Salty kind of love

By Beryl Baterina

 

 

 

A Helping Hand by Eugene von Blaas
(Wikimedia Commons).

 

"Keep salt in yourselves and you will have peace with one another."

When I was in First Grade, I read a story entitled "Love Like Salt."  It is a story of a princess who told her father that she loves him like sallt.  Of course the King became angry because he could not believe that her daughter would compare her love to salt.  That princess went away and later on came back home unknowingly to her father.  She told the servants to prepare food without salt and serve it to the King.  When the King ate, he was furious with the taste of the food.  He asked who is responsible for the food preparation.  The pincess appeared and told him, "I told the servant to serve the food as that.  I am a daughter who loves her father like salt."  With that the King realized how much his daughter trully loves him.

Salt is a very useful condiment for food.  It gives taste and it preserves.  And what if it lose its taste?  It's purpose will not work after all.  How can the taste be restored?

 

 

Continue reading at Beryl Baterina.

I am not in control

By Beryl Baterina

 

 

 

 

The Eve of the Deluge by John Martin (Wikimedia Commons)

 

 

 

"So for one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, it is a sin."

 

The passage from the letter of Saint James tells us that it is not correct to state our future doings making it like we are in control of what will happen to us.  It shows arrogance and depicts evil.  Knowing that it is evil and still doing it makes us sinners.

 

We all started from zero when we were born.  We knew nothing and we were educated through family, friends, schools, and other experiences.  When we were younger, adults decided for our well-being.  As we grow older, we begin to learn to decide for ourselves.  We are able to choose things which we think are good for us.   We have this "to do" list for our lives.  We have lots of plans for our future.  But do we include God in it?  

 

Sometimes (or most of the time) we neglect to remember that there is God who has control to what can happen to us.  When we want to do something in the future, like go shopping, we must say, "We will go shopping on Friday, God willing."  It is a sign that we acknowledge our God and not rely on our own as if we are already sure that we will go shopping on Friday.  

 

 

Continue reading at Beryl's blog Beryl Baterina: Daily Dose.

A heart that prays

By Beryl Baterina

Painting by Carpaccio (Wikipedia).

 

We, humans cannot be contented with what we have.  We have this unending desire to seek for more.  We want to aim higher and higher.  Well, there is nothing wrong with that.  In fact, it is good that we have goals to keep pushing ourselves.  And we pray to God to grant us our desires.  We pray that we may be able to land at this job, to pass this test, to be like this and that, and many other more.  There are times when we demand of God, "You said, 'Ask and you will receive.'We have faith but You did not answer our prayers."  That can be a factor why there are many people who do not have faith in God anymore.  They were devastated with the "broken promises" of God.

But it should not be the case.  "You ask but do not receive, because you ask wrongly."  God answers our prayers in a way that is best for us.  We must not be mad at God thinking that He is not really answering our prayers.  We must not turn our backs  from prayers because of this.  We must reflect on how we pray to God.  Do we pray just for the compliance of praying?  Or do we pray with our hearts open and complete surrender before the Lord?  Do we pray like, "Lord, give me this, I should be like that..." or anything similar to that?  Or do we pray like, "Lord, I am not worthy that I should be asking this.  But if it is Your will, I will really be grateful.  I ask You O Lord to please..." and other prayers like that?

Let us try to recall how we prayed when we were still kids.  But if it is too hard to remember, let us ask children how they pray.  Maybe we can reflect on their answers.  Maybe we will also be able to remember how we prayed when we were younger.  Or better yet, we will remember how God answered our prayers from when we were still kids until we grew older.

We must not cease in our prayer life.  We should continue to be humble and keep our faith as we ask for God's grace.

 Beryl originally wrote this post at Beryl Baterina: Daily Dose.

Wisdom in prayer

By Beryl Baterina

The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins By Blake
(Wikimedia Commons).

"This kind can only come out through prayer.” 

Wisdom is God's gift and we can enhance this gift by learning and sharing it.  We can learn more from school, other people, and experiences.  We can share it by means of teaching, encouraging, or inspiring others.  Having the gift of wisdom does not give us the authority to be arrogant about it.  We must be humble and be grateful to the Lord for this gift.

We may excel in our daily jobs or activities but these are all because of God.  We must not be proud and arrogant thinking that it is because of our hardwork that we were able to achieve who we are today.  It is a blessing from God.  We must thank God for all the graces given to us.  And this is praying.  We  must learn to pray that we may be able to properly use these gifts from God.  Everything around us is wonderful and we must see the goodness in them.  We must have this habit of praying to God that we may use all the creation according to His plan.  Without prayer, these great gifts will not be useful to us.    


Continue reading at Beryl's blog Beryl Baterina.

What is my mission?

 By Beryle Baterina

An Allegory of Man (Wikipedia)

God sends all of us to mission.  A mission to share my faith especially to those who do not know Christ. Although the thought of that really scares me.  I am afraid of what may happen.  But I must remember that God is always with me.  He gives me knowledge and confidence that I may fulfill His plan.  My prayer would be to have a strong heart to do the will of God.  I have felt what I needed to do.  And I also wanted it.  I am just afraid,  I have to be strong in my prayers to overcome the fear to move forward and to go where God wants me to be.

"Send me Lord and I will go to the place you have prepared
send me Lord and I will speak with the power of your word
send me Lord and I will seek your awesome love and majesty
Lord send me, Lord send me, I will go..." - taken from the song, Send Me

I am a sinful person, but Jesus died on the cross to save me, to save us.  Now, I have to fulfill my mission - to grow in my faith and share it with others.  I am not so sure if there is already a growth in my faith but I am already accepting that I did became better (even just a teeny, tiny bit) these past few months.   The truth is, I cannot really tell if there was change in me.  I can never be perfect and I am always a work in progress.  I have faith that I am making progress.


Beryl originally posted this at her blog Beryl Baterina.

Jesus is the Chief Shepherd

By Beryl Baterina

The Good Shepherd by Giordano (Wikimedia Commons)

"But be examples to the flock."

 

In our life, there will be instances that we will show leadership among other people. It can be just by taking initiative in doing the dishes or feeding the pet. It can also be by volunteering for charitable activities in the community. Encouraging others or teaching them also shows leadership.  

 

We must remember that in doing so we must show compassion and inspiration. We should be a role model and not be high and mighty because we are knowledgeable. We must keep our humility even we are in high positions. We are just humans and also belong to the flock. And only the Lord is the Greatest Shepherd.

 

Continue reading at Beryl's blog, Beryl Baterina: Daily Dose.

 

 

 

The second greatest commandment

By Beryl Baterina

Two Fighting Children  By Giulio del Torre (Wikimedia Commons)

"You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 

As I reflected on that, there are other verses which I can relate to. There is "Give until it hurts" and "Whatever you do to the least of your brothers, you do unto Me."

I can easily say that I love my neighbor yet I am not sure if I was able to live what comes out of my mouth. I know in my mind that it is not right to judge others based on how I see them. But most of the times I am not strong enough to resist the temptation. I know I should give kindness instead of hatred. But it is not very easy to love others especially those who are not lovable. I can rationalize that in order to love others, I must love myself first. If I think about it, it is somehow a selfish act. "Love one another as I have loved you." That was what God said and not "Love yourself as I have loved you." I may not hurt God physically right now, but I do hurt Him spiritually. I hurt Him when I think of myself more and fail to help others in anyway I can. If I can love others more than myself, then it is loving God more than myself.

My prayer for this, "Lord, make my heart filled with more of Your love and less of me. Make me love my brothers and sisters more and fill my heart with kindness. Empty me of my hatred and make me forgive them as I also ask for forgiveness. Amen."

Beryl blogs at Beryl Baterina.