A book about things to be proud of as Filipinos: Filipino Pride. And to my friends from AIM, Prof. Julie Tanada is a contributor. Download the free light version of the book here:
http://filipinomatters.org/
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Mga Tanong
1. Bakit malungkot ang nag-iisa o lahat ba ng nag-iisa ay malungkot?
2. Kapag masaya ako, green ang damo. Kapag malungkot ako, green pa rin ang damo. So, sino ba talaga ang may issue, ako o ang damo?
from a film presentation during VCF’s 25th anniversary concert
And my own:
Why do people end relationships only through text nowadays? Are the people who do this cowards? Or does it depend on how committed they once were to the relationship they are ending and the person they once were with?
2. Kapag masaya ako, green ang damo. Kapag malungkot ako, green pa rin ang damo. So, sino ba talaga ang may issue, ako o ang damo?
from a film presentation during VCF’s 25th anniversary concert
And my own:
Why do people end relationships only through text nowadays? Are the people who do this cowards? Or does it depend on how committed they once were to the relationship they are ending and the person they once were with?
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
A Note to Madame Cory
History has been kind to you. I hope our leaders realize that ultimately, history will be their best judge and not the applause during their SONAs or public speeches.
People are storming the heavens with prayers for your healing. How many of our leaders or who else among our leaders would be worthy of that if ever they get sick?
*****
I remember from my HBO class that leadership is a function of having followers. I wonder, are our leaders really worthy to be called leaders in this sense or are they just mere government officials without any follower at all?
People are storming the heavens with prayers for your healing. How many of our leaders or who else among our leaders would be worthy of that if ever they get sick?
*****
I remember from my HBO class that leadership is a function of having followers. I wonder, are our leaders really worthy to be called leaders in this sense or are they just mere government officials without any follower at all?
A Quick Note to the Eagle's Star
KNOW THAT I AM STILL WAITING...
I missed you today.
It saddens me to think that we're back to square one.
I missed you today.
It saddens me to think that we're back to square one.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Finding My Filipino-ness
In the midst of all the celebration of Pacquiao’s triumph over Hatton and my reflection on the book of Nehemiah, I suddenly felt glad and proud to be Filipino; not that I never was but I just never had the need to emphasize that I am a Filipino. My pride does not only come from the honor that Pacquiao and Lea Salonga and all the popular Filipinos all over the world have brought our country; my pride comes from knowing that I am a Filipino who can do something to uplift the life of others in my country. I am a Filipino, born and raised as one—not as some other race—because I can contribute to bringing back the glory that our country once had. I am a Filipino who can help make this world a better place one person at a time.
I never dreamt of migrating to another country and living there permanently and getting another citizenship. I have been disillusioned once—I had given up any hope for our political system and politicians—and had planned to leave the country but I always had the intention of coming back to help my country. But I realized that my citizenship should not be limited by my address. I can be in London, Boston, or Tondo and still be Filipino in mind and heart.
My being Filipino now is more than abiding by the traffic rules. It is more than using the pedestrian lane when crossing the street; it is more than following the traffic lights. It is more than paying the correct amount of taxes. It is more than having integrity as a worker. It is in seeing to it that a child who cannot afford to go to school gets the education he deserves. It is in seeing to it that a worker gets paid decently. It is in seeing to it that a family has their own source of livelihood. It is in seeing to it that a child never goes hungry. Yes, even one decent meal can make a difference.
My advocacies since I was a kid haven’t changed—I have always wanted to help in the areas of education especially for children, in providing livelihood for the poor, and in conserving the environment. I thank God for the constant reminder to reach out. And I thank God because I now have a better view of my sphere of influence and where and how exactly I can make a difference. Change starts with a person, with one small step, and it starts with me.
Let these be my legacy—to help even just one child go to school, to teach a family to fish, to feed street children. For I know how it feels to go to bed hungry. During 2008’s prayer and fasting, I once had to go to bed with a headache due to hunger. And that hunger and headache were something that I could have avoided by eating. I had a choice. But a lot of children do not, and I would like to give them that choice. Too bad that good education and good food have become a privilege for the few in this country. I hope to change that—one kid, one person, one family at a time. Let me correct that…I am now walking in faith that I can change that because I have been doing things to change that because in 2009’s prayer and fasting, I was challenged to do something more concrete--to act on my desire to help for my fasting would have gone to waste if all I had was a desire, a vision with no action.
I continue to be moved by the sight of hungry children on TV. I passed by the Quirino Grandstand last June 14th and saw the long lines of people participating in the government’s employment program under the grueling heat of the sun. I was moved to the point of tears that I prayed for them to find a job. We will have a presidential election next year. I have been praying for discernment on who to vote for and for these aspirants to have the genuine concern for our country and not just the selfish desire for power. With the prayers comes the desire to be shown how to help better the lives of people.
I may not see the Philippines back in its former glory in my lifetime. It will not take just one government or one administration but I am standing in faith that my efforts to help my country will make a difference however small it may be.
I never dreamt of migrating to another country and living there permanently and getting another citizenship. I have been disillusioned once—I had given up any hope for our political system and politicians—and had planned to leave the country but I always had the intention of coming back to help my country. But I realized that my citizenship should not be limited by my address. I can be in London, Boston, or Tondo and still be Filipino in mind and heart.
Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country…The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life.--JFK
My being Filipino now is more than abiding by the traffic rules. It is more than using the pedestrian lane when crossing the street; it is more than following the traffic lights. It is more than paying the correct amount of taxes. It is more than having integrity as a worker. It is in seeing to it that a child who cannot afford to go to school gets the education he deserves. It is in seeing to it that a worker gets paid decently. It is in seeing to it that a family has their own source of livelihood. It is in seeing to it that a child never goes hungry. Yes, even one decent meal can make a difference.
My advocacies since I was a kid haven’t changed—I have always wanted to help in the areas of education especially for children, in providing livelihood for the poor, and in conserving the environment. I thank God for the constant reminder to reach out. And I thank God because I now have a better view of my sphere of influence and where and how exactly I can make a difference. Change starts with a person, with one small step, and it starts with me.
Let these be my legacy—to help even just one child go to school, to teach a family to fish, to feed street children. For I know how it feels to go to bed hungry. During 2008’s prayer and fasting, I once had to go to bed with a headache due to hunger. And that hunger and headache were something that I could have avoided by eating. I had a choice. But a lot of children do not, and I would like to give them that choice. Too bad that good education and good food have become a privilege for the few in this country. I hope to change that—one kid, one person, one family at a time. Let me correct that…I am now walking in faith that I can change that because I have been doing things to change that because in 2009’s prayer and fasting, I was challenged to do something more concrete--to act on my desire to help for my fasting would have gone to waste if all I had was a desire, a vision with no action.
Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?—Isaiah 58:5-7
I continue to be moved by the sight of hungry children on TV. I passed by the Quirino Grandstand last June 14th and saw the long lines of people participating in the government’s employment program under the grueling heat of the sun. I was moved to the point of tears that I prayed for them to find a job. We will have a presidential election next year. I have been praying for discernment on who to vote for and for these aspirants to have the genuine concern for our country and not just the selfish desire for power. With the prayers comes the desire to be shown how to help better the lives of people.
All this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it be finished in the first 1,000 days, nor in the life of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.--JFK
I may not see the Philippines back in its former glory in my lifetime. It will not take just one government or one administration but I am standing in faith that my efforts to help my country will make a difference however small it may be.
An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.—Martin Luther King, Jr.
Packing Bags, Uncovering Memories
I called the one I was supposed to surprise with the apartment “my star” but I realized that you are the original star, the one whose light has never gone out. Yes, you have always been there…you stayed at the side lines after we had parted ways while I found a new star whose light later dimmed.
*****
At the very center of my bed right now is a red box with a diamond ring. “Wear it to our dinner on Saturday and I will follow you to London,” you said when you brought the ring to my apartment a week after you had learned about my plans to leave the country. You must have sensed my confusion because you added, “It’s not an engagement ring.” So what is it exactly? Just some sign you need from me for you to leave everything behind and be with me in London? Yes, you said.
It is Friday. Tomorrow, we go out to have dinner. I have been trying to ignore that red box. I have been delaying having to make a decision—do I want you back in my life? Do I want you with me in London? I still have so many things to do—turnover at work, send-off parties to attend, bills to settle, and independent films to see. I still have to pack so many things. I still have to sort which of my stuff to take with me to London and which to store at my parents’ house. I have been trying to ignore that red box. I have been trying to push the thoughts of you away from my mind. But as I pack my bags, as I gather all the things I have brought into this apartment for sorting, I realize that you are in almost all of them, that almost every nook and cranny of this apartment has some memory of you in it.
You were not the reason I got this apartment. You knew it was supposed to be for someone. After we had parted ways, I met someone and the apartment was supposed to be a surprise for him. But things happened and plans changed. Still, I kept the house. It was here that I healed myself and picked myself up. Or better, it was here where you picked me up from the mess that I had become and helped me be whole again.
The apartment was as plain as it could be with its dark wood and off-white motif. Plain and lifeless as was my life after I had parted ways with the person I was supposed to surprise with the apartment. Then, you started putting color into it as you started putting color back into my life…as a friend, as you put it.
You had gifted me with a 32-inch flat screen TV with cable subscription so I could have something to entertain me…though you had known I didn’t watch TV a lot. I still don’t. You had said you couldn’t imagine me staring out into space and crying my eyes out every time I would be home alone. Later, you admitted that you had gotten the TV because you had nothing else to do while waiting for me to get home from work. And I didn’t want you to pick me up from work, anyway. I had given you the key to my house because you would always come over anyway and I hated the thought that you would always have to wait somewhere else while I was at work. A week after I had given you the key, I woke up to the smell of ham and cheese omelet coming from my kitchen. Yes, you just prepared a “real” breakfast for me—with bread, juice, coffee, and fruits—and not just some microwaved food from the convenience store across the street.
I am now staring at a rack of McCormick spices. I still don’t know which to use for soups, steaks, and fish but with your sophisticated taste in food, you were always able to identify what was in your food even with your eyes closed. With you, I always had restaurant-grade meals at home. I sometimes complained at my lack of culinary skills “but you could bake,” you said. And I shot back, “but I couldn’t be eating brownies all the time!” And you laughed. My kitchen is the way it is now because of you. I was content with a microwave and a convection oven for baking but you added the stove and the pots and the pans. You would use those to cook for me, you said.
When I got home one weekend, I was surprised by the Malang painting in my receiving room, and on to my bathroom was a blue shower curtain and yellow towels. You knew my colors. I thought that your being an architect benefited me. Yes, I had this little thought that you might be gay but I knew otherwise.
I called the one I was supposed to surprise with the apartment “my star” but I realized that you are the original star, the one whose light has never gone out. Yes, you have always been there…you stayed at the side lines after we had parted ways while I found a new star whose light later dimmed.
I am sitting here on the sofa bed that I bought for you. At my lowest point after my star’s light had dimmed, you decided that you would sleep over as often as you could…just to keep me company. You saw me crying myself to sleep. You saw me waking up at 3 a.m. crying. You saw me walking around my apartment mumbling questions I would have asked the star whose light had dimmed. From here on the sofa bed I am sitting on right now, you saw me make a fool of myself. From this sofa bed, you reached out your hand to me and you helped me slowly make myself whole again.
I had this fear that there might be something in the sleepovers, in the meals together, in your cooking for me. And I wasn’t ready for whatever it was. Not so soon. It wasn’t fair for you. I was still healing. Yes, I was whole but the scars had yet to heal. The seams had yet to disappear. So, I asked for my key back.
I am walking back to my bedroom to get the red box with a diamond ring in it. I have a decision to make.
*****
At the very center of my bed right now is a red box with a diamond ring. “Wear it to our dinner on Saturday and I will follow you to London,” you said when you brought the ring to my apartment a week after you had learned about my plans to leave the country. You must have sensed my confusion because you added, “It’s not an engagement ring.” So what is it exactly? Just some sign you need from me for you to leave everything behind and be with me in London? Yes, you said.
It is Friday. Tomorrow, we go out to have dinner. I have been trying to ignore that red box. I have been delaying having to make a decision—do I want you back in my life? Do I want you with me in London? I still have so many things to do—turnover at work, send-off parties to attend, bills to settle, and independent films to see. I still have to pack so many things. I still have to sort which of my stuff to take with me to London and which to store at my parents’ house. I have been trying to ignore that red box. I have been trying to push the thoughts of you away from my mind. But as I pack my bags, as I gather all the things I have brought into this apartment for sorting, I realize that you are in almost all of them, that almost every nook and cranny of this apartment has some memory of you in it.
You were not the reason I got this apartment. You knew it was supposed to be for someone. After we had parted ways, I met someone and the apartment was supposed to be a surprise for him. But things happened and plans changed. Still, I kept the house. It was here that I healed myself and picked myself up. Or better, it was here where you picked me up from the mess that I had become and helped me be whole again.
The apartment was as plain as it could be with its dark wood and off-white motif. Plain and lifeless as was my life after I had parted ways with the person I was supposed to surprise with the apartment. Then, you started putting color into it as you started putting color back into my life…as a friend, as you put it.
You had gifted me with a 32-inch flat screen TV with cable subscription so I could have something to entertain me…though you had known I didn’t watch TV a lot. I still don’t. You had said you couldn’t imagine me staring out into space and crying my eyes out every time I would be home alone. Later, you admitted that you had gotten the TV because you had nothing else to do while waiting for me to get home from work. And I didn’t want you to pick me up from work, anyway. I had given you the key to my house because you would always come over anyway and I hated the thought that you would always have to wait somewhere else while I was at work. A week after I had given you the key, I woke up to the smell of ham and cheese omelet coming from my kitchen. Yes, you just prepared a “real” breakfast for me—with bread, juice, coffee, and fruits—and not just some microwaved food from the convenience store across the street.
I am now staring at a rack of McCormick spices. I still don’t know which to use for soups, steaks, and fish but with your sophisticated taste in food, you were always able to identify what was in your food even with your eyes closed. With you, I always had restaurant-grade meals at home. I sometimes complained at my lack of culinary skills “but you could bake,” you said. And I shot back, “but I couldn’t be eating brownies all the time!” And you laughed. My kitchen is the way it is now because of you. I was content with a microwave and a convection oven for baking but you added the stove and the pots and the pans. You would use those to cook for me, you said.
When I got home one weekend, I was surprised by the Malang painting in my receiving room, and on to my bathroom was a blue shower curtain and yellow towels. You knew my colors. I thought that your being an architect benefited me. Yes, I had this little thought that you might be gay but I knew otherwise.
I called the one I was supposed to surprise with the apartment “my star” but I realized that you are the original star, the one whose light has never gone out. Yes, you have always been there…you stayed at the side lines after we had parted ways while I found a new star whose light later dimmed.
I am sitting here on the sofa bed that I bought for you. At my lowest point after my star’s light had dimmed, you decided that you would sleep over as often as you could…just to keep me company. You saw me crying myself to sleep. You saw me waking up at 3 a.m. crying. You saw me walking around my apartment mumbling questions I would have asked the star whose light had dimmed. From here on the sofa bed I am sitting on right now, you saw me make a fool of myself. From this sofa bed, you reached out your hand to me and you helped me slowly make myself whole again.
I had this fear that there might be something in the sleepovers, in the meals together, in your cooking for me. And I wasn’t ready for whatever it was. Not so soon. It wasn’t fair for you. I was still healing. Yes, I was whole but the scars had yet to heal. The seams had yet to disappear. So, I asked for my key back.
I am walking back to my bedroom to get the red box with a diamond ring in it. I have a decision to make.
Cinemalaya Cinco: In Support of Philippine Independent Films, In Support of P
"Manila" was the movie that opened the 2009 Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival at the CCP yesterday. Don't watch it if you are into happy endings. It's a dark, raw movie.
2009 Cinemalaya schedule here: www.cinemalaya.org
Some pictures:
2009 Cinemalaya schedule here: www.cinemalaya.org
Some pictures:
The Day I Say Goodbye to P
Goodbye, P. I am letting you go. I cannot stand always having to fight for your time—you are always busy, busy, busy. I tried to understand you, your work and its demands on you but it has come to be too much to bear. You have only one word to answer my questions about how you are—BUSY! I make plans to be with you even for just a simple movie…oh, right…nothing is simple in your life…everything is complicated.
I cannot take the intrigues anymore. Maybe because I am not from show business. So, goodbye. Good luck na lang kay KC.
*****
Found someone new. He’s 50ish. Uh oh, not again!!! He’s smart, funny, and artistic. Yes, he’s an art patron and he supports a lot of art organizations in the country. And he’s my brother’s big boss. Syempre, joke joke lang naman ito. *winks* (lest I get sermons again from BBB).
I cannot take the intrigues anymore. Maybe because I am not from show business. So, goodbye. Good luck na lang kay KC.
*****
Found someone new. He’s 50ish. Uh oh, not again!!! He’s smart, funny, and artistic. Yes, he’s an art patron and he supports a lot of art organizations in the country. And he’s my brother’s big boss. Syempre, joke joke lang naman ito. *winks* (lest I get sermons again from BBB).
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Reactions and Reflections
Someone reacted to my blog “Let’s Talk”:
I understand what you say... I always felt that the days when I had
less money were more fun…
I think it’s money that drives as all apart. The more money we make,
the more we become justifiable and while we may call it
responsibilities... it’s more like we have to sweat for the money that
we are being paid. And since we are all conscionable people, we work
harder and longer and therefore neglect the people who mean the most
in our lives…
Yea... I thought I shall email you later but since that would then be
planned and forgotten... I thought I shall do so immediately.
We never see a little flower that grows in a park you know. It takes
time. It takes effort to bend down and see its petals. Same is the
case with friendships. We have to invest time in this one Mar. I need
you to be there in my life.
*****
Somewhere in my journal, this is written:
As I get “richer,” as I get “more successful,” or the higher I go up the corporate ladder, the more I realize that a car, a house, or a high-paying job should and will not make me happy; the more I resolve to humble myself more; the more I take simple joy in taking the bus and the train, in bonding with my family and friends. There is just so much joy in simple and uncomplicated living.
I use my time more wisely now—lesser time on Facebook, more on reading and writing and being with family and friends. For several times this year, I was “on call” for friends who needed to be comforted (even at 12 midnight as I was about to go to bed after a long day at work!) and I have friends who are also just one text away whenever I need someone to have a meal or movie with. I thank God for my friends who, as varied as they are, keep me sane and grounded. I strive to have a more genuine and personal way of keeping in touch with them and not just through Facebook or Twitter, which are so shallow anyway, as one friend put it…because we have to invest time…we have to make time for the ones who really matter.
*****
And I keep this in mind:
1 Timothy 6:17-18
Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.
I understand what you say... I always felt that the days when I had
less money were more fun…
I think it’s money that drives as all apart. The more money we make,
the more we become justifiable and while we may call it
responsibilities... it’s more like we have to sweat for the money that
we are being paid. And since we are all conscionable people, we work
harder and longer and therefore neglect the people who mean the most
in our lives…
Yea... I thought I shall email you later but since that would then be
planned and forgotten... I thought I shall do so immediately.
We never see a little flower that grows in a park you know. It takes
time. It takes effort to bend down and see its petals. Same is the
case with friendships. We have to invest time in this one Mar. I need
you to be there in my life.
*****
Somewhere in my journal, this is written:
As I get “richer,” as I get “more successful,” or the higher I go up the corporate ladder, the more I realize that a car, a house, or a high-paying job should and will not make me happy; the more I resolve to humble myself more; the more I take simple joy in taking the bus and the train, in bonding with my family and friends. There is just so much joy in simple and uncomplicated living.
I use my time more wisely now—lesser time on Facebook, more on reading and writing and being with family and friends. For several times this year, I was “on call” for friends who needed to be comforted (even at 12 midnight as I was about to go to bed after a long day at work!) and I have friends who are also just one text away whenever I need someone to have a meal or movie with. I thank God for my friends who, as varied as they are, keep me sane and grounded. I strive to have a more genuine and personal way of keeping in touch with them and not just through Facebook or Twitter, which are so shallow anyway, as one friend put it…because we have to invest time…we have to make time for the ones who really matter.
*****
And I keep this in mind:
1 Timothy 6:17-18
Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Let's Talk
I miss you.
I miss our school days—when we still had much time to talk and see each other even when we were surviving on a student allowance.
Look at us now. We have the money but we don’t have the time anymore for even a small talk. We only get to know about each other’s life through our status on Facebook, which I barely visit nowadays. I think Twitter is becoming more popular but I don’t intend to be there—140 characters would not be enough to tell you what’s going on in my life. Besides, I want to be more personal with you. I don’t want some generic broadcast of my life to the world to be my means to reach you.
We email each other but our mails have become shorter and shorter. We’re both too busy nowadays. Our hugs have been reduced to asterisks and letters *hugs*. Do you know that a person needs to be hugged at least three times a day? How do we do that? *hugs* *hugs* *hugs*? We promise to write longer, we plan to write more but we have to fight even for the time to do so. When I decide to go back to school once again, I am afraid that whatever little time I have right now to write to you will be taken away.
I miss our school days—when we still had much time to talk and see each other even when we were surviving on a student allowance.
Look at us now. We have the money but we don’t have the time anymore for even a small talk. We only get to know about each other’s life through our status on Facebook, which I barely visit nowadays. I think Twitter is becoming more popular but I don’t intend to be there—140 characters would not be enough to tell you what’s going on in my life. Besides, I want to be more personal with you. I don’t want some generic broadcast of my life to the world to be my means to reach you.
We email each other but our mails have become shorter and shorter. We’re both too busy nowadays. Our hugs have been reduced to asterisks and letters *hugs*. Do you know that a person needs to be hugged at least three times a day? How do we do that? *hugs* *hugs* *hugs*? We promise to write longer, we plan to write more but we have to fight even for the time to do so. When I decide to go back to school once again, I am afraid that whatever little time I have right now to write to you will be taken away.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Faith vs. Hope
From my inbox:
I like the old King James translation of Hebrews 11:1:
Faith is not an abstract theoretical proposition. It’s not wishful thinking. It’s substance. It’s action.
Most of my life I imagined faith as some kind of force field. And the way we talk about faith dematerializes it. By most definitions, faith is synonymous with hope.
The more I study Scripture, the more I detect a sharp distinction between hope and faith. Hope is a desire. Faith is a demonstration. Hope wants it to happen. Faith causes it to happen and acts as if it’s already done.
Faith is not content to want it really, really bad. Faith consults the drawings and gets busy building. Hope is the blueprint. Faith is the contractor.
Some of the things we’re believing God for will never happen in our lives because we stand in hope instead of walking in faith.
I like the old King James translation of Hebrews 11:1:
Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Faith is not an abstract theoretical proposition. It’s not wishful thinking. It’s substance. It’s action.
Most of my life I imagined faith as some kind of force field. And the way we talk about faith dematerializes it. By most definitions, faith is synonymous with hope.
The more I study Scripture, the more I detect a sharp distinction between hope and faith. Hope is a desire. Faith is a demonstration. Hope wants it to happen. Faith causes it to happen and acts as if it’s already done.
Faith is not content to want it really, really bad. Faith consults the drawings and gets busy building. Hope is the blueprint. Faith is the contractor.
Some of the things we’re believing God for will never happen in our lives because we stand in hope instead of walking in faith.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Take Time Off
From my inbox:
Learn To Take Time Off
Are you tired all the time? Even after sleeping? Do you keep going to the doctor but he can't find anything wrong with you? You may be experiencing the symptoms of burnout. Long periods of overexertion can cause fatigue, sleeplessness and stress. Some other signals of burnout are crying for no reason, being easily angered, insecurity, negativity, irritability, depression, cynicism and resentment toward the blessings of others. Recognize any of these in yourself?
One reason God established the Sabbath was to keep us from burning out. The law of the Sabbath simply says that we can work six days, but on the seventh we need to rest; also to spend time worshipping God and having fellowship with His people. Even God rested after six days work. Now since God doesn't get tired, clearly He's giving us an example we should follow.
We argue that we cannot afford to take time off. The truth is, we can't afford not to! You say, "But I would never get anything done if I did that." Then you're too busy and something needs to change in your life. When you're too busy to obey God's commandments, and even follow His example, you'll pay the price.
What you sow, you reap. If you sow continual stress with no rest to offset it, you'll reap the results in your body, your mind, your emotions, your health and your relationships. So, rearrange your priorities and learn to take time off!
Learn To Take Time Off
On the seventh day He rested from all His work. - Genesis 2:2
Are you tired all the time? Even after sleeping? Do you keep going to the doctor but he can't find anything wrong with you? You may be experiencing the symptoms of burnout. Long periods of overexertion can cause fatigue, sleeplessness and stress. Some other signals of burnout are crying for no reason, being easily angered, insecurity, negativity, irritability, depression, cynicism and resentment toward the blessings of others. Recognize any of these in yourself?
One reason God established the Sabbath was to keep us from burning out. The law of the Sabbath simply says that we can work six days, but on the seventh we need to rest; also to spend time worshipping God and having fellowship with His people. Even God rested after six days work. Now since God doesn't get tired, clearly He's giving us an example we should follow.
We argue that we cannot afford to take time off. The truth is, we can't afford not to! You say, "But I would never get anything done if I did that." Then you're too busy and something needs to change in your life. When you're too busy to obey God's commandments, and even follow His example, you'll pay the price.
What you sow, you reap. If you sow continual stress with no rest to offset it, you'll reap the results in your body, your mind, your emotions, your health and your relationships. So, rearrange your priorities and learn to take time off!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)