Miah Learns to Write

The first time that I saw this painting for an art project in high school, I immediately fell in love with it and decided that I would gain inspiration from it. From the artistic perspective, I mainly liked the contrast of hues that gave me a sense of balance which appealed to my emotions and helped me to be at ease and get the general mood of the setting and the situation. As I have said, I am a romantic and I like the story that is being depicted in this painting. Basically, from the human point of view, this shows the concept of opposites attracting each other. Though this is not always true for all cases but the fact that two people who have totally contrasting views can and do fall in love with each other is truly romantic in my opinion. It shows the Biblical concept of love conquering all even against all odds since if it is God's will for two completely different and opposing characters or people to fall in love then it will happen, one way or another. Hopefully,

Last Sunday, in our youth service at church, we had a discussion regarding love and relationships as seen through the pure sight of God and how He intended relationships to be. I would not be reflecting upon every truth that we talked about but there is one specific concept that shed a whole new light to my understanding of relationships especially marriage. One thing that most couples or even single people think about or perhaps ask often about with regard to relationships and marriage is intimacy and finding the close familiarity with one another to the point that there is no need for words to express how one feels or to sense what the other may be thinking or experiencing. The question that really stuck in my mind was the extent of intimacy between two people. Of course, in this aspect, I am quite conservative in observing respect toward your partner and obeying the commands of God regarding the sanctity of marriage. The answer is very simple. If you are already in a relati

Let me start out by taking a quote from Mitch Albom's Tuesdays With Morrie , " Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live. " Today, I am reminded that our lives are much like the wick of a candle, once it has been lit, it will slowly burn out and in time, it will die unless the wind blows the flame away giving it yet another day to live. But the inevitable truth is that our lives are short and the moment that we are born into the world, the hourglass has begun to pour out sand until our time runs out. In  Tuesdays With Morrie , Mitch's professor, Morrie Schwartz, tackled the subject of death and the imminence of it or the undeniable truth that one day we must all pass, with wisdom and resolve, " Everyone knows they're going to die, but nobody believes it... If we did, we would do things differently.. most of us all walk around as if we're sleepwalking.   We really don't experience the world fully, because we're half-asleep, doin

Today was a wonderful day even though my body feels so exhausted and all my energy has been spent. I joined my first serious chess tournament today and I learned two new things today. One, the Light Rail Transit (LRT) is better now than the Metro Rail Transit (MRT). Also, now I understand what it feels like to work for eight straight hours in a day and to sit in front of your desk or computer for the whole time. At the end of the day, you would simply want to unwind and repose on a nice, soft, warm, comfy reclining chair or bed and sleep the whole night away. I felt how the mind gets overworked at times since in chess you have to be focused on your game and analyze every possible candidate move in the position to get an advantage or to maintain the equality of the position. I got a serious headache after that but it was fun nonetheless since I finally got to experience battling against really strong players and to blow my wits out or someone else's wits out. It feels q

I believe that each person is motivated to make a difference in their lives and in the lives of the people they meet. They want to impact those whom they share relationships with and the people they hold dear to their hearts like family and friends. We always search for meaning and purpose in life. Oftentimes, we think that when we become successful or wealthy and influential or famous that we have already found what we were meant to do with our lives. But those qualities are not the basis to say whether one has fulfilled his or her life's purpose because only God knows what He has placed in this world to do and to be. I met with my discipleship mentor, Kuya James, last week and that was the last day we will have fellowship together although I believe that God has plans for both of us and I am grateful for the opportunity that God has given me to learn from Kuya James and to grow in my spiritual walk through his help. I hope we will meet again someday. He is actually r

Remember that old saying, "The family that sticks together, stays together"? Before I go on, my purpose for writing this article is to emphasize the importance of developing strong family relationships and being closely involved with the lives of every member in the family. The posterity of our generation depends on how we treat and manage our homes. The future of your children and the next generations to come hangs in the balance and if you see that there are traits or habits or influences that can lead them to destruction and make them suffer in the long run, it is better that you give more attention to them. Immediately cut those bad traits, habits, or influences so that it will not propagate and cause dire consequences. Because if you love your generation and the next, you must do the right thing for their good so that they will reap the benefits of your actions. The family is the most fundamental institution in society and the home is the place for growth and deve

Still in the spirit of the love month, I shall be giving my two cents on keeping relationships afloat and how your relationships can grow and last a lifetime. Right off the bat I am going to confess that I am no relationship expert. I have not been mushy, goo-goo in love with someone before but relationships extend far beyond the romantic kind. It includes friendships, families, and of course our relationship with God so I think from my standpoint, I do have some experience and knowledge about this topic of love and relationships. Building good relationships starts with having good communication. Communication is very important in relationships as we all know but how much communication do we actually invest in our relationships? In the digital age, we might think that we know a person just by looking at his or her Facebook page or by following his or her tweets which is quite superficial. Spending time with people will help you to understand where they are coming from and le

Love may be an outburst of emotion or a wonderful subtlety. Something that we feel in the pit of our stomachs and in our hearts for the people whom we share affection and mutual interest with. Love may also be a concept. A thought, idea, belief or value that we passionately fight for until our dying breath. Every fiber of our body lives for its fulfillment and we, in turn, are motivated to act in behalf of it and encouraged by it even if the world around us thinks we are crazy doing so. Normally, these are some ways in which we describe what love is based on our own experiences. But God's Word takes 'love' into different accounts. "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails..."

Lately, my mind has busied itself with thoughts of love and relationships. I simply cannot help it! I am at that junction in life when the heart yearns for affection far beyond the bonds of friendship and family. When you start to ponder about such feelings which you once discarded to be childish and silly and now consider as a part of the reality of life. Perhaps one of the most fundamental questions that adolescents ask is whether they are ready to love and be loved. I have always been a romantic by heart. I have always been fond of love stories, even tragic ones, and of heroic acts of sacrifice and beating the odds to overcome the world for the one you love. However, the problem that I see is that happy endings rarely happen in real life although we often fantasize and dream that they happen to us and some even write about them. Then we read those stories and fill our minds with wishful thinking that one day by chance we meet 'the One' and we fall head over heels

Remember that it is only God who knows every single detail about our lives and only He can give us the best things in life. I have found peace in God's presence and I find excessive joy when worshiping God. Love. God showed us the greatest expression of genuine love through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. God is love and He overflows in His love for us. We have good things waiting for us with God but these things do not appear in a snap. They are the treasures that we seek from God and when you are looking for treasure, you have to journey a long road, earnestly following the path or the map until you finally reach the destination of the treasure. With God however, the treasures are limitless. To get to the treasures that we seek from God, we must spend time with God. Learning from God is similar to receiving clues to where the treasure is hidden. We must listen closely to the voice of God so that we are fully nourished by Him because God's words speak life and truth, t

Contentment is the primary motivation people have for acting in a certain way and the reason why we do certain means so that we could reach this end. In the course of life, most people would discover that contentment is such a fleeting thing, one day here and gone the next. We simply cannot be content with what we have or who we are. We often get frustrated when we fail to achieve our goals and that no matter how much we try, there scarcely seems to be any fulfillment. The problem that we humans are innately born with is that gaping hole deep within the soul which is the source of our agony and malaise. The emptiness in our innermost being can only be filled by God, pure and simple. The Bible tells us that it is only God who can give us the desires of our heart. Nothing else in this world can satisfy the deepest cries of our soul. No amount of money, or fame, or achievement, or gadgets, or any other material possession that this world offers can compare to the only thing t

Something special always stirs up inside us whenever we freely and wholeheartedly give something to someone especially those objects of affection with sentimental value that we give to those whom we love. I would like to think that it is because of this love for others more than for ourselves that we find joy in lifting up their spirits and seeing them smile when they receive gifts from us. A few weeks ago, I gave my mother a gift for her birthday, something that I have not done before nor had the capacity to do but I did because I wanted to show her how special she is and how much I love and appreciate her in my life. The feeling was indescribable but when I saw her happy with the gift, I felt relieved and at peace because I believe my mother knew at that moment how much I value her and how precious her life is. The Bible tells us that God gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, so that we might have eternal life and He did so because He loves  us and He wants to have a re