dreams – ancore!

Got cold feet?

Silhouette of a bride standing in a puddle, wearing a wedding dress and sneakers, with soft bokeh lights in the background.

I did… the night of December 19, 2012.

I was all alone in a food court in Ortigas. I didn’t have a bag with me. I had less than Php100 in my pocket and my nearly-drained tablet.

I left my mom with a lady friend in the hotel we were booked in for my DIY breakfast wedding.

I thought things through for the nth time. All details were set. People we invited confirmed they’ll be there.

“Will it glorify God?” was the question.

Will it glorify God if I just… disappeared?

I woke up the next morning, mom and I and my lady friend were even able to have a short devotional. Mom braided my hair with DIY hairpins. I did my own makeup.

For some reason, another lady friend thought it best to lock me in a friend’s car with the aircon off for so many minutes before letting me in.

Perhaps to ensure that I won’t run away?

Anyway, by the grace of God, our small wedding pushed through . We exchanged our vows. Everyone came and went, until it was only my husband and I left.

We got enough cash to settle the restaurant bills.

We had enough to last our first week together.

And we had just enough to cover the first three months of our rented home.

Just enough.

It’s been almost 13 years since then.

The question I have now is: “Is God more glorified in and through me today than He was, 13 years ago?”

Meanwhile.

A bride-to-be disappeared on December 10th this year, just 4 days before her wedding. She fit her wedding dress. Last communication with her fiancé was about wedding shoes: she was going to buy a pair.

She wore a black jacket over black pants, and rubber shoes. She left her phone at home and only had a coin purse with her.

I’m not imeldific – I can’t afford to be one. So it takes a looooot of time for me to find “the perfect fit” by myself. Thankfully, my fiancé back in 2012 mall-hopped with me so I can decide and find the pair that would best fit my dress. (I actually wanted for us to wear running shoes but he didn’t agree.)

Anyway. So where is the bride-to-be?

I can only guess, in the simplest of ways, that perhaps she got awfully tired of looking for the perfect pair of shoes and chose to disappear.

People say there are monasteries in the vicinity where she was last seen. Perhaps she’s there.

The Fairview Center Mall (FCM) is where the bride-to-be was going to buy her shoes. Could she be in one of the three monasteries in the area?

Will this missing person search glorify God? I have no doubt it will – it does, as we speak.

Proverbs 25:2, NASB: “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter.”

Harmonica

I’ve been spending too much time on X.

I dreamt of Elon Musk.

I was a girl. We sat together in what looked like an open train.

No words, our eyes talked. Neither romantic nor filial.

He’s so tall.

I looked up to him as he wrapped his right arm around me.

Then he started playing music… with parts of his face.

I had childlike wonder on my face.

He smiled lightly and brought out something about as wide as his mouth, a harmonica.

One after the other, parts of his face popped and played music – his cheeks, his nose, his eyes, his forehead.

I laid my head on his chest as the train kept moving forward, the cool breeze brushing on my cheeks.

I was safe.

Then I awakened.

Fierce Grace

Myla. She was a highschool dropout. She supported her boyfriend for seven long years but the latter didn’t know the extent and depth of her support.

I’m both (ambot!) amused and annoyed at the satirical storyline which exaggerates the power and arrogance of the elite.

Myla’s boyfriend disregards her support and boasts about being in excellent standing with the society’s most influential person. With his double PhD, he was up to be hired by the topmost company, Rosa Corp. He was excited to meet the ultra-rich supporter of his achievements, the CEO of Rosa Corp. Unbeknownst to him, it was actually his scruffy girlfriend Myla.

The boyfriend’s mom is a condescending eye-poor (matapobre!) who treats Myla with the least respect. She offers to pay her just to break up with her son.

Shortly after being dumped, Myla enters into a legal marriage with an ultra-rich tycoon who is indebted to her because of a business tip she gave him. He had no clue that she was Rosa Corp’s CEO. He happened to be running away from his engagement to a high-society woman he disliked.

So Myla and the ultra-rich tycoon got married in a jiffy, as if they got their marriage license from a vending machine.

Then the plot “thickens” when people didn’t want to believe that Myla was indeed THE wealthiest, most powerful person in the room. She – and her husband – received all sorts of bashing.

The scenes kept extending, whetting my appetite for the big reveal. I could’ve just dragged the slider to the end but I chose to let myself be immersed in the charades and confusing captions.

In the end, of course, Myla is more than fully avenged when the most impossible truth about her identity is revealed, shoving all of the contrabidas down on their knees with nothing but regret.

I can’t help but remember how, during the days of Jesus, the top religious people failed to see Him for who He said he was: “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” (John 8:58).

Who is Jesus to you? Is Jesus really who He says He is? Will you be ready to meet Him and be embraced by Him on the great Reveal? Or will you get down on your knees with nothing but regret? Don’t wait until it is too late.