Past Forward

I had work this morning and while at it I was gathering my thoughts on what I would write about for the last day of the year. It was a little difficult to do this as I was suffering from sore eyes. Yuck, I know. Anyway, my favorite movie trilogy came to mind – Back to the Future.

Maybe some or many may not have cared for it, but to me, it carried a lot of truths seemingly apt for a year-end bye-bye message and a way to welcome the new year.

First off, Doc Brown of 1955 didn’t like the idea of Marty mingling with anyone in that time for it will create an alternate future. And we all know what happened. In reality, this CAN’T happen. The past is just that… Pfft, gone, zilch, nada. So do our past experiences, our past relationships, everything that we did. Well it happened so let’s just put it down to lessons learned. If it was good, then we try to sustain those and be consistent, too.

However, Doc Brown of 2015 was all for Marty saving his son from being jailed. Marty came to the rescue, of course. This is reality.

We can change our future by starting today. We build what we could despite the contradictions, the hardships, the let downs because we know that what we are building will be for our own good. So we stick to it and listen to those encouraging words of our elders, our friends, our loved ones. We move forward against all odds so to speak. Along the way we make some changes here and there, some adjustments, give a little more time to concentrate on the difficulties that needs resolving but pretty soon what we were looking forward to now becomes ours, FINALLY!

Don’t let history repeat itself. Somebody advised me that perhaps the reason why some things/events/circumstance happen over and over is because I might not have tackled the situation correctly. Too true. There’s the right way and the wrong way. Do I take a U-turn? Definitely NOT. Stop at the curb and think about which way would be the best you could take. Leave the past, move on forward. Be sensitive about the signs though; they’re there to put you on the right track.

And to end this year’s last entry, let me quote from Numbers 6:24-26… “May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.”

Happy New Year!

Nine days

It’s been six days since we three, my hubby, our son and myself started attending the nine-day novena masses prelude to the Christmas “Misa de Aguinaldo”; a practice unique to the Philippines.

It was an unusual first day for us because then the country was hit by typhoon Nona. We had rain the whole day that time but we never expected that the area where the church was located was going to be flooded. Lo! And behold, all mass attendees seemingly were encamped at the church, it becoming our evacuation center at that particular time. It’s been an hour since the mass ended and the flood waters continued to rise. While my hubby was bent on staying, our son and I braved the storm. It was my son’s first experience wading in the flood. He took his shoes off while I preferred sacrificing my shoes. We both decided to fold our jeans because it would be difficult to wade in soaked jeans.

That’s the whole idea of the nine-day novena. It’s a sacrifice. It’s a show of love. It’s a gift, more than anything else.

We have three more days to complete the novena masses and we continue to wish our prayers be answered. Till then, let me greet everyone a Merry Christmas! We include in our prayers that the typhoon Nona victims experience God’s Hope, Love, Joy and Peace in their hearts.