"Write About Work..."

Work equates to earning a living to support yourself and your family as a whole. But what's the deeper meaning of work in our lives? I read somewhere and from a long time ago that work is" a vocation, a calling to bring forth our gifts in the context of the community in which we work and serve and it awakens and enlivens us on a daily basis..." 
And I approve this definition of work.
I'm an educator in a public elementary school serving special needs children in a military installation unit.
I see their parent/s dropping them off in their uniform and sometimes these children are still having difficulty adjusting to following rules and procedures at all times. What they want is to play all the time. What you incorporate to make your teaching meaningful is learning how to reference their interests in all activities even during outside recess. It could be so frustrating when you don't get their individual goals to a maximum level of expectancy. Sometimes, I have to pick my battles which would one I give adherence to or what is the priority; getting the curriculum done or getting them ready by equipping them with self-sufficient, practical ways to survive to adulthood?. Whenever they throw 'their fits/antrums, and it's often very destructive I have to immediately shift my thinking that these are truly special needs children and all they want is that sense of belonging and understanding their own world. I get it but somehow the challenge is greater than your passion and it surely is true work for me.
If I have to venture or choose another line of work, it would be writing. I don't even enforce to get paid for it. I want to write non-fiction stories, personal articles highlighting my mantras; putting lyrics to make a beautiful melody of a song, a poem or even writing encapsulating words to convey love in a Hallmark card. Writing anything that moves me to write...with resilience and spontaneity!
However, in my vein still runs the fervor of teaching elementary grade students especially in a Sunday School setting. I was amazed by how golden opportunities can be when you're teaching the Word of God to the little children. Their innocent faces, their hearts strung, attuned to what I'm saying is the sacred dimension of true work and service. There was no spirit of reluctance among them; only wanting to learn more about Jesus.
That was my gift as an eyewitness to a group of children where God's visions on their life are unveiling, unfolding...to serve the Lord.

Day 26: " Write About Disappointment..."

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Beautiful weather produces a bounty of joy and thanksgiving just about now. From where I'm typing, I feel the rays of the sun seeping so bright giving me glimpses of what is to come--blessings of good, moving words to evoke my sentiments...I say that because we've been having what many call bipolar weather here in Central Texas. So, whenever we have a very indulging just right weather, I'm engulfed in its pleasure. So I started writing my 500-Word challenge before sunset. 

Writing about disappointment at this very hour will not help me get into that dismal mood of redirecting my remembrance to disappointments which are too many to think about. Truly, my biggest hurdle of disappointment is my delayed or long-overdue reaction to situations that needed resolutions right away. When you do that, you waste time, your energy and compromises the blessings and fruits of good decision-making leverage especially in the grueling experience of
"ending, halting the toxic relationship in my life. There came many times of hesitation, sadness, and regret that I couldn't resolve moving forward by forgetting what's been behind me all these years. I believed it was all the wrong myths and notions of love that squandered my adult life spanning to three decades. Pitiful, crazy and rubbish on my part but then again I came away with living now vivaciously and most of all loving and respecting myself according to what God says about me...But for all its worth, I'm thankful they happened for they made me so much stronger!


 "Knowing when and how to let go when something, or someone, isn't working--a personal 
relationship, a job, or a business venture--is essential for happiness and success because the
good cannot begin until the bad ends..."
And I quote, "There are relationships that should go away, practices and phases that must be relinquished, and life stages that should come to an end to open up space for the next one." by Dr. Henry Cloud

"I wish they weren't, but they are."

"Write About Travel..."

Speaking of travel in its physical sense, mine is very few not to mention that my travels were never leisure or pleasure like a sabbatical. I always traveled with my immediate family visiting other family relatives or with a group of women going to a church retreat. My kind of travel is yet to happen in Jerusalem, or in Greece for a writing retreat and back to the
The Philippines for a high school reunion.

Well, when I and my husband and our 2 small children at the time were traveling from San Jose, California to New Jersey, with all of our household goods in a huge U-haul truck, that was the last travel we would do as a family. It was a trip mixed with melancholy because my parents and two siblings were still living in San Jose, California and on the other spectrum of life was great anticipation to live close
to my husband's family on the east coast. On our first day of travel, my husband drove for 14 hours. We stayed on a hotel the first night and the kids were very excited that we got to do this as a family.
One thing about traveling with your husband and children is that there's is an unexplainable sheer of joy in making a new journey with the whole family unit. That we are complete and that was it. There was a sense of unbreakable bond even for those moments only God knows how long it will last.
We were happy especially my husband wanting to be living near his mom again. On our second day of the trip, my husband just decided to make a stop to Chicago where his Aunt lives. I was okay with that. The kids too, maybe because of my husband's aunt that had a store where food and candies are of good supply and other stuff that we might need for the trip. We ended up staying for 2 nights.
One of the relatives had a birthday party. Our children had enjoyed Puerto Rican foods and played games with the other children there. I felt happy seeing families got together and unafraid to show how they missed each other all these years. On our last day of travel, my husband was driving
endlessly for an hour and there was this crossroad that we were about to take but he didn't know which way to take. The map he was looking at didn't help. So I just told him to take the other way. My gut feeling was telling me the right road to take and it so happened to be the right one. My husband was thanking me after that quick decision I made.

What I come away with that trip is that for everything, there is a season, beautiful in its time and God has set eternity in our hearts and would walk with us in season and out ...even when those seasons of life meant to be temporary but as you look back for a brief moment, those moments were shared without a few regrets...

'Cut The Fluff..."

"Cut the fluff..." is an idiom where you get rid useless adjectives and adverbs to get your writing powerful and clear. We, writers, are guilty of this fallacy in writing. Sometimes, the use of adjectives and adverbs give us better descriptions to nouns and pronouns. That may be so but most of the times, we overuse adjectives and adverbs putting our writing weak and vague. I tend to do that and I'm trying not to commit this fallacy in writing. Brevity and clarity in your writing are better than embellishing words that are just occupying space. Right now I'm guilty of not being punchy with my words. I could cut more fluffy words in my sentences but since this is free writing I will give myself a free ride to it.
Action words which are verbs are the best part of speech to use in the active voice if you want strong descriptions. The words that I often misuse and overuse are"very, so, truly, which, that, of, too, and etc. Well, every day is an opportunity to learn something better and I believe that there's always a room for improvement in whatever we do whether writing or parenting.
Sometimes I think I'm very bias when reading somebody else's work or craft. If your writing doesn't catch my attention on the 4th sentence of your paragraph, I won't read what happens next. I will end up just perusing the pages not having an inkling to go back and give it a chance... I should embrace other styles of writing not just appreciate their writing because it identifies with my style of writing. How's that going to hone my ability to write when I'm limiting and restricting good resources available to my disposal? My mindset should change to allowing myself to grow to make myself available to writing conferences, workshops, and webinars if I want this to work. And I do...especially this year, 2019.

"Write The End..."

It's day 23 of our My 500 Words Challenge. I'm starting to get weary in my bone...It's starting to get me to write like it's an obligation that I'm just doing it now to finish it because I signed for this challenge. Writing every day with a suggested/given topic to delve in is hard work. You begin to lose your fluidity and your words, thoughts become sloppy. But I have to get over this feeling of discontentment and continue to write with a purpose.
I was oftentimes asked why I don't have a book published yet or hadn't written non-fiction articles on magazines. I don't know. It always seems many things get in the way before I even plan to launch something like that. Blogging is the closest one to a greater dream. At this point in my life, this is good until God puts in my heart what I need to do for "He orders my steps."

But if I have to write a book, I would highlight "Home" where all meaningful events happened.
It is "at home" where you first witnessed what love is between two loving couple, your parents.
It is "at home" where unity and responsibility are taught well among us siblings. It is "at home"
where good manners are first established, where valuable lessons are taught...It is
"at home" where the ultimate foundation of core beliefs, our faith in God's very nature of giving unconditional love and His grace are mounted high in our core being. So, I'm here to say that having been brought up in an atmosphere of love, solidarity, and accountability in my generation
is big and that will carry you through thick and thin and weathering storms in your life.

Our childhood lies all the justifications why we believe what we believe and why we behave the
way we behave. The sacrifices that my mom and dad labored just to give us a good education served
me to follow suit. Those images in my reservoir of good memories in childhood built me good spines to be a courageous single parent.
How I would like to end my writing and what I want my readers to walk away with is the truth of the matter about life is that you can't blame anybody for your misfortune. It all comes back to making
good choices between right and wrong, and putting your faith to the One who can give you "and show you a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb."

"Write About Fear..."

Fear of death is probably the greatest fear that comes to mind...But if you have a strong relationship with God, His promises will entreat you, admonish you to be still, and trust Him.

At the beginning of the year, our Grace church is involved in serving our community with our choice of ministry we want to help with. I picked the gathering of old wreaths that were put in every tomb of a serviceman or servicewoman that served in the military. This happened to be the ministry that many people signed on to do. There were about 8,000 thousand graves equalling to that number of wreaths we're supposed to dispose of and if they could be recycled, we keep them in a different container.
I was amazed at the good turn out of people that came to help from other churches and organizations. I thought I would be there till sunset but we were all done within an hour.

As I was uprooting every wreath anchored to the ground, I said to myself, these men and women died as heroes, with valor, dignity and lived out their purpose. What about me? I'm alive and well but there are still times when I feel like my purpose is still waiting for me to claim. That's my greatest fear that I'm traveling in circles not fulfilling what I'm assigned to do in this world. I try to do good in every way I know is right. However, I feel like I'm just scratching the surface in everything I do and touch. I wish God will tell me audibly or send me an angel to tell me my real purpose so I wouldn't keep falling and guessing why am I here for. I'm not afraid to die because I know where I'm going to live forever. I just want to hear God when I stand before Him and tell me," welcome home, my good and faithful servant." 
My other fear is for my children to stay oblivious and disobedient and their hearts hardened towards the heart of God and they missed the Rapture. Not just for them but for everyone that still continues to be walking in the dark. I think of every soul that had ever impacted my journey in this life, where are they now? What about those that visit and read my blog? Are their hearts in a good place?
That I pray that you choose Today to give your heart to the Lord and let Him show you that He 
is the Joy, Peace & Love you've been missing in your life.

"Write A Confession..."

 Our writing challenge suggested topic for today is about sharing something that we wish didn't
happen but it did.

If I have to be brutally honest, I have many outlandish, uncouth, and awkward experiences in
the past. Yet all of these experiences have made me realized my real worth as a woman, a mother, a friend, a writer and most of all as the beloved daughter in the eyes of God.

You see, my worst flaw is and was the fairy tales I concocted in my mind developed by the sultry images I watched on t.v. shows, love stories I read on books and magazines and the radio dramas I heard over a hundred times. So did with the allure of music that portrays never-ending love.

Falling in love is the most beautiful, breathtaking, magical, suspenseful, intimate and inspiring act in life. I could add a very long list of adjectives and all the usage of the eight parts of speech congruently but still don't suffice how depth love is...Nobody can fully describe that profound feelings and emotions you have for someone. I may be a lyricist but still had not arrived to be a master of an unfathomed love. I am not going to be specific about my experience in this field because it is not meant for people to read in a blog. I just want to tell you in a nutshell that loving someone has a set of boundaries, standards, and guideposts you have to follow. Any red flag that you see must be a concern. Don't be blind or coerced or even constricted by loving someone just to be loved. Do not cross the fine line of giving yourself to someone who's already taken or committed to someone. That is so low and it reflects what kind of heart you have, a heartless, selfish kind of heart. All of which will come back to you in greater suffering if you concede to relationships you pursued to be very wrong. But then again, you're in a phase where your heart refuses to see and live the truth. Your truth is what you do; the choices that will make you respect yourself. Sooner or later, the realization of the matter comes pricy for you have wasted your time, energy, and money. The saddest part is you have consciously interrupted the very good plans and the will of God to prosper you because of your disobedience to his many promptings through the Holy Spirit. 

I have been a new creation and a vessel on God's Word. Nothing or nobody can stern me sideways on what I'm standing on now, the Solid Rock, Jesus, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. My past experiences serve as a precursor to my knowledge and living out the truth of His promises laid out to those who believe...And God has forgiven me for thwarting or coveting good to bad. 

But aren't we thankful and beyond Blessed that we have the God that accepts us and the only one that can love us" to the moon, to the infinity, to Heaven? He's knocking at every door of opportunity He sees open, and yet we veer to the side, against the course of the wind...

We only have Today...We may not live Tomorrow. There's no telling when our last earthly breath be... Choose Life Eternal!