springy wallpaper

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Background image mine; photo taken in North Las Vegas, May 2011.
Text from the Bible.
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The Jewelry of the Sky

Extravagant jewels

On perpetual exhibit
In God-made heavens

All photos mine.

Top: Manila Ocean Park, November 30, 2011.
Center: Just outside our home in Taguig, March 2012.

Bottom: Estrellas de Mendoza, Laiya, Batangas, March 17, 2012.

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ang buko (bow)

Today's thoughtful thought is inspired by a photo I took in 2006.

To be of greater use, you will have to be broken. 

The Others may not understand you, and you would cease to appear beautiful to them, but you will have fulfilled your destiny. ;)

And speaking of destiny - ang ibang buko ginagawang buko juice, o cocunut oil; ang iba ginagawang kopra, kendi o pangsahog sa fruit salad.  Ang iba naman nagiging bunot.  Kung anuman, destiny pa rin 'yon.

knowing there is a heaven

Of course I believe in Heaven. Knowing that there is a Heaven is not just a way of coping with the grief of loss, but an assent that God is sovereign and good.

Deaths and funerals aren't new to me, but losing a loved one isn't something you get used to. Sure, you grow familiar with the traditions and rites and various grieving processes associated, but it doesn't diminish the sadness because every loss is unique.

My father-in-law passed away recently and though all those who love him were grieved (and likely still grieving), still a sense of joy is very evident in each one. We rejoice because he is in a happier place, free from the limitations of an aging body, free from the illness he suffered in his last days with us. We rejoice because our separation is but temporary; we will all get together again sometime under better circumstances.

Knowing there is a Heaven changes death: Death is not merely an end but a beginning; not merely a cause for sorrow but of celebration. Death is no longer cold but kind.

until then

A friend went to Heaven this week.

We all knew that his time was coming, but a loss is still a loss. We'll be missing him greatly, but we won't ever forget the things that he imparted onto out lives.

Saddened as I am by his passing, I have a reason to smile as I think that he's in a better place now. Streets of gold and pearl gates; no sickness, no curse of sin. He will never have to hurt anymore. He's probably young again, and strong again, feeling the joy and health and wholeness in his bones that he's been longing for all these years. Dancing again - maybe even dancing like he's never done before. Sitting at the feet of his Creator as a form of worship, and hearing the answers to those baffling questions he's always pondered on with Him. Witnessing first-hand, with each and every one of his senses, how his earth-wise theology pales in the light of the actual Reality. He's finally there, at that perfection that he's been preparing almost all his mortal life for.

(Now, I'm jealous)

We who know him will be in a period of mourning for a while, but we'll be remembering forever.

Goodbye, Dr. T.

At least, until then.