from each one? Even God doesn’t force us to change if we wish to be stubborn and go our own sinful ways. Indeed, I am no God, and neither is the man I have worshipped so wrongfully all these years.

My God, help me to see things as they really are, not as I would have it. Help me to forgive myself as you have forgiven me, to love myself as you have loved me. Help me to know what love really is that it may take root in my heart and that it may bear fruit for others to also find their way. I used to think that love is being able to give everything even if it hurts. God it hurt so much! But now I know that love, even if it may hurt sometimes should never be at the expense of self-respect and dignity; love, even if it may entail sacrifice should never be at the expense of being shattered and broken.

For true love, if it is true indeed always brings wholeness and peace, and bears the fruit of goodness upon all who give and receive it. Love is not a matter of control or manipulation. Love is an invitation and a gift that can only be received with openness and a grateful heart. Help me find my way O God, not only for myself but more so for my beloved children. Help me to provide for them not only their material needs, but their emotional and spiritual longings as well.

Truly I have a long way to go and a great many more battles to face, but I dare to begin now God. I begin with your forgiveness and your love. I begin with your providence and healing. Help me through it all O Lord and one day soon, I know I will be able to see that radiant and beautiful bride once again.

This prayer of a battered wife was written by HIYAS at itakeoffthemask.com