SLW Mini-Story Series: Cup of Love (2:7)

Week 2: Episode 7: Happy Fudge II

Entry date: Febuary 1, 2008, Friday

"Kuya, itry niyo yung bago namin... Happy fudge"

Happy fudge... Tinanong ko kung bakit happy fudge ang name... Sabi nina ate ay may nagsuggest ng name daw kahapon after eating it... Pampasaya daw kadi. Hence, happy fudge...

Sa totoo lang... Tama nga siya... Kung sino man ang nagsuggest ng name na yun... "it brighten up my day" ika nga... Sobrang sarap...

"Kuya! Feb na! May date ka na ba?" biglang tanong nina ate...

Oo nga no? Feb na... It's been a very long time since nung last "date" ko...

Would I ask Chelsa out this Feb?

Siguro... Kung wala man siyang gagawin sa 14... Or date... I will ask her out..l and then ibibili ko siya nitong Happy Fudge... Para masaya!

-Mark's blog

SLW Mini-Story Series: Cup of Love (1:6)

Week 2: Episode 6: Happy Fudge I

Entry date: January 31, 2008, Thur

The day started bad for me...

First, I didn't get an invite to meet Christine of HappySlip next thursday. Then, I have to attend meeting after meeting after meeting... Then, my special problem or SP is not yet finished... Sigh... Too much stress...

So I decided to go back and visit this café to relieve my stress. Dito ko nakilala yung may-ari nung place, si kuya Jaz. He suggested to try his new creation.

Masarap... Mainit yung chocolate sa loob ng fudge... I asked kung anong pangalan nung fudge, sabi niya wala pa..

Sabi ko, "Happy fudge" na lang... Because napasaya ako after kong kainin...

Sarap

-Chelsa's blog

SLW Mini-Story Series: Cup of Love (1:4)

Week 1: Episode 4: The Surprise Question

Entry date: January 29, 2008, Tue

We met again ni Lisa kanina sa café for our lunch. Tulad ng dati I ordered my favorite cheezy pasta and hot cocoa. Tulad ng dati kwentuhan parin kami... From subjects, to teachers, to TV shows, to telenovelas, to people, to friends, to food... Any topic under the sun...

Then she asked me a question na hindi pa nya tinatanong before...

"Ano ba gusto mo sa isang lalaki?"

Napatigil ako sa tanong niya. I asked why. She said "Wala lang" and then changed the topic...

Bakit kaya niya yun natanong?

-Chelsa's Blog

SLW Mini-Story Series: Cup of Love (1:2)

*Note*

The stories are also posted at the glass windows of Ristretto Cafe. I think they have posted Episode 3 today. I'll be there later to write Episode 4.

Week 1:Episode 2: Cheezy Trail

Entry date: January 25, 2008, Fri

"Isang Cheezy pasta and hot cocoa"

Yun ang aking order kanina sa café. It was my 2nd time here actually at naging paborito ko agad ang cheezy pasta nila. Parang tulad ng luto ni mama...

Namiss ko tuloy si mama...

Oh well... Paguwi ako bukas ay sasabihin ko ito sa kanya at idadala ko sila dito ni papa pagdumalaw sila dito sa LB. Pero bago yun, may meeting pa mamaya so dito muna ako...

Hmmm... Share ko lang, yung guy na-umorder kanina after me ay cheezy pasta din ang binili... Paborito niya rin kaya yun?... Oh well...

- Chelsa's blog

SLW Mini-Story Series: Cup of Love (1:1)

*Background*

I started this mini-story series last January 24, 2008. I was inspired by the "heart" filled glass window of the Ristretto Cafe and thought of "contributing" something like a series. So I came up with a mini-story and each episode corresponds to the date it was written. Here is the first episode of the mini-story series. Enjoy...

(Yeah I know the title is mushy...)

Week 1: Episode 1: First Time

Entry date: January 24, 2008, Thur

And then I saw HER...

It was my first time here at this café.

I think it was Kei who suggested that we eat here, so punta naman kami kasama sina Joshua at Dana. We picked the couch near the glass window and ordered our lunch. Habang kami ay masayang kumakain at nagkwekwentuhan, may isang babae ang pumasok...

And then I saw her...

I can't find the right words right now to describe her beauty... But what stuck in my mind was her smile... Her simplicity...

Pero quarter to one na nun, kelangan ng pumasok ulit... So bago umalis, tumingin ulit ako for the last time sa kanyang kagandahan at nasabi...

"Oh well... Hanggang tingin na lang ba?"

- Mark's Journal

Love Blog Series # 6.2.3: Loving You

Do You Know God's Name?
I found this site by Pastor Ahyh (www.yhwh.com) and I asked permission to use some of his explanations about God's name.

Now before we begin... How will this be connected in loving your neighbor, your enemy, your friend, your loved-one, your boyfriend, girlfriend, family, mother, father, etc...?

You'll soon find out. Now let's have a special verse that will connect your question to God's name:

"I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." - Matthew 25:40

Let's start off from where I ended last topic. We have discussed before that we need to love God not because God needs our love but because it is more of a response to His love. It is also for us to learn how to really love. And in loving someone, one thing we must know is that person's name. So what is God's name?

From the bible, we can find the answer from Exodus 3:13-14. This is when Moses actually asked God His Name.

13Then Moses said to God, "Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you.' Now they may say to me, 'What is His name?' What shall I say to them?"

14God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" - Exodus 3:13-14

God's Name is not God. It's not Lord. It's even not Jesus. Yes, His name is Jesus when He was on earth. But before being called Jesus, He said His real Name also:

"Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.'" - John 8:58

So God's Name is I AM. Now, this is the translation (or meaning in English words) from the Hebrew texts originally written many years ago. The transliteration (or using the same letters of the English alphabet) of "I AM" is YHWH or YaHWeh. So in Hebrew language, God's Name is Yahweh.

Now in using the Hebrew language, YHWH becomes
is Y meaning Yod, rhymes with "rode"
is H meaning He, rhymes with "say"
is W or V meaning Vav, like "lava"
and another H.

Now, the Hebrews wrote it from right to left making it

But God didn't wrote it left to right or right to left. He wrote it from top to bottom. And He didn't use a pen and paper to write it. He used something else (YES!! He's the Most Creative Writer I've ever known...)

He wrote His Name like this:



You!! He wrote His Name in our very existence and in every existing human being. His Name is you, your neighbor, your enemy, your friend, your loved-one, boyfriend, girlfriend, mother, father, etc... Just look: The Yod is our head, the 1st He is our arms, the Vav is our torso and the last He is our legs. This supports the reason that what we do to the least of our brothers, we do it unto Him. Because His Name is us!! He created us not only in His image and likeness, we are His very Name!! Isn't that amazing?

That's the reason why we need to love others... That's the reason why we need to also love ourselves. We are His very Name. And because we love Him also, we also ought to love others as we love ourselves. It's also a response to His love. Thus, making the only true, logical and basic reason why we love others is because we love our Lord, YHWH (See Love Blog Series #3: True Love Has One Reason Alone).

So, this ends the "knowing" part of this topic series. Now will get into the "internalization" part. Tune in next time for our next topic.

PS1. Sorry for the delay. It's been 2 weeks, I know. I have to ask permission from Pastor Ahyh (Thanks for permitting me to spread the word!!) I also have to "connect the dots" so to speak to make a point :D

PS2. Next topic in our subseries: I Will Love Today

PS3. Watch out for our next set of topics: Being Complete

Love Blog Series # 6.2.2: Does God need my love?

Have you ever asked this question?
Why did God "commanded" us to love Him?

Does God need my love?

I mean, He, our God, King of kings, Lord of lords, Alpha and Omega, Beginning and End, Creator of heaven and earth, commands us to love Him above everything and with everything that we got...

Our minds, our hearts, our bodies, our souls, our strength... He wants us to love Him. Why? What for?

He is the epitome, source and the very meaning of Love. He is Complete. He will not be sad like us when we are not love. He can erase the very existence of His creations if decides to. He will not feel incomplete even if we don't love Him. He is everything.

So why did He commands us to love Him in the first place?

Here is the reason: The command is for us, not for Him.

You don't get it? The reason He gave you that commandment is for our own good. It is not for Him, it is for us. He didn't create that 1st greatest commandment for us to love Him so that He will be loved and feel being loved just like us. He is the very source and epitome of Love and He is Love Himself thus He doesn't need to be loved just to be loved. The 1st greatest commandment (which encompasses the 1st three commandments God gave to Moses) is meant and created for us.

I can give you three (3) reasons why this greatest commandment is good for us.

1. We are wired, hard-programmed, and created to love... and in this commandment, Him. We search for love in all places. Why do we search it? Because love brings us joy. All of us has also this common reason of loving someone, it is because we are loved. And because we felt love we have joy. Man has the capacity to love because he felt loved first. The problem comes when we ourselves confuse the Giver of Love to something else and then we focus on that something else, we love this "something else" because we thought they give love to us... which brings me to the 2nd reason...

2. God does not and will not leave you... Period. Everything else will leave you, may it be your girlfriend, boyfriend, parents, loved-one, dog, cat, computer game, PC, cellphone, friends, work, academics, grades, bar, beer, money, and even that sexy woman over there... They will leave you. These "something else" will not be there for you always. In truth, The phrase "I'll always be here for you" will not be true always because I, too, also can leave you. So, If you love these things above everything else and give to them all you got... There is 100% even 200% guarantee, no-questions-asked, and pretty sure of it that they will leave you.

Isn't that truth destructive? Devastating? To love "something else" and to give this "something else" everything that you have only to find out that this "something else" will leave you alone... having an unrequited love? Only to find out that this "something else" does not and will not love you until eternity and will just again... leave you alone?

That's why God wants you to love Him... with everything that you have... To focus on Him alone. Yes, you can love your family, friends, work, boyfriend, girlfriend, pets... but they are only second to God. You give everything to God. Because He will never, ever, leave you. Believe me. Your love for Him is secured. Your everything is secured. And you will have fullness of joy until eternity because He is Eternity... He is Infinity. Your world will not crumble because He will always be there for you. Come to think of it, if You love Him, He will be your everything. Now, the reason why He will not leave you brings me to my last reason...

3. God loved, loves and will always love us... In the first place, we will never exist or even cease to exist if He doesn't love us. Because we are formed because of His love. Even everything else exists because of His love. That's why we are wired to love, because He loves. He is love. And in Him we are complete. We attain fullness of joy. That's why our everything is secured in Him because He is Everything.

And because He has loved us first, our response is to love Him back. It is now not a command but an act. A response to what is truly given to us. Because He wants you to be more like Him... Because He created you in His image and likeness... And Because Jesus is also the Father and the Father is also Jesus... and Jesus loves the Father... then we are to do the same... for this response of love to the Father is for us... He gave this so that you can have fullness of joy in His Love.

PS1. Watch out for the next topic in the series: Loving You

PS2. Watch out for our next topic series after this: Being Complete

Love Blog Series # 6.2.1: What's Love Got to Do with This?

"Hayyyyy... Love..."
But before we get mushy in this article... let's discuss the definition of love.
What is love anyway?

In the world today, there are many, many, many definitions pertaining to love. Most of them equate love as an intense surge of feelings or emotions. And many people would also say that it is irrational, does not have any reason, and simply a magical thing that people feel.

It may sometimes be connoted to love of country, romantic love, friendship, sexual love, love for thing, and even love for God. And many will say that these vast definitions of love are very unique to each other and are very different from each other. Many would say that these different kinds of love have different intensity of feelings also.

All in all, these boils down to one thing: Love is a feeling.

Pope Benedict, through his encyclical letter entitled: "Deus Caritas Est", wishes to address this very definition of love. Is it really a feeling, much like the Greek word, eros? Is love or true essence of it be ideal and almost impossible to grasp due to the many definitions and intensities to it? Is romantic love very different from the religious love or love for God? Can we be able to do the commandments?

What is really the definition of love?

To have a basic knowledge of it, we will have to use the sentence many of us will say in many different languages to express our love to the other:

"I love you"

Using basic English, this simple sentence represent two parts: A subject and a predicate.
The subject here is the word "I". The predicate here is the phrase "love you" which can be subdivided into two objects: A verb and a direct object. The direct object here is "you" and the verb word is "love".

By the very definition of verb as an action word, the word "love" can be connoted as an action.
We cannot express love if is not an action. And by the very definition of it... Love is an action, the doer of the action is "I" and the receiver of the action is "you".

By receiving the action means receiving the action word "love". And love cannot be received if it is not been given to the receiver.

So what is this love that is to be given? By the meaning of the title of the letter "Deus Caritas Est", it means: God is love. We are to give God as an action to the receiver. But how do we do that?

Looking at the first chapter of Genesis, we can see that we ourselves are made from the image and likeness of God. Thus, in action, we only not give our God... we ought to give ourselves.

Thus, the very essence of the true meaning of love. It is an act of self-giving... of self-sacrificing. This is agape used in the New Testament. Then, what are feelings then?

Feelings, the intense emotions that well up inside us, is a byproduct of that love. That is the pursuit defined by eros, supreme infinite happiness often equated to romantic love. Rather than a warped and destructive form of eros that is intoxicated and seeks to reach "divine happiness" for the purpose of feeling the pleasure of being "divine", true eros becomes pure and true when in pursuit of this kind of happiness we ought to give ourselves. Eros and Agape, although different, becomes one in the whole definition of love.

Love becomes one essence but in different manifestations. It is whole. It cannot be gauge into different intensities. It's either you give it whole, or you give an imperfect one. We cannot separate it into different things for if we separate it, we only get an impoverished form of it. And a "half-baked love" is not love at all.

People need love... We need to be loved... and the only thing that quenches that thirst is only through true and perfect love.

Thus, true and perfect love, again, is an action... an act... to give oneself to another... to sacrifice for one neighbor... to serve, give time and effort generously... and its byproduct will always be joy, peace, and love. The feelings that we get when we give generously.

For the more we give and share this love, the more we receive true and perfect love given and acted upon us by our generous God, who gave His Son Jesus, who died for us... just to ultimately define what true love is.



PS. Sorry for the late post, I have to read just part one of the Encyclical letter of the Pope just make this post more understandable and have more "meat" so to speak.

PS2. Watch out for the next topic in the series: Does God need my love?

PS3. Watch out for our next topic series after this: Being Complete

Love Blog Series #6.1: Two Simple Instructions (Subseries special #1)

Did you ever tried NOT to follow the instructions in your test papers?
Deliberately or accidentally?
I did many times and all I got is a zero if not a minus five in my exam or quiz.
Just because I did not follow simple instructions in my test papers.

My topic for this entry is about two simple instructions. Just two.
And yet these two are the most disobeyed instructions since ancient times.
Do you know what are these two?

1. Love God
2. Love others

Simple isn't it? And most of the time, for at least 2000 years... and even before Christ was born, these two instructions were the most disobeyed, often taken-for-granted, and misinterpreted instructions in the world.

I have a hunch that most, if not all, of the unnecessary problems and worries today and even before are due to lack of love. It is due to not following these two simple instructions.

Crime, murder, war, failing the math exam, heartbreaks, divorce, occultism, ouija, rape, population booming, economical crisis, corruption, sin, adultery, bitterness, horror, accidents, blame...

The Greek word used for sin in the New Testament books is called "hamartia" which means "to miss a mark". Thus, by missing the mark or not hitting or obeying these 2 simple instructions actually makes you sin. And sin causes all kinds of unnecessary and useless problems and worries to man.

The whole point now is how do we avoid "missing the mark"? How do we do these instructions? Ultimately, how do we love?

To answer these clearly, We will have to know the problems why we can't easily follow these 2 instructions. There are three reasons why we fail to follow these instructions...
1. We do not know
2. We do not internalize
3. We do not do it

1st, we do not know what love is and why do we need to love. The problem with us today is that we ourselves twisted the very meaning and form of love and corrupted it just to fit into our own selfish needs. Knowing what true love is and the real reasons why we need to love God and others will help us have concrete reasons for us to love them. I believe that in loving you need to know why you love (see Love Blog Series #3: True Love has One Reason Alone). We will discuss it later in our next set of topics what love is and why we need to love.

2nd, it is not enough to know it by mind. We need to know it by heart. Everyday we must internalize and condition ourselves to do the 2 greatest commandments. Again, a full discussion for this part will be done later.

and lastly, after knowing love and conditioning yourself to love, the last important thing is to actually do it. Every preparation will be in vain if not done in action. So here, some of the answers in how to love will be given here.

This topic will be subdivided into parts to answer how can we love God and love others more effectively and then actually "avoid missing the mark". So watch out for our next issues :D

(Next topic in our subseries: What's Love Got to Do with This?)
(Watch out for our next set of topics: Being Complete)

Love Blog Series #5: Extension to the Theory of Equivalent Exchange

Remember this theory?

The theory states that "for the exchange to take place, the two key players of the relationship must be somehow complete first before they give it to each other. As for this, they will take what the other has given and the cycle goes on. Because of their completeness, and their readiness, the give-and-take cycle becomes a natural process, like breathing and eating."

(for more explanation, see Love Blog Series #1: The Theory of Equivalent Exchange)

There's an extension to it, which will encompass all other relationships as well.

You may think that when a person gives his whole self to his partner, the partner is fulfilled and is complete from that love being given by her partner. Now I will disagree with that.

Because people are imperfect. We can't give perfect love... remember my last paragraph? That you can't give without being complete... and by being complete you must ask from God to give you first His complete and perfect love so that you can share it to others especially to your partner...

The receiver of love is not really receiving a perfect love from her partner if the love given does not come from God and the giver is not really giving himself and his love completely if the giver doesn't have the love from God.

Thus, the reality of this theory is that the reason behind the completeness of a person inside the cycle of love is not because of the love being completely given to us by the giver but because of the love being given by our Lord.

The cycle really becomes a natural process when we share and give that whole love from our Lord.

Our fulfillment of our needs is really not because of the person who give us love, but because the Lord fulfilled us first our needs (that is why we should be complete first before having a relationship... at this point, we will discuss it in our next topic: Being complete).

And in loving relationship, the Lord uses our partners as His instruments to show His perfect love for us again, and again, and again.

Making us complete again, and again , and again...

And having that kind of reality, we don't need to look after ourselves. Thus, we have more time to look after our partners needs... Because we ourselves are instruments of God to show His love for our partners.

Although this reality looks like that we fulfill them, it is really the Lord using us to love them completely. Isn't that amazing?

To conclude this topic, if you really love... or if I rephrase it: If you really want to love the person you are loving right now (may it be your parent, child, boyfriend, girlfriend, special some-one, spouse, friend) don't just give your imperfect love...

Ask for God to give you first His perfect love to you so that you could share and give His perfect love to others... remember this equation:

Perfect love tenfold = imperfect love from you + perfect love given to you from God

Don't worry about the cycle... you don't need the cycle for the fulfillment of your needs from your partner. Why? Because your needs are met by God's love! (I said it before and I'll say it again... you being complete will not come from your partner... period) The cycle will come and be a natural process after.

God's love is ought to be shared :D It makes His love increase tenfold :D

(Watch out for our next topic in our series: Two Simple Instructions)

Introduction to New Series: Window Series

Another series will be introduced here.

It will be all about my reflections, my thoughts and about me.

This will be called the Window Series...

From the metaphor "window of my soul", the blog entries written under this series will be make you see and maybe know more about me and my life, what I see and also what God sees in me.

So any blog entry will be under this series will be titled Window Series: [title of the topic]

Again, watch out and thank you for reading :D

Introduction to New Series: Love Blog Series

This will be an introduction for my new series of blog entries about a certain topic.

The topic is about Love. Yes, the ups-and-downs, the left-and-right, the right-and-wrong.

The title for this series will be Love Blog Series...

And thanks to some of my friends inspiring me to create this series (although they didn't know that I am really creating this... Only just one of them did know about it... and she knew also my first topic to be written in this series).

So any blog entry will be under this series will be titled Love Blog Series: [title of the topic]

If you have any question or anything that you want to ask about love, just write in my guestbook at multiply and I'll try to research upon it and maybe I could put it as another entry for this series :D

Again, thanks for reading and God bless :D