becoming – Page 4

Redeemed Beauty

Warrior princess, you’ve been redeemed, you are chosen and you are extravagantly loved.

Even in the most mundane, little tasks let your beauty shine.

Do not let negativity – yours or that of others – quench your fire.

Do not stop the naysayers – you can’t. But with gentleness, direct them.

Let the Lover of your soul sit enthroned in your heart – do not be fooled nor conceited – for only He, the King of kings, is your Vindication.

Delight to hide, to rest, to walk in the shadow of His wings, and let others gaze not on yours but His beauty.

Repairing Anya Forger

Four year-old Kuya Hope and I were so excited to open the new parcel.

It was a paint-by-numbers kit of Anya Forger, the little kid spy in SpyxFamily. Anya has telephatic abilities, unbeknownst to her adoptive parents.

But this post isn’t about Anya. Let me share with you my thoughts as I tried my best to “repair” Anya.

When we opened the parcel, I told little Kuya Hope that I can only help him with the first color. He’ll have to do the rest of the painting. I’ll help him with some repairs later on after he’s done. He happily agreed.

We sort of finished number 1 the first night.

The next day, Kuya Hope and I had our simultaneous paint-by-numbers activity. He worked on Anya while I worked on Asian Princess.

Kuya Hope cheerily went thru the activity. Every now and then, I helped him to close and open little paint lids and refill his little cup of paint water. (You need a little bit of water to rinse off your brush before proceeding to the next color). For someone his age, I’m proud to report that he didn’t make a major-major spill.

Perhaps a good one hour has passed when Kuya Hope announced that he was done. He told me that I had to repair Anya. I looked at the painting.

He was able to paint correctly, according to number. There was a glob here… and there… and wow, alright, a glob there, too. I tried to see it thru my kindergarten eyes.

I asked little Kuya Hope to confirm if he enjoyed the activity. I praised his efforts and his focus. I assured him that it would be easier to repair Anya once the first coat of paint has dried up.

I remember the little one saying, “I made a mistake.” The way he said it so casually reminded me of the purity and beauty of a child’s humility. We can learn so much from little ones if we only take the time to listen.

As I repaired Anya, I pondered on these questions: How much time in our lives do we spend repairing just to show a beautiful picture? How many globs do we need to paint over or straighten out for the end result to be close to perfection? How humble are we to admit that we’ve made a mistake?

If perfectionism is your addiction, perhaps ‘Be perfect, just as your Father is perfect,” is one of your favorite Bible verses or mantra.

Yet we can never fully attain perfection this side of eternity, can we? We can only be faithful in the little things and do everything – no matter how little – with great love. Do everything as unto the LORD, not as unto men.

A life of worship is a life of peace, beauty and perfection – not in the eyes of people – but in the eyes of our loving Heavenly Father.

Perfection on this side of eternity is fickle and finicky. Perfection in God’s eyes, on the other hand, is a matter of the heart.

How’s your heart today?

Mom and son “collab” 😊 I purchased this paint-by-numbers kit from TikTokShop.

Hush, hush my mind

Sharing some parts of my quiet time for today (Matthew 24; Luke 21; Romans 12:2; Colossians 3:2-10).

Ongoing war in Israel. Families and children being killed left and right.

Earthquake this morning at 8:24am.

A Filipino “drag queen” who used ‘Ama Namin’ in a party (and said ‘Thank you for coming to church’ after the performance) got jailed but is receiving tremendous financial and “moral” support.

I think news can either be alarming or sobering, burdensome or encouraging, depending on how I perceive and receive it.

Matthew 24:8 says “All these are the beginning of birth pains.”

I need to continually sort thru whatever I read, watch or listen to, and file them into little compartments or bin them out.

It can be overwhelming to think about what I’m thinking about. It drains me.

If things were all up to me, I could probably cocoon myself to death.

But as a wife and a mom, I cannot do that.

Giving birth (even with epidural) is painful, messy, beautiful.

The LORD prompts me to pray. He admonishes me that His Word is true. That He is a shield to all who find refuge in Him.

And yes, be transformed by the continual renewing of my mind.

Mental health is possible when the mind is filled not with news but with the truth of God’s Word.

A joyful perspective is possible when I am heavenly-minded.