Nov 1 at the Memorial Park – Being dead won’t stop you from being part of family tradition. We’ll still be there, you know.

That’s family for you, huh? You either love them or hate them. Whatever the case is, they’re always there to stick around. I thank God for my blood-related family, however dysfunctional we all are. We are a big clan with big hearts, just not very vocal about it. We mostly speak the language of do-good love (and the hurt-one-of-us-you-won’t-know-what-hit-you kind too).

I’m also thankful for my church family. We’re all given a group of people to interact with, laugh and cry with, lean on and support. For whatever reason that is, I really believe God had our best interests in mind when He made our paths cross. Some stay a while, some don’t. But all of those comings and leavings also have a purpose.

We’re a family in spite of differences, issues, and priorities. We’re a family amidst struggles, victories, and flaws. We’re a family that way. After the idealism has faded away, I’ve come to realize that’s what has made the term more real to me than ever. It’s not a setup. It’s not an image you put up, not a facade of any sort.

And I love it, with all its fragility and awkwardness. Why wouldn’t you? I mean, even Jesus’ own family wasn’t very stable. He had a tax collector (synonymous with sinners at the time), a traitor, a doubter, a man who hated killed Jesus’ followers for company. He even welcomed and ate with “with tax collectors and sinners“. He welcomed them all, good or bad. Loved them all, because He did come for the helpless after all.

All I’m saying is, family is family. You either love them or hate them, but they were given to us for a reason.

And I don’t even mean I’m-the-mom-and-dad kind of hard, but the i-need-to-’compete’-with-my-parents’-discipline-too kind of hard. When I put quote marks on ‘compete’, I feel like I’m watering down the word, hoping it doesn’t convey the negativity it really has. It’s hard because I’m away 70% of my kid’s waking hours away from her, which means I’m not mostly around when she makes a mistake, hence someone else is in charge of her discipline.

It’s hard, trying to measure up to the kind of discipline that my parents enforce and that you’re expected to have too. I’m not saying that my ways are better than theirs or anyone else’s. I’m just saying it’s hard.

And I don’t know what to do. I know, I can read all these expert advice on parenting, but nothing prepares you for it.

Why am I even writing about it?

I don’t know. Maybe the answer’s out there somewhere. Maybe you have it, maybe not. Either way, it gets a little bit of the load off doesn’t it? Writing about it.

——-

“To call God anti-pleasure is to dishonor Him as the one who created pleasure and who promises us pleasure forevermore. It denies God the glory due His name for paying such a heavy price to remove the weight and consequences of our sin.”

Simply put, God is not a kill joy. Whoever says He is has not been set free — yet.

—–

So what’s your middle-of-the-day-schizo-weather-emo-moment realization today?

Taken with a phone camera

Love

⁴Love is kind and patient, never jealous, boastful, proud, or ⁵ rude.

Love isn’t selfish or quick tempered. It doesn’t keep a record of wrongs that others do.

⁶Love rejoices in the truth, but not in evil.

⁷Love is always supportive, loyal, hopeful, and trusting.

⁸Love never fails! Everyone who prophesies will stop, and unknown  languages will no longer be spoken.

All that we know will be forgotten.

¹²Now all we can see of God is like a cloudy picture in a mirror. Later we will see him face to face.

We don’t know everything, but then we will, just as God completely understands us.

¹³For now there are faith, hope, and love. But of these three, the greatest is love.

Reading the famous Corinthian chapter on Love, and just recently (tagging along) shooting for a prenup, it’s easy to be “blinded” by human love.

You think I’m crazy for saying this, but hear me out.

Love is beautiful and perfect. Especially when it’s demonstrated by the One who embodies it. If one does not know what beautiful and perfect love is, then how does one look for it on earth?

Human love is only a byproduct. We love because we were first loved.

So, get to the bottom of it. I only just realized that myself.

That in all those definitions of love, it was describing the One. Looking at my life in retrospect, I cannot deny that fact. That He has been patient and kind with me. Still is.

He was never selfish or quick-tempered even when I deliberately had my own way. And most of all, He did not keep a record of my wrongs. I’m forgiven.

He was hopeful that I would return to Him. He was supportive and loyal, even if I was not.

He rejoices in the truth, not in evil.

He never fails.

I should know, I’m a living proof of that. I’m blessed to have gotten to know that kind of Love. I’m blessed to have known Him.

So did you know that Love is Someone? Do you want to know?

Love is beautiful and perfect. Especially when it’s demonstrated by the One who embodies it. If one does not know what beautiful and perfect love is, then how does one look for it on earth?

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(better viewed in widescreen; click to view larger version)

3..

patawad dahil naipost ko na dati yung last 2 photos. pero yan lang kasi ang feel kong perfect pictures ng gusto kong ipagpasalamat sa taong nagdaan.

salamat, Lord.

–

Eastwood QC / Dimakya Is. Palawan | 2009 | Canon EOS 400D | postprocessed using Photoscape

and they’re never shy. grown up,

or not.

i feel so amateur looking at my photos and then looking at random Interesting Flickr photos. grabe, when will I be that good?

anyway, still practicing for now. be my model? =)