A Goodreads quote on Life and Love and Living

Life is indeed simple.  We stand up for what we believe, and show support for those we love.  Do you do the same?  Or does something prevent you...

. . . when it comes down to it, that’s what life is all about: showing up for the people you love, again and again, until you can’t show up anymore. 

Rebecca Walker

Happy 45th birthday, Rebecca Walker! The influential journalist introduced the concept of Third Wave Feminism in an article for Ms. magazine when she was just 22 years old. Walker's mother is Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple.

Goodreads quote - on Love. Something i definitely agree with ...

The one thing we can never get enough of is love. And the one thing we never give enough of is love. 


Henry Miller
Happy Valentine's Day! Legendary literary lovers Henry Miller and Anaïs Nin stayed true to Valentine's tradition with their frequent exchange of steamy letters.

Happy Mother's Day....

to all moms, would-be moms, and those that are-were like moms

how do you show someone  you love them?

mainly by being there - to discuss things, to assist when needed, to argue when necessary, and to hug
i loved hugging my mom.  she was smaller than me and that made it just perfect for hugs

we filipinos arent into saying i love yous, we are more into doing ...

my mom is a great cook, and it gave me pleasure to treat her to great food she didnt cook
especially her  favorite kakanin
or buy a dress she would look good in but didnt need

she would say it especially on my birthday by cooking pancit palabok
her palabok is the best i have ever had - par excellance bar none - same as my lola's

A lecture on Love

i have just received a missive- a lecture on love.

all i can say is that it comes from a selfish person who calls it love to call me names. bad names. *laughs*
the world he lives in is not real - it is make-believe to suit his needs.

he calls it love to raise a fist to my face - me - older, and unsteady on my feet -
and calls me a disappointment to my parents. yeah, right. only my parents can say ...
my mom said goodbye to me on her deathbed and no one else.

does that imply she was disappointed in me?

he called me gaga, because i trusted his nephew who stole from me- thereby supporting his nephew and giving tacit approval to the deed - he approves of stealing, apparently - and this person calls himself Godly.
do you think so?

so if you trust someone, you must be gaga too.

i live a quiet life - one they attempt to destroy my asking my assistance, and in the same vein, call me names - and i am the one who is hateful.  and they say i am at fault.  *sigh*

all my life i have financially supported my parents.  i am lucky enough to have a good job, and am single, and i have never regretted supporting my parents.  My mom even lost some of my jewelry.... and did i get angry, no.  we laughed about it.  to be accused of getting my parents worldly goods is a crass misstatement.

may the person who uttered this accusation eat his words alive. may he live to regret it for the rest of his life.

CORRECTION:  this sounds as if my father was unable to support us.  That is wrong, mea culpa.
My parents had lots of assets, just werent too liquid.  They were as my Mom and Dad put it, investments for us - their children.  And it was.

People like this are vexations to the spirit.
It is better to live without these kinds of people in my life

one of these days the truth will be free.


 

a Goodreads quote i wanted to share

And thus the heart will break, yet brokenly live on. 


George Gordon Byron
April 19, 1824: British poet Lord Byron lived a brief, brilliant, and debauched life—he died while fighting in the Greek War of Independence, 189 years ago today.

---

Goodreads quote for Saturday 2 Feb 2013

The beginning of love is the will to let those we love be perfectly themselves, the resolution not to twist them to fit our own image.


Thomas Merton

Conversely, be yourself.  Do not mold yourself to be the image your loved one has for you.


Saturday was Candelaria.  Went to mass and had candles blessed.
Since it was Saturday, the mass was the anticipated one for Sunday.

From Mary Southerland through email

 i do not know how to link an email post in this blog so i copied this.
this is too wonderful not to share. 


November 13, 2012
Treasures of Darkness
Mary Southerland
 
Today’s Truth
Isaiah 45:3 I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who summons you by name.
 
Friend to Friend

I love a great movie. To me, a movie is only great -- no matter what any movie critic says or how many stars the film is granted -- when good wins over evil, the right guy gets the right girl, nobody gets hurt and everyone lives happily ever after. A bit naive, I know, but I have decided that there is enough harsh reality traipsing through my daily life without paying to see more on a movie screen. When I sit down in that cushy theatre seat, popcorn and soda in hand, I want happy endings.

With these criteria in mind, I went to see the movie, "Seabiscuit." God has a way of wrapping remarkable truths in unremarkable circumstances. There I was, munching and sipping away, minding my own business and enjoying my brief respite from the real world when his words echoed through the movie theater and slammed into my soul.
"You don't throw a whole life away just because it's a little banged up," he said. I was done. I thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the movie, but those simple words were written just for me and lingered long after the movie's credits scrolled across the movie screen. We are all “banged up a little” by life. I know what it feels like to be broken and in pain. And I do not like it – a fact that seems meaningless when it comes to facing and dealing with tough experiences in my life. The hits just keep coming. I have a choice to make. I can embrace the pain and brokenness in my life and learn from it, or I can surrender to the darkness and hide – and hope it all goes away. Trust me, girlfriend. It doesn’t.

Our son, Jered, played football all the way through college. Over the years, he endured several injuries, but as a junior in high school, Jered experienced his first surgery to repair a broken bone in his foot. The orthopedic doctor explained exactly what he would do during surgery. “First of all, I will remove the scar tissue that has formed around the break. I will then insert a metal screw to connect the broken bones.” As he spoke, I was comforted by my mind’s depiction of a shiny thin and smooth metal screw resting gently in my son’s foot. There are times when ignorance is a blessing.
The surgery went well and after two weeks, I took Jered in for a follow-up visit during which his foot was once again X-rayed to make sure it was healing properly. The doctor walked in, smiling and waving an X-ray in his hand. “Your foot is healing beautifully,” he announced with great pride. Curious, I asked the doctor if we could see the X-ray. When he slapped it up against the light board, I was horrified to see a thick, long metal bolt. In fact, on closer examination, I was certain the beginnings of rust could be seen on that barbaric screw jammed up into my son’s precious bone.

Seeing the look on my face, the doctor assured me that everything was fine. I was far from convinced and had a few questions that needed answering – immediately. “Is that screw supposed to look like that or did you put the wrong screw in my son’s foot? Will he be able to play football? Will his foot hurt when it rains? Will that enormous screw set off airport security detectors? Will Jered’s foot ever be as strong as it was before the surgery?” I asked. The doctor listened patiently, smiled and said, “Well, now that you mention it, I need to be honest and tell you Jered’s foot will not be as strong as it was before.” The evil doctor then grinned and said, “It will actually be stronger.”

In “A Farewell to Arms," Ernest Hemingway writes, "The world breaks everyone and many are strong at the broken places.” Jesus says it this way, “I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who summons you by name” (Isaiah 45:3).
Wow! The truth of this verse rocks my world. Don’t miss it! God has gone before us and buried a treasure in every problem and stored rich truths in every minute of darkness we will face. The only way we can discover that treasure is to embrace the problem as an opportunity to trust God and uncover a new seed of victory. Some things cannot be learned in the light – they are treasures of the darkness.
 
Let’s Pray
Father, my heart is broken, and it seems very dark. I don’t understand what You are doing in my life. The darkness is very real and filled with more questions than answers. And I don’t like it! But I love You, Lord, so I choose trust instead of fear and faith instead of doubt. Lord, please fill each broken place in my heart with Your mercy and Your grace. Today, I choose You. In Jesus’s name, Amen.
 
Now It’s Your Turn
God has changed my life through the truths of Psalm 40:1-3.
Psalm 40:1-3 "I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God."      

love dies

i never thought that - love dies.  but it does.

and i dont mean just romantic love.  i mean love - in all its forms

love between friends, even love among siblings.

so why does love die?  simple.  one of the parties simply stops caring.  

one of the parties does one thing and says another.  in short, one party lies
and lies and lies and lies until there is no credibility left.

no credibility = no respect.  there can be no love without respect

love, like life, needs to be nurtured. without nurturing, love dies.
have you seen relationships die simply because one or both parties simply have no time to be with each other.  the moment you hear there is no time together, you already can hear the death knell of the relationship.  love dies, indeed

there is a song that my friend and i used to hear at Shakey's Ali Mall that goes .....

"love hurts .................................". the band we listened to sang it all the time, or at least, everytime we were to listen.  

if love hurts too much, the heart becomes numb until it cannot feel anything.  soon enough it turns into indifference - the kind that can see a former loved person dying at his feet and feel nothing.  not sorrow, not pain, just nothing at all.  to me, indifference is the true opposite of love.  not hate.  at least with hate, the emotions are engaged, but with indifference, there is no connection at all.

indeed, love dies.

you are free to disagree with me. anytime.

Love is .....

many things.  in fact, there is a whole set of definitions that you can find in the bible

there are tons of poetry that define love.

but i just read something in my email - Girlfriends in God email - that said this -

love is when your name is safe in someone's mouth.

how simple and profound.

i hope that each one of you have at least one someone wherein your name is safe in his/her mouth