Mother’s Day 2024

For many years now, son #1 always posts online my photo taken in ancient years on Mother’s Day. 

This tradition I truly appreciate because it makes me reminisce those days when I was an active mom, attached (literally) to my sons, who at their ages today have their own busy lives. I had my time of enjoying amazing grace of a spcial kind.  

In those days, both sons (son #3 was still just an inspired thought) obviously hated cameras. It took time before Tony could click the shutter because one refused to smile and the other one simply hid his face with his hand while clinging to me. 

Another tradition is receiving flowers from abroad from son #2, facilitated by my daughter-in-love. If you are a mom and have grown-up sons, you know well, as I do, that the look of awe they lavished on you as babies is gone with the wind. That’s why we’re grateful for pets. Our askal (asong kalye; street dog) pet, Judge, always makes me feel like a rock star and relive those memories. 

"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." (1 Thessalonians 5:18 ESV) 

Priceless Anniversary Gift

On the 4th of July this year (our wedding anniversary), Tony and I received a gift so precious, we were dumbfounded.  

Our only grandson, Adrian (a playful, active, funny, talkative, loud, and curious little boy the last time we saw him five years ago), appeared before our eyes. But in form and substance, a totally different human! 

Now all of 17, he has evolved into a compleat gentleman: reserved, handsome (very!), with a well-built bod and a bass voice that can be heard only when he responds to questions. 

I actually blogged about him, based on his mom’s photos emailed to us three years back. At that time, there were hints that the once-little-boy is now only in our memory bank, which defies time. 

Adrian reminds us that grace is never the same, but always generous. The Creator designed our lives to come in seasons. Life stage is the term psychologists use. My term, very old--the season where Tony and I are basking in today.   

We met this new gentleman in a party thrown by his other set of grandparents, whose wedding anniversary date is the same as ours.  

We thank God for the season that was. Is. Will come.  

Chain Reaction

Micky, his older sister, and their parents are active in church, serving Jesus in various ministries with a passion. 

It was not always that way. 

After Micky had learned about Jesus’ love for him and received Him as his Savior, his parents were livid. They belonged to a different faith and were extremely disappointed that Mickey had turned away from it. They instructed Micky’s Ate to go with him to church and keep a close eye on him. 

In church, Ate got caught up in Jesus’ wonderful story of grace and love for sinful people like her. It wasn’t long till she realized she needed Jesus and became a believer herself. 

Their parents were now agitated. They had to see for themselves what was happening to their children in church. They sneaked in the church while the midweek service was ongoing and sat at the back which was unlit. It was at this time that the pastor began his message. As they listened, the powerful Word of God penetrated both their hearts and as soon as the service was over, they both went to their children, and asked how they, too, could join the family of Christ.   

This chain reaction is not surprising. 

It happened to Micky’s family and it can happen to any family. 

“For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires." (Hebrews 4:12 NLT) 

Since that midweek service, father, mother, Ate, and Micky have been working together, trying to duplicate the chain reaction that happened to their family. 

Many books inform, but only one transforms—the Bible. 

“Yes, Dear”

This phrase was common when I was growing up. 

During parties, I would hear the grown-ups joke about a husband being henpecked, or “under the saya [skirt]” in Filipino. In those days, machismo was in vogue—the father was the boss and the mother was to do his bidding. 

After all, the Bible specifies in Ephesians 5:24, “As the church submits to Christ, so you wives should submit to your husbands in everything.” 

  
Otherwise, the man of the house would be labeled, “Yes, dear.” 

Then the feminism movement (the advocacy of women's rights for the equality of the sexes) gained popularity and the word “submit” is now being omitted in many wedding vows. “Yes, dear” is extinct.  

Obedience or submission, however, cannot and should not be ignored. As believers, we are called to a life of obedience. Submission of wives to husbands as in the verse above and Colossians 3:18 remains unchanged. 

“Children, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord, for this is the right thing to do.” (Ephesians 6:1 NLT) 

Even Jesus showed obedience: “. . . he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross." (Philippians 2:8) 

Jesus also reminds us, “If you love me, obey my commandments." (John 14:15)

 
There’s a promised reward for obedience, “If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully keep all his commands that I am giving you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the world.” (Deuteronomy 28:1) 

Lest it be forgotten, from Genesis to Revelation, the Bible emphasizes obedience. In the Ten Commandments, obedience to God is of prime importance. 

Landmark

As taught us in grade school, a landmark is a feature of a landscape or specific place that is easily seen and recognized from a distance. 

We are all familiar with famous landmarks such as Paris’ Eiffel tower, New York’s Statue of Liberty, Agra’s Taj Mahal, London’s Stonehenge, Pisa’s Leaning Tower, etc. When you see those landmarks, there is no doubt in your mind where you are. 

Before technology came in with navigation tools in our mobile phone, we needed a landmark to go to places we’d never been to before.  We drew directions on paper and asked for a specific landmark close to our destination. 

“Beside the pink four-story building . . .” “Just behind the grade school . . .” “Two blocks from SM Mall. . .” etc.  

Despite technological help, many people today still resort to specifying landmarks, because they are easy to spot. They provide guidance, pointing us to the right direction. 

Guidance is certainly what every growing child needs. In fact, even adults with Ph.Ds or years of experience also need guidance for things outside their area of expertise. 

Jesus addressed people’s need for guidance when He met and talked to His disciples about His impending departure from earth in the Upper Room. He said (John 16:13 NLT), “When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.”  

God’s Spirit is as distinct as a landmark! 

In this world of disunity, where guidance is desperately needed, God's landmark could be obscured by clouds of edgy ideologies, skewed Bible interpretations, and new expressions demanded by political correctness, and the conflicted emotions within us. 

How then can we see that landmark clearly? 

We need to revisit God’s word, our written map. The Holy Spirit clearly points to specific principles that reveal the way of the Lord. Our feelings and affections will always lead to the wrong road without the grace of discernment to see this landmark clearly, minus the clouds. 

Because God gives us freedom to make decisions where there are no moral laws to be broken, we are given several options. The Holy Spirit would certainly bless any of those that do not clash with the Lord's Word. 

The Word of God is the confirmation that we are led by the Holy Spirit. It is my prayer that we depend on the Holy Spirit to be our Guide, our Landmark, in all of our travels in life. 

Reflective Seminar

This concept is an adaptation of  "reflective learning," documented from the works of Dewey (1938) and Schon (1983). It’s defined as “focus on the development of critical-thinking skills through the internal process of examining strengths and exploring areas for improvement.” 

The learner therefore clarifies concepts/theories from his own understanding and cognition. 

Knowing how long I have been a teacher, son #3 (head of our church’s Discipleship Ministry) asked me to facilitate a seminar for our brethren who teach (Sunday school VBS, small groups, evangelism, etc.).

Huh? 

These teachers belong to different age groups, have varied experiences, and are all volunteers! The seminar would be unlike those held in businesses, where everyone is a paid employee. 

My thought balloon: I can’t ram down their throats what I know about teaching. So I mined the good Book for wisdom and begged the Lord for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. 

So there—reflective seminar:    

"As teachers, we all need to look inside of us," I began. Then I presented the meaning of EXCELLENCE, as defined by the Lord, and asked questions based on Scripture, peppered with stories of my own failures and successes as a part-time college teacher for more than 20 years. 

Again, I adapted Start, Stop, Continue (a retrospective exercise used in workplaces) but tweaked it by beginning with Stop. By knowing our weaknesses, first of all, we can devise ways to turn them into strengths through concrete plans.  

The seminar was from 9 AM to 2 PM, with a break for lunch. 

Thirty teachers for Jesus received their Certificate of Completion, which is simply the starting gun in the run toward excellence. 

Am I Late?

If you have a scheduled meeting at 8 AM and you arrive at exactly 8 AM, are you late? 

Yes. No ifs, ands, or buts.  

The 8:00 AM schedule is for the meeting to start and not arrival time. 

This I learned the hard way when I was new in the workplace. I arrived at the meeting venue at exactly 8 AM and to my surprise, the chair (my boss) started presiding to everyone but me. I scampered for a vacant seat, trying not to make any noise, but my handbag fell to the floor and made a loud thud. 

Everyone looked in my direction, the boss stopped talking, and I wished to be swallowed by the ground! 

From then on, I make sure that I am at an event or meeting half an hour before the scheduled time—one hour, if I had a part in the program.  

This was why I was there, one hour before the scheduled time, for a seminar I facilitated at our church.

The extra 60 minutes gave me enough time to pray for guidance, set up my slides, check the sound system and air-conditioning, arrange the chairs for maximum interaction among the attendees, and other odds and ends.  

"Am I late?” was also one of the questions I asked in the seminar, which was designed to be reflective. I asked questions from beginning to end about proven theories to allow the attendees to self-reflect and come up with their own evaluation on how they are performing as teachers. 

Yes, the seminar was for teachers (Sunday School, VBS, evangelism, discipleship, and wherever there is a need to teach God’s Word). 

Because it was a self-reflective seminar, the title was interrogative: 

And the last question was: 

My own answers to this question is written in one whole book, published by CSM.  

(Details of the seminar are in another blog post.)