SAVOR THE COFFEE

To all coffee lovers and coffee addicts out there and even to those who doesn't like coffee at all. I wanted to share this cute and inspiring story with you. The story goes like this:

A group of alumni, highly established in the careers, were talking at a reunion and decided to go visit their old university professor, now retired. During their visit the conversation soon turned in to complaints about stress in their work and lives.

Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups-porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite, telling them to help themselves to the coffee.

When all the alumni had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: “Notice that all of the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it’s normal for you to want only the best for yourselves that is the source of your problems and stress. Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink.

What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups . . . and then you began eyeing each other’s cups.

Now consider this: Life is the coffee; your job, money, and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life. The type of cup one has does not define, nor change the quality of Life as a person lives. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us.”

God makes the coffee, man chooses the cups. The happiest people don’t have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything.

Live Simply. Love Generously. Care Deeply. Speak Kindly.

Enjoy your coffee!

TEMPORARY HAITUS

For me Holy Week is a time for reflection, sacrifice, penance, pondering on oneself and a time of prayer. A time of commemorating the Passion and Death of Christ.

As to give way this Lenten Week Celebration and since it is holiday, so no work (meaning I can't log on to my blog, quite sad for i gonna miss my blogging career --> sacrifice) I will be in Temporary Haitus. I will be back on Easter Monday April 12. But I will leave passages that my avid readers and friends her in the blogosphere who never skips visiting my blog may reflect unto:


Words to live by. . .

...worried? You are big in God's Eye!
Matthew 6:25-26 says:
"I tell you, do not worry about your life. Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?"




...bankrupt? You are rich beyond measure!
John 15:5
"If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit."








...tired? Find rest in Jesus!
Matthew 11:28
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."








...afraid? You are Loved!
1 John 4:18
"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear."









...lost? Find yourself in Jesus!
Psalm 37:23
"The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his ways."





...lonely? You are never alone!
John 16:32
"Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me."






May you be uplifted by these words.

Have A Blessed & Meaningful Holy Week to all!!!

I Pray . . .

Lord, I pray not for fame

in this world,

nor for treasures

that this world can bring.

I pray for the spirit of one tiny bird

that can fly through the tempest –

then sing.

Lord, I pray not for miraculous signs

and wonders that I may perceive.

I pray for the trust

of an innocent child

who can see your work, Lord –

and believe.

-Robin St. John-

The Masks We Wear

I want to share a passage with an unknown author. I really like this passage for It talks about the mask that we wear. It goes like this:

Don’t be fooled by me. Don’t be fooled by the mask I wear. For I wear a thousand masks, masks that I am afraid to take off and none of them are really me. Pretending is an art that is second nature with me. I give the impression that I am secure, that everything is fine with me, that confidence is my name and coolness is my game. And that I need no one. But don’t be fooled by me.

My surface may seem smooth, but my surface is my mask. Beneath the mask is the real me – confused, frightened and alone. But I hide this. I don’t want anyone to know it. I panic at the thought of my weakness and fear being exposed. That’s why I create a mask to hide behind –a nonchalant, sophisticated facade to help me pretend, to shield me from the glance that knows.

I know that such a glance is my salvation. I know that if it is followed by acceptance, if it’s followed by love, it’s the only thing that will assure me of what I can’t assure myself – that I am worth something, that I am lovable.

But I can’t tell you this. I don’t dare. I’m afraid to. I am afraid that your glance will not be followed by acceptance and love. I’m afraid that you will think less of me, that you’ll laugh at me and your laughter would kill me. I’m afraid that deep down I’m nothing, that I’m no good and that you will see this and reject me. So I play my desperate game with a mask of assurance on the outside and a trembling child on the inside. And my whole life becomes a mask.

I chatter away surface talk, I tell you everything that is really nothing and nothing of what is everything. But when I go through my routine, don’t be fooled by what I am saying. Please listen carefully and try to hear what I’m not saying, what I’d like to be able to say, what I need to say but can’t.

I don’t like hiding behind my mask. I don’t like the superficial game I’m playing. I would really like to be genuine and spontaneous and really me. But you’ve got to help me. You’ve got to hold out your hand even when that’s the last thing I seem to want. Only you can throw away the mask. Only you can call me into life again, each time that you are kind and gentle and encouraging, each time you try to understand because you really care. With your sensitivity and empathy and your power of understanding, you can make me throw away the mask. You can make me live again.

I want you to know that, I want to know how important you are to me, how you can be the creator of the real person that is me if you want to. Please want to! You can break down the wall behind which tremble, you can make me throw away the mask. You can free me from my world of uncertainty and insecurity. Please don’t pass me by!

It will not be easy for you. Long years of insecurity and feeling worthless build strong walls. The closer you come to me the more I fight back against you. I fight against the very thing that I need. But I know that love and acceptance are stronger than the highest walls – and that is my hope.

Please try to break down those walls with gentle hands, for a child is very sensitive. Please take my mask away and accept me and love me. I need to be accepted and loved. I am someone you know very well. I am every man and woman you meet. Please take away my mask in love.

NO TIME

I am cleaning up my files in my drawer today, kinda 5s thing and I saw this article or poem. I find it nice so it give me an idea to share it and post it here in my blog. :)

I knelt to pray

But not for long

I had too much to do

Must hurry off and get to work

For bills would soon be due

And so I said a hurried prayer

Jumped up from off my knees

My Christian duty was done

My soul could be at ease.

All through the day I had no time

To speak a word of cheer

No time to speak of Christ to friends,

They’d laugh at me I feared

No time… no time… too much to do

That was my constant cry.

No time to give those in need.

At last it was time to die,

And when before the Lord I came,

I stood with downcast eyes.

Within His hand He held a book,

It was the book of life.

He looked into the book and said,

Your Name I cannot find.

I was going to write it down

But never found the time.

By Chance or By Choice

When we meet the right person to Love

when we're at the right place at the right time,

That's a chance.

When you meet someone you're attracted to, t

hat's not a choice. That’s a chance.

Being caught up in a moment

(and there's a lot of couples who get together because of this)..

is not a choice. That’s also a chance.

The difference is what happens afterwards.

When will you take that infatuation, that crush,

that mind, blowing attraction to the next level?

That's when all sanity goes back, you sit down

and contemplate whether you want to make

this into a concrete relationship or just a fling.

If you decide to Love a person, even with his faults,

That's not a chance. That's a choice.

When you choose to be with a person,

no matter what, That’s a choice.

Even if you know there are many people

out there who are more attractive, smarter,

and richer than your mate, and yet, you decide to

Love your mate just the same, that’s choice

Infatuation...

crushes...

attraction...

comes to us by chance.

But, True Love...

that lasts...

is truly a choice.

A choice that we make.

Regarding soul mates,

there's a beautiful movie quote

that I believe is so true about this

"Fate brings you together,

but it's still up to you to make it happen."

I do believe that soul mates do exist.

That there is truly someone made for you.

But it's still up to you to make the choice

if you're going to do something about it or not.

We may meet our soul mates by CHANCE,

but loving and staying with our soul mates

is still A CHOICE we have to make.

We came to the world not by finding someone

perfect to Love...

BUT to learn how to Love an imperfect person

Perfectly...

It is not the matter how to find someone perfect to love...

but how to love someone imperfect perfectly .....

Bring Me all The Flowers Today

This afternoon I attended a Burial Mass. I was struck by the priest's sermon about death of a love one. He said that death is not a time for mourning but it is a time for a celebration. We will celebrate for his/her death because he/she is at peace already with our Lord. We should not cry because for the lost of a love one but cry for she/he is at peace already. The priest also mention about the flowers we put as a decorations around the casket or the bouquet of flowers or the well arranged flowers or the "corona" as what they call it, that we usually gave as a sign of our sympathy to the bereaved family. Showing that we're in depth sorrow with them. That all of that were not important anymore. Your dead love ones could not hold it or smell it anymore. The right time that we should give flowers to her/him was when she was still alive. Then the priest share this touching poem entitled "Bring Me All The Flowers Today" and the poem goes like these......

Bring Me All The Flowers Today.

I would rather have a little rose
from the garden of a friend
Than flowers strewn around my casket
When my days on earth must end.

I would rather have a living smile
From one I know is true
Than tears shed around my casket
When this world I bid adieu

Bring me all the flowers today
Whether pink, or white, or red,
I would rather have one blossom now
Than a truckload when I am dead!!

Indeed the poem is so touching that you can surely reflect on.....

Follow Your Heart

Want to share an inspiring story about following once heart....

I know the sun will rise every morning, even when there are clouds. I know the birds sing melodious songs because I have heard them from the empty enclosure of my room. I know the sky is blue through the clouds, that the grass is green even when I stand in the desert. I know the branches of trees dance to the movements of the wind even though now the wind is still. I know flowers have beautiful smells, that the ocean never sleeps, and that the rain falls upon high mountains. I know deeply that all human beings are beautiful if they are born free to follow their hearts.

It has been said, long before these words were written, that if you build an archway for your heart, with neither lock nor door, life will pass freely through that archway in harmony with your senses.

TOUCH your friends, your husband or wife, and they are strangers no more. Hold them as you would touch the delicate petals of an orchid, or put ypur hand in a gentle stream, or feel the sand beneath your feet, or climb upon the rocks and crags on the shoreline.

LISTEN to their words, their breathing, their heartbeat, their footsteps on the stairway or at the door as they come to you, as you would listen to the rain, or the cock crowning in the early morning, or the bark of a dog, or the cascading of a waterfall or a tiny breeze.

SEE the expressions on their faces of their different moods. See in their eyes the longing for love, companionship and meaning in their lives. See their body move, uniting themselves with life. See their hands create their being, as you would see a quiet pool, the splash of wave, a new portrait made by falling rain, the landscape of a valley, the changing of a sunset.

SPEAK to them of love, of harmony of nature, of quiet understanding among men, of the simple things in life which one can find peace, of the truth you have found, as you would speak to God.

Ride the crest of the wave to the shore.

Follow the river till it merges with the ocean.

Look at the clouds till they disappear.

Watch the sunrise trace its path across the sky, then vanish.

When you have experiences these things, you will know your heart. Follow it. When you have freed yourself from the dogma and conditioning of society, where will you go? To those things you love.

Let your mind and your actions explode with awareness as you light your forgotten lanterns of happiness, as you find a peaceful clearing in the jungle of our society.

LOVE is everywhere. It is in the night sky where the stars smile. It is in the field of rice dancing in the wind. It is in the waves sculturing rocks. It is in the sound of music, in man's creation of art. It is a seed nourished by two human beings. Love will find you and you will find love-if love becomes your attitude.

Failing Relationship

When we fail in our relationships, we ask ourselves what went wrong.

There are times when nothing was wrong. Sometimes love just naturally fades away and this happens to people who are simply not meant for each other.

I know it is difficult to comprehend why relationships suddenly take unexpected turns. But, it always happens. People we treasure are taken away from us for a reason. Sometimes we have to stop asking why and just accept our fate. If there is certainty in that end, then we should stop being bitter and just be thankful that for once, we have loved and shared our life.

Sometimes we are holding on to someone whom we think is still there but has really been long gone, or was just looking for a decent way out of your relationship. You know how men can get away with words. There is nothing wrong in loving someone. You may be able to bear the pain when love begins to hurt. And when it hurts, you may still be able to give even more. You maybe even able to love until it hurts no more. But what good does it bring you when the person you love shows no respect for what you feel and makes lame excuses for his inability to love you back. Love isn't love until you give away. But love will only have life when it is shared by two people who believe in its meaning, by people who share one goal, one commitment,and by people who are selflessly loyal to each other.

God's ways aren't always easy and painless. Some are meant to open our eyes to what we do not see. Some are meant to make us realize what we stubbornly refuse to understand. But all of them will always be meant to make us stronger and better persons. We just have to trust Him on that.you may find your way to the farthest planet and still remember the one you love.

Distance has little to do with forgetting. This healing should begin in your heart. Acceptance is the first step to recovery.

Once you have learned to understand that this is where it ends then it is the only time when you will learn how to move on with life without having to stop every time you are reminded of the bitterness of the past

Is Heaven in the yellow pages

I'm not the one who made this poem. A friend of mine forward this inmy email and it touches my heart so i-repost it in my blog.....:)

Mommy went to Heaven,

but I need her here today,

My tummy hurts and I fell down,

I need her right away.

Operator can you tell me

how to find her in this book?

Is heaven in the yellow part,

I don't know where to look.

I think my daddy needs her too,

at night I hear him cry.

I hear him call her name sometimes,

but I really don't know why.

Maybe if I call her,

she will hurry home to me.

Is Heaven very far away,

is it across the sea?

She's been gone a long,

long time she needs to come home now!

I really need to reach her,

but I simply don't know how.

Help me find the number please,

is it listed under "Heaven"?

I can't read these big, big words,

I am only seven.

I'm sorry operator,

I didn't mean to make you cry,

Is your tummy hurting too,

or is there something in your eye?

If I call my church maybe they will know.

Mommy said when we need help,

is that's where we should go.

I found the number to my church

tacked up on the wall.

Thank you operator,

I'll give them a call.

Why mom cries

Why are you crying, a young boy asked his Mom? "Because I'm a woman," she told him. "I don't understand," he said. His Mom just hugged him and said, "And you never will, but that's O.K."....... Later the little boy asked his father, "Why does Mom seem to cry for no reason?". "All women cry for no reason," was all his Dad could say...... she is special!The little boy grew up and became a man, still wondering why women cry. Finally he put in a call to God and when God got back to him, he asked "God, why do women cry so easily?" GOD answered...... "When I made woman, I decided she had to be special. I made her shoulders strong enough to carry the weight of the world, yet, made her arms gentle enough to give comfort... I gave her the inner strength to endure childbirth and the rejection that many times will come even from her own children. I gave her a hardness that allows her to keep going and take care of her family and friends, even when everyone else gives up, through sickness and fatigue without complaining.... I gave her the sensitivity to love her children under any and all circumstances. Even when her child has hurt her badly.... She has the very special power to make a child's boo-boo feel better and to quell a teenager's anxieties and fears.... I gave her strength to care for her husband, despite faults and I fashioned her from his rib to protect his heart.... I gave her wisdom to know that a good husband never hurts his wife, but sometimes tests her strengths and her resolve to stand beside him unfalteringly.... For all of this hard work,
I also gave her a tear to shed.
It is hers to use whenever needed and ! it is her only weakness.... When you see her cry, tell her how much you love her, and all she does for everyone, and even though she may still cry, you will have made her heart feel good.she is special...

Love Story

This is a very nice story.....:)

There was once this man who is very much in love with his girl. This romantic guy folded 1,000 pieces of paper cranes as a gift to his girl.Although, at that time he was just a small fry in his company, his future doesn't seemed too bright, they were very happy together.

Until one day, his girl told him she was going to Paris and will never come back. She also told him that she cannot visualize any future for the both of them, so they went their own ways there and then...

Heartbroken, the guy agreed. But when he regain his confidence, he worked hard day and night, slogging his body and mind just to make something out of himself.

Finally with all these hard work and the help of friends, this guy had set up his own company ... You never fail until you stop trying.One rainy day, while this guy was driving, he saw an elderly couple sharing an umbrella in the rain walking to some destination. Even with the umbrella, they were still drenched. It didn't take him long to realize those were his girl's parents.

With a heart in getting back at them, he drive slowly beside the couple,wanting them to spot him in his luxury Sedan. He wanted them to know that he wasn't the same anymore, he had his own company, car,condo, etc. He made it!

Before the guy can realize, the couple was walking towards a cemetery,and he got out of his car and followed...and he saw his girl, a photograph of her smiling sweetly as ever at him from her tombstone and he saw his paper cranes beside her...

Her parents saw him. He ask them why had this happened. They explained, she did not leave for France at all. She was ill with cancer. She had believed that he will make it someday, but she did not want to be his obstacle... therefore she had chosen to leave him.

Just because someone doesn't love you the way you want them to,doesn't mean they don't love you with all they have.

She had wanted her parents to put his paper cranes beside her,because, if the day comes when fate brings him to her again...he can take some of those back with him..

Once you have loved, you will always love. For what's in your mind may escape but what's in your heart will remain forever.

The guy just wept.

The worst way to miss someone is to be sitting right beside them knowing you can't have them......

Find time to realize that there is one person who mean so much to you,for you might wake up one morning losing that person who you thought meant nothing to you.

Just Listen!

I've wanted to share a passage that I've read from my book way back in college entitle The Mustard Seed.


We are great talkers, but most of us are not very good listeners. We always want to tell everybody about what we have done and about all our problems, but we are not too ready to listen to someone else's stories or problems. And here's the passage that I would like to share:


"When I ask you to listen to me and you start giving me a lot of advice, you are not doing what i asked you to do. I just wanted you to listen! When I ask you to please listen to me and you begin to tell me why I shouldn't feel that way and why I shouldn't be upset, you are really not paying attention to me. When I ask you to listen to me, and you feel that you have to do something right away to solve my problem, you have failed me, strange as that may seem. Listen! All I asked you to do was listen, not talk or do anything to help me. Just listen. Advice is cheap.You can find advice columns in all the newspapers. But I don't need advice. I can do it myself. I just need someone to listen to me for awhile, while I straighten out the confusion in my mind. I'm not helpless. Maybe I am discouraged or depressed or faltering, but I'm not helpless. When you do something for me that I really ought to do for myself, you are only adding t my insecurity and my fear and inadequacy. But when you accept, as a simple fact, that I just need to talk, then I can quit trying to convince you and get about the business of trying to understands what is happening to me and inside me. And when I talk and you just listen, the answers become clearer for me, my irrational feelings begin to make sense, and begin to understand what is behind them all. So, please, just listen to me for awhile, and then if you want to talk, I'll listen to you."