What You Freely Receive, Freely Give

One way to see how deep our relationship to God is the fruits of our lives. Only a healthy plant can produce good fruits. Only a soul filled with love and grace can be fruitful.

Our relationship with God must not get stagnant in a “Give Me” state. Even though God told us to pray for our daily bread, He also commands us to proclaim the Gospel for the salvation of souls, in short, we are all called to mission.

We cannot get stuck as receivers in our relationship with God. We cannot get stuck doing whatever we are doing for God so we can feel good, that tends to be more of a self-service than actual service, self-love than self-giving love.

Real love goes out and give. After it receives, it gives it away. Real love does not accumulate but disseminate.

So ask yourself a question. Is your relationship with God is based on making yourself feel good? Or is it out of concern for others and the desire to love of God?

Is your relationship with God just lip service?

“If we cannot love the person whom we see, who can we love God, whom we cannot see?” – Mother Teresa

If are truly love God, we want to share in His mission. It is a compulsion that comes from a heart that is in love.

“Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” -  1 Corinthians 9:16

The Father asks us to pray, but He also commands us to work in the vineyard. Both are required to have a full relationship with God. And you don’t have to go far away to be missionaries. You can work on your own vineyard, your family. You can pray and offer sacrifices for those people who has no one to pray for them. You can use the internet to evangelize, that is not that hard. You can preach the Gospel in your own little way. Going to mission only means going out of yourself, your self-absorption, your own ego, to serve others.

If we have truly experienced God’s love, then we want to share it. It is that simple.

"The term 'laity' is here understood to mean all the faithful except those in Holy Orders and those who belong to a religious state approved by the Church. That is, the faithful, who by Baptism are incorporated into Christ and integrated into the People of God, are made sharers in their particular way in the priestly, prophetic, and kingly office of Christ, and have their own part to play in the mission of the whole Christian people in the Church and in the World." (#897 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church)

Is Life Living in You?

Life for some is just a series of daily routines. For others, it is seeking one thrill to the next. And there are those who just want to have fun in life like there is no tomorrow. Unfortunately, if you live life like them, you will find yourself drained in the end. Weariness and the fading of your intoxicating emotions will soon over take you. You will either give up out of fatigue, or seek another emotional high like an addict (and the vicious cycle continues.) And it all leads to one place, emptiness.

Like St. Peter we can all say “We worked hard all last night and didn't catch a thing.” (Luke 5:5)

As much as we want to liven up our lives, our efforts will always be short-lived, for even we are short-lived. Everything is passing in this world, including us. So every attempt to create our own happiness, our own life, apart from God, will always end in vain.

"Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain.” Psalm 127:1

So how do we live? I mean really live?

For any creature to live, it needs LIFE. Otherwise it is just a zombie, walking around aimlessly as life passes by.

Natural life is temporal and soon dies. So we need a life that is beyond natural, we need supernatural life. Supernatural life is always dynamic, it never tires nor bores. Most importantly it never gets empty.

“But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:14)

So where do we find this supernatural life? The life that lives…

We shall not find it “where”, but with “Whom.”

Jesus!

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life.” (John 14:6)

Only Jesus can liven up our lives. Only He can give us supernatural joy and peace, and ultimate meaning for our existence. For Jesus Himself is Peace, Joy and Life. To have Jesus live in us is to have all of them.

Only Jesus can lift our natural life to supernatural, our temporal life to eternal. Anything else will fall short. Anything else will pass away.

If Jesus dwells in us, we have the same dynamic power that created the universe living in us. Just imagine that!

You have not known what life is until you have known Jesus.

So don’t waste it.

Come to Him.

Written by Daxx Bondoc

Are You a Sheep or a Goat?

If your life would end today, would Jesus classify you as a sheep or a goat? Would you enter the Gates of Heaven or be thrown in the pit of darkness?

Matthew 25 tells the story about the end of the world, and how Jesus would separate the sheep from the goats. The sheep were those who fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, clothed the naked, welcomed the strangers and visited the sick and imprisoned. The goats on the other hand were those who fail to do so. In short, those who acted like Jesus and those who did not.

The sheep were welcomed into heaven while the goats went to hell.

We do not have to wait for the end of the world to be judge if we are sheep or goats. We can objectively look at our lives and see for ourselves. Are we living a life of charity and service? Or is it a life of indifference and selfishness? Do we have eyes that see the hungry, the naked and the sick? Or are we consumed in our own little world of selfish desire and accumulation?

Goat in sheep’s clothing?

Many of us call ourselves Christians but do not act like one. Goats can never pass up as sheep because you can smell the difference a mile away. It is same for us Christians. People can smell authentic Christians from those who are only Christians by name. Many of us say we love God but fail to love our neighbor. This just cannot be, as we see in Matthew 25. Jesus, who is God made flesh said, “Whatever you did to the least of my brethren you did it to Me.”

I think we should examine carefully and honestly how we live our lives before we profess our Christianity and our love for God. People will realize if we are speaking the truth by the fruits of our lives.

Being a Christian means living a life of love and service. Period!

Excuses not to help and serve others are just simply what they are, excuses. They are excuses for our own selfishness and indifference. To fail to love and serve others is to fail to be a Christian!

In the end we are either sheep or goats, Christians or not. There is just simply NO in between.

Finding Our Finest Moment

Our Finest Moment

The world considers that our finest moment is when we are rich, famous or powerful. We consider our life’s highlight is when we shall be on a thrown and wearing a crown. And not when we are hanging on cross with thorns around our head.

When we hear in the phrases, “This is my time. This is my moment. This is my hour.” we often think of something glorious… in a worldly way. Movies often picture this by some kind of a victory, a winning basketball shot on the buzzer, a long football pass that leads to a touchdown as the clock runs out, etc…

But Jesus’ “hour” was different. Throughout the Gospel, we hear about the “Hour” of Jesus. Unlike in the ads and the movies, Jesus’ moment, His “hour” was anything but glorious by worldly standards. His hour was when He was lifted up in the cross. And it did not look magnificent in the eyes of those who were there. They actually considered it as a defeat, even his disciples did. But it was Christ’s finest moment, for though His crucifixion He paid the price of our salvation. In his disfigured bloody body, He defeated sin and Satan. And there was nothing pretty about it.

A soldier's finest moment is not when he receives a medal of honor. But it is when he is in the battle field. Where he has to overcome his fears amidst flying bullets. He is at his best when he practices courage and self-sacrifice amidst life threatening situations. And one thing he is not at that moment, happy. Emotional happiness comes after he survives all of it. But until then, he just tries to be brave, hang in there and keep going. Only in the battlefield can a soldier know how much courage and self-sacrifice he really has. No soldier gets a medal of valor sitting around the camp.

Our finest moments maybe our worst moments. When everything is falling apart and we still choose to be faithful to God. When we are filled with pain and suffering and yet continue to choose to love others. Our finest moment might not actually feel emotionally good. It is in these “hours of darkness” that God gives us the opportunity to practice a deeper level of faith and love.

Stars shines in the darkness. We shall never know how much we shall shine until we are thrown in the dark. In the darkness, God gives us not only the opportunity to shine, but He gives us the light as well, Himself.

So in joy or sorrow, in sickness or in health, in wealth or poverty let us love God and our neighbor. And every moment will be our finest moment.

Written by Daxx Bondoc

Realizing the Best Version of You

The seed of greatness is planted in our hearts. Everybody wants to be their best. The problem is that most of us have given up on it. We have accepted mediocrity.

Many have tried bringing out the best in them. They have tried putting letters after their name (Phd, C.E.O., etc…). Some tried power, fame and fashion. But all these superficialities have not brought out the best in them. They might be powerful, famous or rich, but they are not really the best model of humanity.

So how do we bring out the best in us?

Jesus told them, “Fill the jars with water.” So they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, “Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.” So they took it. And when the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine, without knowing where it came from (although the servers who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves good wine first, and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good wine until now.” (John 2: 7-11)

When the water in the jars encountered Jesus, it became a new creation. The bland water (used for washing of feet) became the best of wine. Until Jesus came, the “good wine” was kept. Until Jesus came, everyone was satisfied with mediocrity.
When the Spirit of God hovered over the water, it blushed! It blushed so much that it turned red, red as wine. Every time we let the Spirit of God hover us miracles happen. Like when He overshadowed the Virgin Mary. Every time a new creation is made, the Spirit is there.

Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. (Gen 1:2)

Only in Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit can we be a new creation. God’s best creation.

So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come. (2 Cor 5:17 )

Until you encountered Christ, the best of you is still kept. Until you let the Holy Spirit breathe life in you, you will be bland as the water in the jars.

So how do we encounter Jesus and the Holy Spirit?

You can encounter them in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass together with the Father.

Let Jesus bring out the best of you.

He really wants to.

Written by Daxx Bondoc

Is God’s Grace is Enough for Us to Survive Our Crosses?

Having faith in God does not always mean being exempted from suffering. Though we “claim” victory in the Name of Christ, victory does not always come painlessly. Even Christ’s victory came through pain and suffering. Before the Resurrection, He was first tortured by the Romans.

So are we doomed?

No.

Shall we experience pain and suffering in this life?

Most probably.

Accepting Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior will not exempt you from the cross. It is actually the opposite. “Then Jesus said to his disciples: If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” (Mt 16:24)

If Jesus is truly our Lord, then we servants are no greater than Him. And He hangs on a cross.

When God said “My grace is sufficient for you,” He promises us the grace to survive whatever pain, suffering or trials we are experiencing. He does not promise to take the pain away, but the strength to survive it. St Paul knew this:

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. (2 Corinthians 4:8-9)

Sin introduced suffering. And ever since then it has been a part of the human experience. Yet suffering, an evil in itself, can be used by God. He used it to save us. Through his Passion, salvation came. Suffering did not have the last word, the Word made flesh had the last Word, Jesus.

No matter how dark and painful our situation is right now, light awaits at the end of the tunnel. And this light is Christ Himself.

"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness hasn't overcome it." (Jn 1:5)

In Jesus we shall find the strength to carry it through. In Him we shall find the strength we do not posses but need. “I can do all these things in him who strengtheneth me.” (Philippians 4:13)

His grace is enough.



Our shoulders will always feel the weight of the cross. But do not forget who is carrying it with you.

Jesus.

Written by Daxx Bondoc

Are You Running Away From Your Greatness Like Jonah?

When you run away from the challenges of life you might be running away from your greatness as well. The very challenges you are trying to escape might be the very means of your greatness.

Let us look at Jonah’s example.

God said to Jonah, "Set out for the great city of Nineveh, and preach against it; their wickedness has come up before me."

But what did Jonah do?

“But Jonah made ready to flee to Tarshish away from the LORD. He went down to Joppa, found a ship going to Tarshish, paid the fare, and went aboard to journey with them to Tarshish, away from the LORD”

In short Jonah went to the opposite way. Pronto!

Now let us put Jonah in our time and setting so we can better understand how he might have felt. Imagine God suddenly said to you, “Go the malls and preach against materialism and worldliness.” Just thinking of doing that might send shivers under your skin. Just imagine you shouting at the mall, “Stop being materialistic!” Most probably people would think you are nuts and call security to throw you out.

Jonah might have felt the same. He might have thought what would happen to his reputation or to himself if he does what God called him to do.

So what happened to Jonah?

He got into a lot of trouble. The height of it was when the boat he was sailing in was being tossed by waves.

Now here is the turning point of the story. Jonah said, "Pick me up and throw me into the sea, that it may quiet down for you; since I know it is because of me that this violent storm has come upon you."

So what did Jonah do? He forgot himself.

After he made this crucial decision of being selfless and putting others first, God placed Jonah in the road of his personal greatness. A whale swallowed him up for three days and spew Jonah out on the shore. Jonah then proceeded to Nineveh as the God wanted. There he preached repentance. He preached so greatly than men and beast covered themselves with sackcloth and call loudly to God.

Now Jonah is remembered all throughout history as one of the great prophets of the Old Testament.

Sometimes we are like Jonah, running away from what God wants us to do. And like Jonah the more we run away from God’s will the more we get into trouble. And in turn we are tossed around by the tides and storms of life.

If we value our reputation than our faithfulness to God, we will be missing out our greatness. For our greatness lies in God and in His will for our lives.
So how do you find our greatness?

Do what Jonah did. He forgot himself and put God first. He then proceeded to what God wanted him to do, even if he was afraid, even if it would cost him much.

So do not run away from the challenges of life and of being God’s faithful disciple.

For those very challenges is where you will find your greatness.

Just like Jonah.

Written by Daxx Bondoc

Surviving Life's Trials

It's All or Nothing

All of us are looking for some kind of fulfillment to bring us peace. We need it to justify our existence. And we invest ourselves in to whatever we believe that would fulfill us.

What really fulfills us is God.

“You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” – St Augustine.

Jesus is our fulfillment. It is either you accept that or reject it. But the fact will not change. You need Him!

Only Jesus can satisfy our hunger for fulfillment, meaning and purpose. To reject Him will not take away that hunger, that longing. It will only be directed to something else.

The Catechism teaches us that we are religious beings by nature. It means that we will seek fulfillment, meaning and purpose religiously. We are all fanatics, only the object of our fanaticism changes. We have seen how people have religiously sought money, power, fame and sex. They have devoted all their waking hours pursuing it. They have offered their life to them. They are their gods.

We will always be fans of something or someone. So are you a Jesus fan or your own?

Choosing our god will direct our way of life. And it a direction towards Heaven or Hell.

All that God has created is good and is good for us. But once this “good” becomes god, it will now be the instrument of our destruction. Evil is always a distortion of good, evil cannot create. Satan can only distort what God has created.

Sex is good, but being a rapist isn’t. Money is good, but being a thief isn’t. Power is good, but being a tyrant isn’t.

Without God, all these goods become gods and get distorted in the process. For only God can tell us how these goods are to be used.

Fulfillment is one of our basic needs in life and for sanity. And you cannot escape that need.

To have everything and have not Jesus is to have nothing. For in the end all will be lost.

To have nothing and have Jesus is to have everything. He is God and everything is contained in Him.

By Daxx Bondoc

I Wanna be Free, I Wanna be Me

There are a lot of people who have the “I-wanna-be-free-I-wanna-be-me” mentality. Their ultimate goal in life is “to be themselves”, whatever that means.

This is can be very problematic in our “fallen” world.

There are two big problems in this mentality. First is the word “free”. What most of us consider freedom is actually abuse of freedom. Modern man’s idea of freedom is doing anything you want. That is not freedom that is license. Freedom has boundaries. You are not free to murder or steal.

Many people like to use the word “freedom” so they can be free to be selfish. They like to do whatever fancies them, at all cost. Like a father or a mother who wants to be “free” from his/her family. So they leave their families to pursue their personal happiness. That is not freedom that is abandonment.

Another problematic part of that mentality is the “me”. Modern man in general has no clue who he is. He is fashioned by his environment, especially by the media. It is the same media who educates the masses that being a fallen human being is normal. And to strive to be the human God created us to be is psychologically problematic.

Our idea of “me” will be probably egoistic. Our “me-attitude” can be sum up to “It is all about me and to hell with the rest.”

Our idea of our humanity is very selfish. It is all about getting what we want.

But that is not who we are.

We were created to love. To forget ourselves in love. God created us to have a “We” attitude and not a “Me” attitude. Selfishness is the total opposite of our humanity.

It is same with freedom. God gave us freedom not to be selfish, but to love. Only free people can love. A selfish person is not free to love because he cannot love anyone else but himself. It takes great freedom to love, for most of us are slaves of our fears and selfishness.

“Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought.” -Pope John Paul II

Jesus was the freest man who ever lived, for He was God. But Jesus spent His life doing the Father’s will and not His own.

“Yet not my will, but yours be done.” Luke 22:42

If we want to be really “free” and to be really “me”, we must start defining freedom and ourselves by God’s standards and not of the world’s.

So how do we do it?

We must love God with all our being, and love our neighbor as ourselves.

The ultimate act of freedom is to love.

The fulfillment of our humanity is love as well.

So be free to give your “me” to love.

By Daxx Bondoc

Why Live Simply?

Do you have more stuff than you need?

It is funny how one generation to the next, the standards of living are getting higher and higher. What our grandparents would consider luxury, we consider as a basic need. I believe that is why we have so much ungratefulness going around. Everybody feels deprived!

Most of what we consider needs are actually are just wants.

Living simply helps us to be sober. We need learn to control our desires and live only what we actually need. In doing so, we are able to enjoy life more. The less time we spend pursuing stuffs, the more time we have to slow down and experience life.

Living simply, simply means getting our priorities right. We give priority to what is really important, like friends, family and God and not stuffs. Stuffs are just means for us to love better and not as an ultimate goal itself.

To be caught up in this materialistic culture is to be caught up in a life of shallowness and emptiness. You can never fill your heart with stuffs, only love can fill it.

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33

We also want to live simply so others may live. Living simply gives us an opportunity to give more to those who are in need. Our lives become bigger than we are.

We are stewards of what we have and not owners. God created it and He owns it. We have an obligation to share to others what we have after our needs are met.

Why live simply?

Because you really want to live.

By Daxx Bondoc

How to Have a Life Filled to the Brim

Living an empty life is one of the most miserable experiences. We can all drown ourselves with distractions, but when the music fades and you are left to yourself, there is no running away from our own emptiness.

The world, especially the media, has taught us to pursue everything else, except real abiding fulfillment. To them getting emotionally high and pleasuring your senses is more important than real joy and peace. Now, we have emotionally unstable people who are addicted to pleasure. And they are all miserable.

So how do get the real deal?

How do we have a full and filled life?

Listen to our Holy Mother Mary!

Our Mother, who is full of grace, can teach us a thing or two how to have a life that is full.

And this is her words to us.

“Do whatever He (Jesus) tells you.” – John 2:5

Our Mother points us to her Son, the source of all fulfillments in this life and especially in the next.

In the Wedding at Cana, Jesus turned water into wine.

Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.

Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.

Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”

They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. When he called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.” – John 2: 6-10

The key to a fulfilling life is full faith and full obedience to Christ.

When Jesus asked the servants to fill the jars with water, the water Jesus was pointing to was the water used for washing of feet. Just imagine what the servants must have thought. Putting this water to jars meant for drinking. And Jesus asked them to fill it to the brim.

And if that is not disturbing enough, Jesus asked the servants to give this water to their master. Just imagine the servants’ fear. They could lose their jobs because of Jesus.

But they believed and obeyed Jesus. And so a miracle happened.

If we want our boring life turned into a life of intoxicating joy and peace, Jesus can make that miracle happen. But He needs a faith that is filled to the brim. He wants our full obedience, even if He asks us to do something beyond our understanding. Even if it means risking ourselves. Just like what the servants did.

God’s grace is overflowing. But we can only receive what we accept. Give God a half filled jar, you get half filled fulfillment.

God is not stingy… we are.

True fulfillment comes from Christ alone, for He is our fulfillment. A fulfilled life comes from living in Christ and like Christ. And that is a life of faith and obedience to the Father.

To have Jesus is to be filled.

To live like Jesus is to find fullness.

Written by Daxx Bondoc

The 7 Highly Effective Habits of Hobbits (Part 7: Self-sacrifice)

Hobbit Habit #7: Self-sacrifice

One of the great things about Lord of the Rings is that is not your typical fairy tale. The typical fairy tale is often about a quest on getting something, like Prometheus stealing fire from Zeus, Jason and his Argonauts questing for the Golden Fleece and Jack carrying away with the Golden Goose. But the Lord of the Rings is the opposite. It is about a quest to destroy something, the Ring. While the other fairy tale is about the grabbing an item of power, Lord of the Rings is about letting it go.

One of the main themes of Lord of the Rings is about “letting go”… letting go of the self that is.

All the member of the Fellowship was ready to let go of their very lives for the greater good. They were ready to lose their lives for the mission. Near the end of the epic we hear this from the Fellowship:

Aragorn: Not for ourselves. But we can give Frodo his chance if we keep Sauron's Eye fixed upon us. Keep him blind to all else that moves.

Legolas: A diversion.

Gimli: Certainty of death, small chance of success... What are we waiting for?

Together with Aragorn and Gandalf, Frodo is one of the Christ figures of the epic. Aragorn represent Christ the King, Gandalf the Prophet and Frodo the Priest. Frodo is the priest figure because he was the one who was going to sacrifice his life for the sake of the many.

“But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter.”Jeremiah 11:19

Frodo went straight to Mount Doom, ready to be slaughtered by the Orcs, just to destroy the Ring. He knew that he could die if he took on the mission. But still, he did. It was his selfless act that saved Middle Earth.

This is how Jesus saved us. He too came into this world, not to gain worldly power, but to destroy sin. He conquered sin not by a sword, but being pierced by one. Jesus conquered the world by his self-sacrificing love. Like Frodo who went to depths of Mount Doom to destroy the ring, Jesus too went to the depths of sin and God forsakenness, and from there He let love explode and thus defeating sin.

And since then, sin lost its sting.

Self-sacrifice is one of the most powerful things that could change the world and defeat the “enemy”. “There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends.” says Jesus. And of all the virtues, love is the greatest says St Paul.

One cannot be a Christian without self-sacrifice. For one cannot be a Christian without love.

Our Lord and our God sacrificed Himself for us.

Is the servant better than the Master?

Written by Daxx Bondoc

Discovering God’s Love in Pain and Adversity

Most of us like to box God’s love.

Many of us have a check list on how God should love us. The check goes like, if God loves me then He should make me rich, famous, powerful, give me what I want and the list goes selfishly on. If God loves us in a way that is not in the “The-Way-God-Should-Love-Me” checklist, we feel that God as abandon us.

When God asked Moses to take the Israelites out of Egypt, the Israelites was ecstatic. They have a preconceive notion on how things will work out. They thought that the path to the Promise Land was all sunshine. But it was not so. And so they complained. And complained some more.

What Israelites failed to understand that their time in the desert was something necessary if they want to reach the Promise Land. The Promise Land was God’s land and there are no other gods permitted on it. Because of the years they stayed in Egypt, the Israelites have absorbed the idolatry and pagan ways of the Egyptians. And they needed to be cleansed off it before they step into the Promise Land. So for 40 years in the desert, God cleansed the Israelites. And it was a painful cleansing for the Israelites was not as cooperative as they should have.

God takes us to our own desert. Not because He enjoys seeing us suffer, but because we need to be cleansed. We need to be cleansed of the idolatry of our own ego and greed. We need to be cleansed of our pagan ways, the ways of the world. Most of all we need to be cleansed of our sins. Sometimes taking us to the desert is the only way it can be done. For in the desert, we are free from distraction and superficialities. In the desert we are confronted by our very survival. There, we cannot run away from our demons. And like Jesus, in the desert, God shall help us defeat our demons.

Sometimes, God’s love comes to us in what seems to be pain and suffering. But that pain and suffering are sometimes needed to save us. A cancer patient needs to go through a painful operation to get the cancer out of his body. He needs to endure the pain so that he might be cleansed of the cancer cells. We sinners have something worst than cancer, we have sin in our being. Cancer kills the body, Sin kills the soul. The Divine Operation sometimes uses pain and suffering to bring our souls back to health.

Jesus can give us His crown of gold or His crown of thorns to us. Both of them come from His loving hands.

We should stop selfishly defining how God should love us. We should learn to see God and His love outside of the box. The box is a very small and dark place to live in.

There is no box can contain God’s love.

Let us let God love us the way He does and not the way we want to.

God loves us more than our tiny boxes can imagine.

Written by Daxx Bondoc

Are You Stuck In the Past? Or Are You Anxious About the Future?

Excuse Me God, I Am Still Doing My Thing Here

Are You a Slave of People’s Opinion and Approval?

Do you constantly trying to prove to others that you are “good enough?”

We must admit that most of our actions are motivated to win the acceptance and admiration of our peers. There is something about pleasing people that pleases us.

Most of the time, it is our personal insecurities that cause this “I need to be good enough for you” mentality. One psychologist said that to even entertain this “I need to be good enough” debate in your head is already a choice to go to the path of unhappiness. For you will never be good enough in your mind. You will always find something that you need to be “good enough” to please others.

To live in the mercy of other’s approval and acceptance is like building your life on shifting sands. People’s opinions are fickle. They love you today and then hate you tomorrow. We can see this with movie stars and music artist. Here today and gone tomorrow. Putting the direction of your life at other’s hands is to miss out your own life.

We need to learn to accept ourselves. Even those things we do not like in ourselves. Accepting does not mean liking what you see, but accepting that they are real. If you have a bad temper, you do not need to like your bad temper. But you must accept that you have one!

Only when we accept ourselves for who we really are can we start to grow. We must accept our strengths and also our weakness, the good and the bad in us. Only when we can look at ourselves objectively can we start changing those aspects of our lives that need improvements.

We must first win the approval of ourselves. I approve of me! Yes I approve of me because God approves of me. If God did not approve of me, I would not even be here.

If you want to win the approval of others, win the approval of the God first. God approves of your creation, but do you think He approves on how you are living your life right now?

But why do we want God’s approval on our lives?

Because we want joy!

Happiness can only be found when we are in line with God’s plan for our lives.

“Well done, my good and faithful servant. Come, share your master's joy.” Mt 25:23

Written by Daxx Bondoc

The 7 Highly Effective Habits of Hobbits (Part 5: Single-heartedness )

Hobbit Habit #5: Single-heartedness

Many of us have never accomplished anything great because of our lack of zeal and devotion to anything. Our desires are scattered all around. We never seem to be headed in one direction, but keep turning around every corner. Our running in circles has brought us nowhere.

Frodo was focus and determined to destroy the One Ring. He was single-hearted to his mission. He did not let obstacles hinder him from doing what needed to be done, even if the hindrance was himself. Frodo kept his sight on one thing, Mount Doom and the destruction of the Ring. He was ready to give up everything for the sake of the mission, even his life.

Frodo did not only have a one track mind, but a one track heart. His track started from the Shire and ended in Mount Doom. And on the track were riding the Ring and the salvation of Middle Earth. It was his dedication to his mission that kept him on track. Even when he was derailed, he always came back on track. There was no stopping this little locomotion.

Another translation of “Blessed are the pure at heart, for they shall see God” is “Blessed are the single-hearted, for they shall see God.” “The pure at heart” are single-hearted, for the “pure at heart” only have one person in their heart, God. They are called single hearted because their love is not divided. Their heart burns in love for God alone.

We sinners have divided hearts that is why we don’t see God. We don’t see him because we don’t seek Him 100 percent. Along with God, we seek so much worldly things. Even if God was standing beside us, we shall overlook him for our sights are moving all around.

Those who are single-hearted in seeking God shall see Him for He already promised that “those who seek shall find.”

Most of us sinners amount to nothing in the end because our discipleship to Christ is not single-hearted. We don’t have 100 percent dedication, devotion and commitment in our discipleship and to our Christian mission. If we only take really seriously Christ call to proclaim the Gospel to all nations, our lives would have been lifted up to a new level. A level where deep abiding joy and fulfillment exist and given.

Frodo knew what he had to do. Destroy the Ring to save the world. We too know what we have to do, destroy evil with love and in doing saving the world. This is our vocation as Christians, to share the works of Christ.

Frodo almost died many times trying to finish the mission. Jesus died in finishing “the” mission. Are we better than our Master?

Until we become single-hearted in our love for God, to His will and to His work, we shall live aimlessly. Scattered to pieces and never be whole.

Written by Daxx Bondoc

Do You Look At Yourself As The Sum Of Your Weakness And Failures?

Most of us have a problem with our self image. I think the root of the problem is that we do not really know who we are. Typically, our self image is based on the opinion of others. Growing up we have been labeled and branded by a lot of names, mostly based from our weakness and failures.

“Why you no good…”

“You are such a loser.”

“You will never amount to anything.”

“You’re hopeless”

There are a lot more nasty words that have been spoken to us that have shaped how we see ourselves.

Our past mistakes also have broken our self image. Our mistakes have caused us so much pain that it lead to self-hatred. We have become our own worst critic. Sometimes it is you who put yourself down more than anyone else.

“We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures; we are the sum of the Father’s love for us and our real capacity to become the image of his Son.” – John Paul II.

Our weakness and failure does not define us. Our definition comes from the center of our very being. We are beings created out of the sheer love of God. And that the Father has left in each and one of us a seed of greatness. And no matter how broken we are this capacity for greatness remains within. For this capacity comes from the fact that we were created in the image and likeness of God. And that is irrevocable.

We have to start defining ourselves differently. We have to stop summing ourselves by the opinion of the world and start seeing ourselves as God sees us. We are precious. We are beautiful.

We are God’s beloved.

God wants us to be great men and women, like his saints were. But we have to stop putting ourselves down. We have to stop looking down on ourselves and start looking up. And when we start to look up, we will see God’ hand reaching out to us. And He will lift us up.

You are awesome. And no one can take that away from you.

Not even yourself.

Written by Daxx Bondoc