With my recent visit to the Philippines, I can’t help it that some things or someone can irritate me. Let’s say the weather. “It’s too hot!” My sweating does not stop. You come out of the shower and you’re sweating again. Can I just stay in the shower the whole day??? Using the air condition is too expensive. That will make the electric bill go up to 10,000 pesos a month and that’s only for one room in one whole house. So how does Sir Chief and Maya (Be Careful with My Heart) keep their cool in their house? Must be the centralized airconditioning. That’s why sometimes, you wish you were born with thousands of dollars and pounds in your mom’s old baul (clothes chest). What about the traffic? Talagang buhol buhol. (It’s a mess!) I will not be able to drive in their kind of traffic conditions. There’s bumper to bumper traffic and at the same time people cross the street whenever and wherever they want to. It gets me so scared watching pedestrians cross. Twenty years ago, only a few people cross, but now, due to influx of jobs especially in Metro Manila, the number of pedestrians crossing had also tripled. More so, the drivers are much more aggressive, but likewise are the pedestrians. I don’t really understand who has the right of way!!! Buhol, buhol na talaga. (What a tangled traffic mess!)
OK. I’ve talked about the traffic and the weather. Those are external factors. But let’s be realistic here. What if the source of friction or ill feeling is someone you cannot escape from? That individual lives in your dorm. She is a member of your study team. He is your seatmate. She is your next door neighbor. He is your spouse. She is your sister. She is your co-worker. My oh my! This is not easy. Me included. I realize that the older I get, my patience also gets shorter and imagine my husband who is 25 years advanced my age. You do the Math. Well, there’s still a thread that he holds on to. But it’s twice shorter than mine. Yikes!!!
I found a response on the August 4 devotional of Pastor Rick Warren and it came from Philippians 1:7 “It is right for me to feel this way about all of you since I have you in my heart.” Yes, the correct response is “to love from the heart.” I was asking myself, “Is there more?” So I opened the bible on the chapter in Philippians and I found this which opened my heart more. These are from verses 9-11. And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
So, if I will put this love in terms of a size, like a balikbayan box that is being shipped to the Philippines with all the goodies that a Filipino could put in that box to send to their loved ones in the Philippines, the box size cannot be a mini. That will just be too small. It is not a medium, nor a large. You just have to send the biggest one — the super jumbo. And the sender will fill out the box for a month, two or even three months because she has to take some money from her savings to spend for some chocolates, canned goods, ham and new clothes so that her family in the Philippines would have something for Christmas. This is love, Philippine style. And wow!!! This entails a lot of sacrifice, too! You share your time and treasure!
When I look at Philippians 1: 9-11, it reminds me of how wide and deep God’s love really is for us, just like the ocean. And since Jesus is our role model, we are called to love His way—in a pure and loving way, with knowledge and wisdom. A love that is pure, I believe, has no other source but from God. I can just imagine this huge waterfall and below are small inlets that direct the flow of water. God is the waterfall and we, humans are the inlets. We just let God’s grace flow.
So at times, when we get tired of loving that special someone who tests our patience, let us think of God and what He did and does for us everyday. He sent His Son to die for us (John 3:16) and everyday, he sends us blessings in different ways. Have a wonderful day and enjoy this song I Won’t Give Up. This is for all of us, pilgrims on planet Earth.
