Receiving Grace

One afternoon, my officemate and I were talking about practices of different religions. She told me that she is actively involved in church activities and that she enjoys them very much. Years ago, she would have preferred night out with friends and have fun like the usual teenagers do. But now, she found herself tired of her old ways and started to discover the intangible rewards in serving God. She eventually became active in hosting church events which also helped her grow and mature as a professional. This became her avenue to share and develop her talent and skills.

On the contrary, I admitted that I used to serve the church through singing with the choir. But I suddenly stopped doing so because of the people I was with. Simply because, I expect them
to be as good-natured as what they preach. But as I involve myself, I saw something very disheartening. Every week, it just keeps piling up. Every word, just makes me think twice. The disillusionment was just too much that I had to withdraw my membership to avoid such "negative" crowd.

Then my office-mate told me "Maybe you are expecting too much and you are also forgetting that they are just human beings"

All of a sudden, my mind cleared up like how the ravishing waves of the sea clears the shore. Suddenly, I received Grace from Grace- yes, that's my office-mate's name.

Me and Grace

Because of her, I now believe that spirituality is internally rooted. It really depends on you and how you stay true to what you believe in.

Today, I commit to see each day- every moment as an opportunity to practice church's teaching gracefully. I believe that is one of the best ways to serve God. It also shows the value of integrity- where we choose to do the right thing even no one is looking. We can cheat the world, but we can never cheat ourselves.

"What you are is God's gift to you, what you become is your gift to God"-Hans Urs von Balthasar

BIG RED BALLOON

Here’s another unforgettable jeepney ride story.

I was on my home from duty way back in 2002, when I saw this cute little boy with his mother and baby sister riding the same jeep as I was in. The mom had a lot of groceries on hand while also carrying her baby girl about 3-4 months old. The boy was around 4-5 years of age and had a big red balloon that his mother secured by tying it around his wrists. After just few minutes, the boy fell asleep.

When it’s about time to go down the vehicle, the mother had a hard time waking up him up that we got stalled for several minutes. Almost everyone, including myself, got involved that we all tried to wake him up. Some called him by his name, some tapped his little arms and others even tried to bribe him with candy. But every single attempt failed.

"Red Balloon" Gouache Paint on Paper

Then, a witty young man shouted “Bata! Yung lobo mo lumipad!” (Kid, your balloon flew!). The boy immediately woke up and was ready to run after his balloon. A sudden burst of laughter filled the entire jeep. Some passengers continued to talk about the incident and shared a few more laughs after they went down.

What happened to the boy is known as “The cocktail party effect/phenomenon”. It is described as the ability to focus one's listening attention on a single talker among a mixture of conversations and background noises, ignoring other conversations. There exists a type of audio filter in our brain that selects which among all the stimuli needs to be responded to. The selection depends on how important or relevant the information to the person is. In this case, we know that the balloon was really important to the kid. And that motivated him to pay attention.

So tell me, what is that one most important thing in your life now that you can never do without? If you know the answer then you are lucky enough to have that strong, compelling “why” to continue on with everything that is you’re doing. If not, I suggest you try to find out now.

What's your big red balloon?