“Why is he nailed on the cross? Why can’t he move?” My four-year-old niece Ruth dared to ask my sister Espie when she looked at a crucifix. It must be ironic for her. It must be a mystery. A puzzle. And she has all the right to ask.
She thinks and believes in a POWERFUL God. She believes it is this BIG, GOOD God who provides our daily food. She prays to this God before she sleeps. When we talk about monsters and sharks and all other villains and any form of danger in the stories she knows, she thinks of God as the only one who can ultimately conquer them. Without doubt. She wouldn’t take our promises. When her mother told her she’s gonna kill the monster, Ruth said, “But you’re just a girl!” When I told her I will drive the monster away, Ruth warned, “But the monster is really, really big!” I’m not big enough for her. Haha. But God is.
Now with the sight of an image of Jesus, on the cross, she asks a very important, deep question, “Why?”
My sister tried to explain the best she could. Ruth, with her impatience, said, “Okay!” before my sister could finish her lines. Haha. Her cousin Yancy told her, “You will understand when you grow up.”
Oh, God. This young, curious, believing little girl is contagiously refreshing!
I’ve been listening to this song the past couple of weeks. Crazy – I find myself singing “Never mind, I won’t find someone like you…” instead of “Never mind, I’ll find someone like you…” Duh. Hopeless romantic. Haha.
Clothes, educational supplies, medicine, blankets, etc…would mean a lot to those who have lost their homes in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan. Please help. Friends in Singapore, you can drop your donations at LBC Air Cargo Singapore #04 – 077 Lucky Plaza, Orchard Rd. LBC will send the relief goods to the Philippines for free. For more info, please call 6595 – 4522.
For cash donations, please contact The Navigators, Philippines (www.philnavs.org). Please call +632-727-0255, +632726-4348 for more info.
I stood by the window with my cup of coffee this morning. I breathed in the cold wind and welcomed the rain’s kiss on my cheeks. I held on to the sight of the trees. Lush and green, they danced in the wind. And like me, they seem happy in the rain. Idyllic. On this cold, rainy morning, my heart flickered.
But as I drank the beauty of that moment, I closed my eyes and bowed my head as I thought of the more than 900 people missing and more than 600 deaths (as of today) in the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan. The storm Sendong left at least 100,000 residents in devastation – they have lost their homes, things, and worst of all – loved ones.
I am, once again, moved by the human spirit to survive, to help one another, and to hold on. I can only imagine the pain, the questions…My heart grieves.
“Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not…it is the power that enables us to empathise with humans whose experiences we have never shared.” - J.K. Rowling
“I had failed on an epic scale…I had no idea then how far the tunnel extended…Why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant stripping away of the inessential…I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena where I believed I truly belonged. I was set free…and so rock bottom became a solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.”
“Some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all, in which case you failed by default.”
“You will never truly know yourself or the strength of your relationships until both have been tested by adversity.”
“Imagination is the power that enables us to empathize with humans whose experiences we have never shared.”
“We do not need magic to transform our world. We carry all the power we need inside us…We have the power to imagine better.”
She ended with a quote by Seneca: “As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.”
At different times the past three months, I had the privilege of touring and showing Singapore to my two visiting friends and sister from the Philippines. The wonder, the excitement, and the confusion they experienced refreshed me. Their countless “wow” and “really?” as they saw, tasted, heard, and smelled new things were contagious. With them, I felt like a beginner again. A tourist. A learner. An adventurer.
I co-facilitated a video production workshop this week with a group of accountants and other professionals in the corporate world. None of them have ever tried the basic software that we used – Audacity and Windows Movie Maker. Quite challenging, yet exciting at the same time.
Together with my team, I had to teach like it was my first time, too; mindful of each one’s weaknesses and strengths. I guess as a facilitator, I’m the one who benefit most. The more I teach, the more I learn. And yes, the more chances for me to have that beginner’s experience. As the participants learn new things, it’s priceless to see the light on their face. The relief. The “wow” and “aha” moments.
How their frowns turn to smiles and big grins and sighs to laughter and cheers after learning something – an eruption of wonder – ah, those are some of the best moments in the workshop that I hold dear in my heart.
“Sometimes I see myself as a child in a rain storm, running around trying to catch all the drops in her mouth. I long for your adventures to be like the raindrops the child saves and not those which crash to the ground.”
A rainy day in Singapore. Standing by my window. Watching the rain. Letting it wash my heart, sing a lullaby to my soul…
“Why is he nailed on the cross? Why can’t he move?” My four-year-old niece Ruth dared to ask my sister Espie when she looked at a crucifix. It must be ironic for her. It must be a mystery. A puzzle. And she has all the right to ask. 
