Huwebes, Enero 9, 2014

One day in my life...

by a confused 16 year old girl, circa 2003

The day was warm and tranquil; the place was quite homey, hospitable enough to soothe the dolefulness that was tightly embedding my soul. I looked around and let my eyes bathed the whole surrounding with such dazzled glances. I was sitting in a dark-brown painted bench. It was nearly 4:00 in the afternoon and the sun was now preparing to settle behind the mocking heights of the mountain. I closed my eyes and gently smiled.

I heard the nature clearly, yes; she was trying to calm me down. From nearby trees birds were nesting heartily as they chirped a beautifully remarkable sound. The zephyr wind kissed my cheeks with comforting tenderness. I opened my eyes with sudden quickness as I heard the bushes behind me moved. I gasped horridly when a white cat came jumping out while trying to catch the troubled grasshopper that he was pursuing.

It was a great idea to spend time here at churchyard’s most peaceful place. Very thankful I was that this place was already emptied. I really need enough space to thinks things out. I knew well how busy the life was going but sometimes I couldn’t help but mused on how days were vanishing so swiftly. It seemed like yesteryear when I first moved into high school but now our batch was already about to face the impending moment of graduation. I stood and released a heavy sigh, squared my shoulder and strode forward to the picturesque fountain that stood alluringly in front of me. At the centre of its circularity was a statue of golden angel carrying a beautifully carved jar where the water was flowing out. I faced the pool of clear crystal and saw my reflection staring back at me...then after a while a single leaf was dropped in the water, which suddenly blurred away my image...I always looked at life in its most complicated manner. 

Life’s at all times has always been generous to us but expect at the start that in each kindness certain things would be asked from you in return. There were some instances in my life where I was caught between two hard decisions – whether to do what I think would be right or to choose what I knew my heart has wanted from the start. The moment was badly depressing that I just want to sink from where I stood or just vanish from the midst of this very unpredictable world. It got me totally lost and confused that I had just said to myself aloud, “Is it really necessary to choose?” ... Yes, I knew, what a very absurd question it was. It seemed like I felt not likely to step out of the middle string just because I didn’t know exactly where side to go. I chose then to be a risk-taker and whenever I was creating a move it was always the beat of my heart that I followed. There was just a single thought that I was bringing with me always – that everything that occurred in our lives were all designed in an appropriate pattern and it just a matter of choice on how we would desire to deal with the tricky scheme, just only be prepared with the consequences because most often than not, surrendering to emotions would not serve you right enough.  

The wind gave a thud of whoosh that jerked my body backward. Having a terrible fight with my mom last night made it not easy for me to ask permission  so I just left the house without leaving any words. I remembered bitterly how my mother had slapped me for the attempt I made to defend my side. I broke the rule for a very special reason and not because I wanted to rebel against them like what they were accusing of me. I never meant to hurt them, it just happened that I did the thing which they were yet forbidding me to do. Tears started to fall down from my eyes for I was overshadowed again with tormented feelings. It was hard to defy the parents who wished for nothing but only the best for you and yet it was painful to give up the person who has touched your heart and soul...

“You are not yet free,” whispered a voice inside my head. My brain was already perplexed and tired. I tried hard to withdraw myself from the deep, stirring emotion but the intensity was too fierce to battle against. I tightly squeezed my eyes and sympathetically embraced myself as the west wind blew in a resisting pressure. I was scared  that I ran as swiftly as I could until I reached the threshold of the church. The silence inside was deafening and the force of its immensity was exerting something on me that I couldn’t comprehend. I dipped my finger to the icy holy water and started to walk down the long aisle. Every step I took was creating an echoing sound that vibrated to marble floor. I was just wondering why there was no one inside the church...no single person could be seen. As I walked placidly it seemed like my feet were slowly elevating from the ground. I was focusing to the quietness around when all of a sudden a group of voices bewildered me. Choir of cold voices was singing a mystic hymn but when I looked around for the owners of the golden voices...I saw none. Cold sweat dripped from my foreheads and my body started to shiver. The song continued and it seeped through the deepest part of my soul. I reached the front row seat and kneeled. I closed my eyes and put myself to the presence of God. The hymn that created a fear a while ago was now tendering my heart with enigmatic comfort. It soothed my despair that just a minute before was eating my whole within. The sound was too cold that its chills made me numb and it felt like the wound inside my heart was getting healed.  The cold sensation was replaced by warmth and it covered my whole being and lifted my spirit. I started telling to Him all my woes, sharing with Him all my stories and dreams, surrendering to Him all my emotions – it was quite a linger praying. I couldn’t remember how long had I spent inside but when I finally opened my eyes I found that the church was already crowded with people and the evening mass was already about to start. I smiled and realized that we should be grateful instead hateful when hardships came on our way because such would be a great opportunity to improve our individuality and develop the strength and courage of our personality.

I stood upright and walked my way out. Everything in life could be an adventure only if we let it. I smiled when I remembered a part of Ms. Judy Alice Uy Repol’s article in Inquirer’s Youngblood section, she said there, “Life is a mystery...we don’t always find precise answers to our questions. We encounter queries for which there are simply no answers. We can be struck dumb in the face of problems and by the realization that we do not know. And there are some things we may never ever know. Perhaps in time when we least expect it, the key to the mystery will be revealed. We may just have to let go and let it be,” Once again I felt the magic of those words that had once inspired me and then I remembered that line that strongly marked on me, “What are your Life’s greatest mysteries? ... Unfold it.”

Unparalleled Beauty --The Limestone Journal

by Uel Ceballos, Circa 2005

Running water. Droplets. Chirping sounds of bats. Hissing of various snakes. Heavy moist of air. Pressure of immensity. Dark cage. I live here in the magnitude of infinite silence. I count each day that the rays of sunshine seep through the small holes. One. Two. Three. I’ve reached billion times of the 365 day counts and right until now, every day still carries with it a glorious contribution to my entire being. 

Once I was just a rock, an estranged ordinary rock that laid by the riverbank. The splashes of water and the incomparable kisses of grass had nourished my thirsty soul. The wind always hummed making the leaves from the trees fell dramatically to my soaked body. Life felt good until one dark morning, a harsh storm came and set the water on the river into fierce currents. The swift moving water washed me away and had almost broken me into pitiful pieces. The river washed away anything that it could carry with its ferocious surges – soil particles and even the larger body of rocks. The forced excursion finally halted and I rested in underground corner of the earth where water seemed still but in fact just running as placidly and unnoticed as it could manage. Less noise and more silence. My new home. 

Each year I took in a different form and the transformation fascinated me to the exceeding point. I grew bigger and bigger each year until I became a giant whose hugeness echoed madly amidst the jailed darkness. Sand. Mud. Shells of tiny sea animals. Our fusion created unbeatable force and undeniable magnificence. Our huge feature embraced the strength and the promising loveliness that is irresistibly admired by the world. 

Our kinds inherited about ¼ of the Earth’s land surface because we are one great force. We are one bond. We are one voice. We are the magnificent limestone.

In a great process of which inevitable to the nature we have created a home. Rain water and ground water that carry carbon dioxide from the soil have dissolved some portion of me in a painless and meticulous manner. Thousand years had still need to pass before tunnels were formed and I finally became a great cave. The extremely long time process had worth it all because here I am in my best aesthetic form. On my roof, drips of water had formed the stalactites while drops of mineral accumulated and formed the upward stalagmites. 

Such mystifying wonders make me feel proud of myself. How can I be so lucky? I am blessed by this enthralling beauty that each eye in the world praises me with dazzled admiration. It has been billion years and I’m still counting. 

Lunes, Enero 6, 2014

Linggo, Enero 5, 2014

Celebrating Epiphany ~ What is your gift for Jesus Christ?

Today, January 6, we celebrate the solemnity of Epiphany, a Christian feast that commemorates the revelation of God the son in the human flesh of Jesus Christ. The celebration also remembers primarily the visitation of Magi to the infant Jesus Christ that night that His highness was born in the manger of Bethlehem. 

The gospel today is Mathew 2:1-12 that tells the birth of Jesus Christ and the appearance of the star the led the visitors to the infant’s place. The reading tells us that the son of the Lord is sent to the world and born as human being. This is a sweet revelation that the Messiah is no other than Jesus Christ who came on Earth in human flesh. Thus, when Herod (the king that time) heard of this he gathered the visitors from the East and instructed them to go to Bethlehem and find the infant. 

These visitors then are who we referred as the Three Wise Men or Three Kings who visited Jesus Christ and brought Him gold, frankincense and myrrh. 

At this time of the year people greet one another a “Happy Three Kings” as marking the celebration of Epiphany. The discussion however with the The Three Kings or Three Magi is still being debated over until now. In the Gospel of Matthew in The New Revised Standard Version Bible, it mentioned there the "Magi from the East", while the other version like the Today’s English Version (or Good News Bible) said the “visitors from the East” mentioning nor king neither magi. Also in all versions, there was no numbers mentioned as to how many visitors were there but the “three” headcounts was based only from the three gifts given to the Holy Infant which were the gold, frankincense and myrrh. Debate has long been going whether they were really king or magi as the Church is teaching to the people.

Whatever maybe the precise details now of whether they are kings or magi or other persons of different ranks from wherever country or tribe, whether there were really three visitors that night or more than, whether their names were really Baltazar, Melchor and Gaspar or something else, there is only one great truth above it all – that those visitors had come to worship the Lord Jesus Christ and they brought Him a gift of great value and importance. 

We are commemorating the visits of the Three Magi not for anything else but to remember that we should also be doing the same and that is to worship the Son of God and give Him a gift that is of great value and importance. It doesn’t mean that we should literally offer the same as gold, frankincense and myrrh (because we don’t have that) but it pertains to other gifts that are within our capacity to give. It could be our time, talent, tithes offering, worshiping, charity works, and lots of other potential gifts that we could offer to Him. But most importantly of course are our love, hope and faith for Him. Thus when we truly worship the Son of God we do not worship empty handed but we got a special gift to offer for Him. If you have a knack for singing, offer to Him your voice and sing to praise His name, if you write well, dedicate to Him your writings and help spread the Good News, if you have lots of resources use it rightfully to help the poor, if you have so much time to give use it to be an active member of your church. You can give gift in so many ways and forms possible and you can always do this not just in times of Christmas but in each and everyday of your life. 

Now this is a question for each one of us, for this year 2014 what are the gifts that we have to offer for our Lord Jesus Christ? 

Happy Three Kings everyone and May The Good Lord continue to shower our life with lots of blessings and love. 

To God Be The Glory!

Huwebes, Enero 2, 2014

Nothingness

by: Uel Ceballos

For here I am
At the mercy of my own conscience
That while I behold the glorious vastness
Of the sky
I hearkened sincere and true to the
Whispers of my soul


But those I cannot comprehend,
Not with my human senses
For how can a mortal understands
A soul without a spiritual guidance

So I just let my mind adrift in
Nothingness
And look beyond the clouds
As far as my sight can get
I know I’m not a hopeless case
That’s what I think so at the least


For here I am
Battling against my own self
Casting away any pieces of guilt
That brings no help to make
Me feel at ease

For how can I go on with life
If I’m too powerless to forgive myself
I’m all too beaten to my own account
It’s me indeed who put myself
To such wreck

So I look up in the sea of white and blue
Hoping to find the answers
To end all my woes
I know I’m not a hopeless case
If that would serve at least
To grant me any solace

Martes, Disyembre 31, 2013

Things to be Thankful for ~ Happy New Year indeed!



Happy New Year!!! I just couldn’t let this day pass through without my dose of blog writing. For the past few months I have focused much of my blogging time to our newly started blog entitled “Now brewing”. It is a group blog dedicated to movie and book reviews – I guess further explanation of the title’s choice is not a necessary thing anymore. The title has already says it all – we’re coffee persons and self-acclaimed movie and book freaks. You can visit Now Brewing anytime for freshly brewed reviews (great, I just started my article with a promotion). 

I’m really excited for this 2014 and I’m pretty sure all of us feel the same thing. It’s a human nature anyway to have a natural inclination for hopes and dreams no matter how bad the things were from the past. Now let me warn you that this article is really something very personal. Just so you know right early from here that this is quite different from other of my writings of which often intends to inculcate a general message or thoughts to everyone. This is really more of me and of what I considered to be the highlight of my 2013. I really feel blessed that I can’t resist the urge within me to acknowledge it even through a simple blogging like this one.

So many things have happened to me this year and I looked on it as a stepping stone for more years of happy and fulfilled life. Let me give you first a little retrospection of that year before 2013 came – on the last few months of 2012 I was quiet down and loss on what I would want to do then in my life. I resigned from my job and refused to apply again for another regular job. I was depressed and broke; deep within me then I felt so wasted. But then as they say “Nothing is permanent in this world and the bad times too shall pass.” Many may see my decisions as something that is not appropriate or some of you may say that I could do better or deserve better than what I have achieved for this 2013 but men let me tell you this – nothing has ever made me feel so happy, contented and fulfilled inside than these following remarkable moments have done:

1. I LOVE MY JOB

Whenever people ask me now on what I do in life I feel a bit hesitant to answer not because I got nothing to say. It's simply because my answer would surely follow a brief explanation on why I engaged myself to being a freelancer when I could find myself a regular one. I’m working now as freelance home-based online writer – and my earnings aren’t that big but it’s quite enough to sustain me and allow me some few bucks to put aside for my savings. I’m also a theatre actor who is affiliated with community based theatre groups and that I would discuss on my next remarkable 2013 moment.

2. MY PASSION FOR PERFORMING IS NOURISHED

I feel so blessed to be a part of theatre groups who not only help me live my passion but also provide me a family whom I could call my brothers and sisters in arts. I’m connected to various groups like ARNAI-ACTION, Obra Incorporated, and Tanghalang Hulyo Beinte Tres. The year 2013 has been so gracious that it has given me a new theatre family -- Hiraya Theater Production -- wherein I earn new friends, new mentors, and new learning. 2013 is a year full of theatre performances and I really enjoyed it with all my heart. Being in theatre will not make you rich in money or in any other material things, but it will enrich your whole being. Nothing can ever make me feel so much more alive than when I am there in theatre losing myself in dance or singing at the top of my lungs. They say that only crazy people would stay in theatre – well small wonder that my sanity has left me quite a long time ago!

3. I FOUND A FAMILY IN CHURCH

The first main reason to which I owed my happy survival of 2013 is my growing and deepening relationship with Christ. I prayed to Him that I want to serve more and offer Him more so He gave me a ministry to where I could use my talent and passion to worship and praise His name. This 2013 I became a part of St. Peter Parish Choir and I’m so overwhelmed for all the opportunities that opened to me in there. I found new family, my brothers and sisters in Christ, I’m given chances to use my passion for singing and the Lord is really gracious and loving that He use the choir to improve my talent for music. 

4. WORKING MY WAY TO SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Okay, now don’t think that because I refused a regular job means I would be settled for whatever “enough” I’m receiving as freelancer. Of course like anyone else does, I also dream for a brighter future to benefit my family and future children. Slow moving maybe but I can confidently say that me and my friend Jen are on our way to a more successful business endeavour. Our online shop Jenra’s Passion is doing quite well (though not really highly income-generating for now) but we have planned things to be more improved and developed this time. We have started it two years ago and we got no plan of quitting or stopping. The new fashion dictators will soon rule so watch out for that! For affordable and high quality dresses check Jenra's Passion now and message us for your orders (now, this is my other promotion! Hehe).

5. MY FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT IMPROVED!

And this is another of my greatest achievement this 2013 – since I began working, this New Year is the first time ever that I greeted new year with savings still left on my account. Honestly, I was a big-time spender, draining my wallet thinking that I could make up for it with my next month salary. When I got short of my money I went for my little savings promising that I would replace it (again with my next salary) of which I often failed to do.  If there’s something that I can be proud of myself now, it is that I learned to handle my financial far way better than the previous working days of my life. It is just so ironic that I’ve managed to save some bucks just when I’m already a freelancer whose earning opportunities aren’t fixed and continuous not like when you are regularly employed in a company. This is one of my treasured blessings for the past 2013 – the insight to value money and spend wisely. Don’t get me wrong about my savings, it is just a small amount but the big thing here is the wisdom on financial management of which no millions could buy. 

These are just few of the handfuls blessings that are worth million times to thank for. There’s more to life than money and material things but of course we all still need these to survive living and benefit from a prosperous life. But let’s not forget the much more important things that we should be striving for in life. 

I could never be this happy and fulfilled if not for the ever consistent love and support of my family. We are not a perfect one but who family is? I’m so happy that we spent the Christmas and New Year this year with everybody present  – my brother Keenan went home for holiday vacation so we are complete in the photo op! I wish for nothing else more but for good health, much deepened spiritual relationship, and more wisdom to guide us in each and every moment of our life!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF US!






Huwebes, Oktubre 3, 2013

Hallucination of the perplexed mind

In black and white they protest in unison
They carry no banner, they carry not a thing
All I see are their lips that mouth some words I cannot read
Their hands are raised up in the air in clenched fist
They seemed to be foolish; mad while they are marching towards me.

Thundering breaks into my senses
Shattering my world into splintering pieces
The terror of their voices cutting through my flesh
Pronouncing me guilty of the same sins they also committed
Are their roaring just parts of my nightmare?
Wake me up! The howling steals me out of my wits!

This place stinks of the capital sins
A hellish balm that enters my nasal passage hall
With infernal smell that sets my mind to spin adrift
I catch the mixed scents of those souls swarming in my vision
Sweet lavender fragrance that blends awfully with the stinks of rotten corpses