A Time for Everything

I woke up to the sweet voices of children singing the national anthem in the distance (you see i live just a block away from a pre-school)...and what a blessed way to wake up. i knew it was going to be a fine day.

I spent lunch with my bestfriend Anne who is leaving for Singapore. She recently got married and her husband is based there which makes me a bit sad since we'll be miles apart come Saturday. though i know it's just easy to email or call, well it's still different not to be able to see her smile and laugh... and we're just beginning to catch up where we left off all those years... We went to Sta. Clara monastery to pray, a place so dear to her as she prayed here for all the important moments in her life, as she began her relationship with God. She affirms that all her prayers here have been answered and more. it is true, God cannot be outdone in His generosity. her faith affirmed me too. to have the faith of the child...the silence and peace of the monastery just holds your heart in rest. I have no doubt that God heard our prayers and will answer them in His perfect time.

We had a hearty lunch at Chef de Angelo, an Italian fast food restaurant (i just love Italian food, the taste is just so passionate!) i ordered spaghetti which for me symbolizes joy and celebration and in lonelier times, a comfort food which does not fail to uplift. (you must try spaghetti when you're sad.) it was a good morning spent with a dear friend whom i miss already. it's the simple joy of being together that mattered most. even when our topics have evolved from childish things to more mature ones, and realize how much we've grown...i know that real friendship allows another person to grow where she'll be happy. i know she'll be happy with her answered prayer and the distance cannot simply stop a good old friendship. so we'll see each other again of course.

I am actually on leave today but you know what I went to work in the afternoon...well i guess GK work is really addicting :) on the way to the office, i rode my favorite bus of all time, the GLiner, which plies the route of Cainta to Quiapo, and drops me off just right along the road where the Center is. I am going to miss these bus rides when we transfer to Shaw Boulevard. but that's another topic for another day... more on my bus tales soon. hehehe

anyway, suddenly it rained.

being in the office just gives me a sense of comfort too (a second home for most of us fulltime workers), although something inside me remains unresolved but a super understanding, compassionate team leader Anna held my hand, and her words of counsel and hug provided the much needed balm to my heart.

I just realized now that there truly is a time for everything. It fascinates me how fast the weather can change but for the seasons, they come just in time. it is amazing how it may be autumn now in another country, but it is spring in another and rainy in another. It just gets one to thinking how much it truly reflects our lives...we may find ourselves in in spring, autumn,
winter, or summer...

i think i may be in autumn... a season of falling leaves, letting go of what no longer works in my life. in a sense it's like pruning, or dying to the self in order to be born again...like a bird which has to shed off its old feathers to be able to fly higher and lighter....

but it's rather quite painful...well, true changes usually are. you won't see the changes outside, but inside something else is brewing. I like how one author puts it, "Outside winter's darkness closes in. Inside, you have found your light." Oh how I long to find that light very soon and share it with you...to the whole world so that the pain may have meaning and help others who are in the same season.

yes, i do long for spring...but in order to get to it, one must go through the fall, the winter...then experience new life in all its full bloom. i can't wait! but now, I know God is telling me to Keep Still and know that He is God.

It is time to listen and to trust.

It is time to be still.
---
Ecclesiastes 3
1 There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens.
2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant.
3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to tear down, and a time to build.
4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.
5 A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather them; a time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces.
6 A time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away.
7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to be silent, and a time to speak.
8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.