What does God want?

I recently read this book entitled "What does God want?" by Michael Heiser, a known Biblical scholar. 

Here are my key takeaways and realizations:

1. I've always thought that to be God-fearing is good, but after reading the book which cited a lot of historical events in the Bible when Man greatly sinned, what God wants is for us to be close to Him. And so, if our fear of God results to being distant from him, that's not what God wants. Because even if we keep on committing sins, God never ceases to love us.  God sent Christ  - long before we were born - to save us from sin.  

Romans 5:8

God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

What I think we need to fear though is Hell. We were given intellect and free will - we will be held accountable for our sins.   Thus, we should avoid sinning. But in times when we fail and still sin, we should be quick and sincere to ask forgiveness from God.  God wants us to keep returning to Him (instead of fearing Him) - even if we fail multiple times. 

2.  We sometimes joke that when we do good, we earn points in heaven.  But that's not how it works.  Here are some excerpts from the book:

 “Living a godly life isn’t about earning a place in heaven.  It’s not about putting God in our debt because of the spirituality points we’ve racked up.“ 

"Salvation - membership in God's family - cannot be earned.  It can only be received by faith (belief)." 

John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

 

Did that sink in to you?  Salvation is never earned (no brownie points required). It is given by the grace of God - as long as we believe in Him. By virtue of our faith in God, we can receive salvation. Wow.   

3. God knows all our thoughts - even before we pray - so why do we even have to pray?  Praying is a way we show God that we rely on Him alone.  We believe He knows best.  And He is Wise - God’s answers may not always be what we want and He sometimes answers in unexpected ways, but if you truly reflect by connecting the dots and looking in hindsight, His ways are always for a good reason.  Important reminder - even when Christ prayed to God, He also didn't get the easiest solution (e.g. dying on the Cross) as He completely deferred to God's Will and completely put His trust in God - Thy will be done.

4. Our prayers need not always be self-focused. In the Bible, even in ancient times, a lot of prayers are aimed at blessing others or asking God’s mercy upon others. 

5. Fasting means to abstain from something - it doesn’t have to be necessarily fasting from food.  Fasting can be from anything or any activity that distracts us from praying or being with God e.g. phone, leisure activity.   Fasting is a spiritual practice designed to help us focus on prayer.  For example, if we’re fasting from food for spiritual reasons (not health reasons), when we’re hungry, we should be reminded to pray.  

However, if fasting from food is practiced for health purposes (not spiritual reasons), we can fast from other pre-identified distractions.  Fasting will force us to detach ourselves from worldly things, think about what really matters in life,  carve out time for God and bring our minds back to God and pray. 

6. Finally, what's the answer to the question -  What does God want?  

In the Bible, Man has turned away from God so many times - starting from Adam & Eve when they disobeyed God, the wickedness during Noah’s time, Tower of Babel … but every time, God never gave up on Man.    What does God want?  He wants us.  He wants us to live like Christ, to imitate Him.  

1 Peter 2:20-23
For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure?  But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.  For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in His steps.  He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth. When He was reviled, He did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly.

The thing is - the culture promoted in modern times is to live life to gratify our own happiness. Live for the "now".  It's all about pleasure and self-gratification... and chasing after worldly life goals.  We need to go back to God and what really matters.  

 1 John 2:15-17
Do not love the world or the things in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world - the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life - is not from the Father but is from the world.  And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. 

What really matters?  A life wherein we practice Christ's teachings.  And hopefully by living Christ's teachings, we are able to inspire/influence people to also live good lives so we can bring more people closer to God.  

This is very tough mission given all our sins and imperfections, but we have to remember too that we were created in the image of God and God is in us.  It doesn't matter if we oftentimes fail and backslide because if we do, it doesn't surprise God as He knows all our weaknesses and shortcomings.  What He wants is for us to keep on returning to Him when we sin. 

And even if we find ourselves succumbing to the same sin (so guilty of this that my confession is like a template! 😭), we have to continue praying to Him and asking for His help.  We should not allow fear or shame take over us or let the feeling of being unworthy to creep in - that's the work of the evil one.  Even when we are in a state of sin, we should not stop praying to God - it is in fact when we need God the most.  There are a lot of stories in the Bible where God forgave mercifully (whom by human standards may seem unforgivable) - among many, think about the Parable of the Prodigal Son, The Lost Sheep and in the Old Testament, the story of King David. King David committed adultery, arranged a murder, and was a lawbreaker, but he never wavered his belief in God nor worshipped any other one, and so God was merciful to him.  There is no such thing as unforgivable in the eyes of God.

The most important thing is we should continue praying to God - at all times, no matter what - because God wants us. He wants us to be part of His Family. There is no excuse why we should be away from Him. God is ready to accept us and forgive us any time and every time.

Recipe: Natural Antibiotic

Image by PDPics from Pixabay

If you want to try natural foods that help heal the body, here’s a recipe I came across online and helped me when I had sore throat, cough and light fever last year.  But you need to prepare and stock a jar in your cupboard since it takes 4 weeks to ferment it.

It’s made from regular foods we eat. ☺️  Below is the recipe.

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Natural Antibiotic

Ingredients

1 quart size of glass jar

Juice if 2 lemons

1/4 cup garlic, chopped

2 jalapeno peppers, sliced

1/2 cup onions, sliced

1/2 cup horseradish root, peeled & diced

1 cup ginger root, peeled & diced

Raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar

Instructions:

1. Put lemon juice in jar
2. Add 1/4 cup chopped garlic
3. Add 2 chopped jalapeno peppers
4. Add lemon juice
5. Add 1/2 cup chopped onions
6. Add 1/2 cup diced horseradish
7. Add peeled and chopped ginger
8. Pour apple cider vinegar, covering all ingredients inside the jar
9. Add honey to taste
10. If the cap of your jar is metal, put a piece of wax paper, cloth or clingwrap in between cap and bottle to protect metal from corroding.
11. Put in cool dark place and let it sit for 4 weeks

After 4 weeks:

Take it out and use a sieve to strain it (since it has lemon juice, better to use a non-metal sieve). Though personally, I don’t strain it anymore and just scoop from the jar - just make sure to use a plastic or wooden spoon because there’s lemon juice.  Using a metal spoon makes lemon acidic.  

How to take it:

• You can take 1 tbsp or dilute it in water or add it to tea.  You can also add honey if you want.  With honey, please don't use a metal spoon as metal kills the enzymes. Use a plastic or wooden spoon.
• When you're feeling under the weather, or your immune system is low, or you're sick/fighting an infection, take it 3x a day or every 3 to 4 hours. 
• You may also take 1 tbsp daily for maintenance - remember it's just made from regular foods we eat everyday.  

2023: My Year in Retrospect

Image by Myriams-Fotos from Pixabay

It's been a couple of years since I last blogged.  Sadly, I lost the person closest to my heart and a lot of my regular routines got disrupted as I adapted to the new reality. 🥲  It’s always sad to lose a loved one, but the gratitude for having had the chance to experience life with someone who has deeply touched our lives and shaped us should precede any sorrow.  Admittedly though, our sorrow is often due to selfish reasons since we miss their physical presence.  

But though they may not be physically present with us, they strongly remain in us and help serve as our moral compass.  They are like an additional layer in our conscience - they remind us of the right values every time we are faced with difficult choices to make.  Hopefully, we are able to do the right things (so they don’t turn in their grave).😅  

Anyway over the last year, I’ve started picking up the pieces and reshaping my routines, so here’s going back to my usual Year in Retrospect.

Background: I started doing this "year in retrospect" exercise in the year 2015. Why? Because at the end of each year, we tend to rant that a year has passed by so quickly. But if you look back and reflect, surely, you must have done something throughout the year.  Now whether you consider these activities productive, good, fun or meaningful is another thing. But for me, that's entirely up to you - your own rules, your own metrics, your own definition of enjoyment and your own criteria of what's worth your time with the 365 days we've been given in a year. :)  As my motto goes - life is never too short if we live it well. :)

Here's my 2023 in retrospect (and in random order):

Image by StockSnap from Pixabay

Discerning Mindset.  Don’t believe everything you read online - regardless from whom the info comes from. Always do your own research (preferably checking out 2 sides of the coin), reflect if there’s any underlying motivation (e.g. is there a party who gets an unfair advantage), and assess if there’s something off about it (e.g. why are options being limited and pushed when there are other equally sound solutions). Question everything.  Think for yourself. And trust your instinct.  

Unlearning some Health principles.  After reading some books, online articles and online comments on various posts, here’s what I embraced:

• Good fat is healthy, the real culprits are sugar and seed oils. I still do eat some carbs when it cannot be avoided (e.g. when it is served or given) or when I just miss some carbs (like ramen! I am only human. Haha…). But at least, I am now more conscious of my carb consumption.  

• Intermittent fasting (IF).  If you know me (and I probably mentioned this a lot in old posts) - I don’t like to get hungry, that’s why Good Friday is my most dreaded day because it’s fasting day. Skipping a meal or getting hungry is really a sacrifice for me.  This is so embarrassing (especially to God) - like on Ash Wednesday or Good Friday, though I would fast the whole day, I usually wait at the strike of midnight to feast.  This somehow defeats the purpose of fasting because it’s just delayed gratification. 🙊 Anyway, when I was researching about IF, I read a lot of comments that when they removed carbs in their diet, they never experienced hunger pangs and they even had clarity of mind.  So I tried it - and guess what, it is true! I was super amazed. No growling sounds coming from my tummy too. So now, I rarely have breakfast unless it cannot be avoided (e.g. breakfast meetups because it’s much more enjoyable if you all eat).  For a 24-hour fast, I can do it too if I eat at least 400grams to 500 grams of meat! Haha.. 😅 Given that fasting is no longer a sacrifice for me, I had moved on to harder sacrifices.  Btw, fasting is mentioned about 77x in the Bible - in both the Old and New Testaments (though the word “fasting” has been removed in newer versions of the Bible). 

• When you’re sick, address the root cause e.g. high in blood sugar? Cut carb consumption.  Use logic to fix your body.  Don’t just blindly take medicines.  Find a doctor that would help you address the root cause - the goal should be to get you off medication. If your doctor reassures you that there’s no need to worry because there are meds you can take, it’s time to consider changing your doctor. 

• Going back to healing properties of God-given food. Though some medicines help relieve symptoms, the downside is there are always side effects too.  Medicines can treat the target disease, but it could also hit or disrupt another organ or part of the body (e.g. antibiotics disrupt gut health).  If we just properly take care of our body - it is self-healing.   I’ve bookmarked a lot of recipes but so far, one that I tried and is effective (when I had sore throat, cold and light fever) is a recipe for natural antibiotic.  Nothing to lose since ingredients are all natural foods (lemon juice, garlic, onions, jalapeno peppers, ginger, horseradish root, apple cider vinegar and honey - ferment it for 4 weeks). To check out the recipe, click here.   

New heathy habits I adopted.

• Enjoying morning sun  - at least 30 minutes a day☀️ (and I don’t put any sunblock lotion anymore)

Image by WOKANDAPIX from Pixabay

• Walking barefoot (on grass or sand) 🦶👣 - though I can only do this during the weekends outside the city since there are limitations to do it in city parks.  Lucky are those who have gardens or live by the beach or by the mountains.  You have easy access to the healing properties of grounding.

• Spend time more outdoors.☀️  When I work remotely and I don’t have virtual meetings, I try do it in cafes al fresco where I enjoy natural light and fresh air. When I am home in the province, I set up my WFH station in my mom’s garden and go barefoot.   

• No more fruit shakes as it can cause spike in blood sugar -  it’s always best to consume them as whole fruit from what I read. But there are still some fresh fruit juice I can still enjoy (that require a blender) - lemon juice, calamansi juice and fresh coconut juice. :)

• Walking daily in the park.  🌴🌳🌴🌳I actually have a treadmill which I got during the pandemic, but nothing beats walking in the park surrounded by beautiful big trees and plants, and oxygen-rich.

Getting out of my comfort zone.  

• 

  Image by 3888952 from Pixabay

  When I like something, let’s say a restaurant or dish, I tend to just keep on going there and ordering the same dish.  So something I did differently this year (inspired by a friend who dined in almost all the restaurants in our area), I explored new restaurants, and for the old restaurants I frequented, I ordered new dishes and guess what? I discovered new favorites!  

• I was so used to just walking to my office for more than a decade and only drove during weekends. Because of this and also due to sneaky traffic enforcers around the metro, I don’t like to drive outside the places I am familiar with.  But last year, I started to drive to unfamiliar places since I had to go to some wakes and thankfully, I survived (prayed non-stop too in the car! Haha…). So now, I explore different routes and try to remember them so I don’t get too dependent on Waze.  Pre-GPS, hats off to drivers around the metro - they knew how to get around including the side streets. Amazing brainpower.  Which makes us realize - technology, though very convenient, has made our brains weaker.     

Travels.  I haven’t traveled overseas yet since the pandemic. But slowly, last year, I opened myself to local trips.  Went to Boracay and Davao with friends.  It’s been more than 3 years  that I haven’t been to one I realized how I missed the beach.   I’ve always enjoyed and feel energized when I am in the beach - even just walking along the shore, or sitting on the sand and enjoying the sea breeze.

Musicals. It’s my first time to go back to watching musicals too since the pandemic.  I was able to catch Tick, Tick, Boom, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Bawat Bonggang Buhay and Hamilton.
  
My new repertoire of prayers.  The Holy Rosary, then prayer for the poor souls, and several Memorares for all the people and petitions I promised to pray and for those who have pressing needs but don’t have anyone to help them pray.  The Memorare, when said 9 times straight, is also considered an expedited novena. 🙏

That's about it for my 2023 highlights - my own metrics, my own definition of enjoyment and my own criteria of what's worth my time in the 365 days of 2023.

Happy new year!

Prayer for Tough Times: Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Source:  Pixabay

It’s been more than a year since I last blogged.

2021 was a tough year for me. I know it’s been challenging for a lot of others too, especially those who got sick and those who lost loved ones along the way. 

Though we know challenges and problems are a part of life, when something huge comes unexpectedly, or they come one after another, that's when it becomes difficult.

If you're having a tough time now, or have friends and loved ones who are, here's a prayer you can say.  This novena prayer was recited every day by Padre Pio for all those who asked for prayers from him.  May your prayers be answered too. 🙏🙏  If you don't have time to pray the novena,  just pray to Him persistently.  

Important reminder - sometimes the answer doesn't come right away, or it's not in the form we are expecting, but just trust.  Because once you reflect and look back, you'll be able to connect the dots, and realize why things had to happen. 

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Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus 

O my Jesus, You have said: “Truly I say to you, ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you.” Behold I knock, I seek and ask for the grace of <insert petition>.

Our Father … Hail Mary … Glory Be … 

Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in You. 

O my Jesus, You have said: “Truly I say to you, if you ask anything of the Father in My name, He will give it to you.” Behold, in Your name, I ask the Father for the grace of <insert petition>.

Our Father… Hail Mary… Glory Be… 

Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in You. 

O my Jesus, You have said: “Truly I say to you, heaven and earth will pass away but My words will not pass away.” Encouraged by Your infallible words I now ask for the grace of <insert petition>.

Our Father… Hail Mary… Glory Be… 

Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in You. 

O Sacred Heart of Jesus, for whom it is impossible not to have compassion on the afflicted, have pity on us miserable sinners and grant us the grace which we ask of You, through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, Your tender Mother and ours. 

Say the Hail, Holy Queen. 

St. Joseph, foster father of Jesus, pray for us.

A Beautiful Prayer after Holy Communion (by St. Pio)

Usually after Holy Communion, my prayer is in free form - in short, anything goes whatever comes to mind which I want to tell God or ask from Him. 😅  But I discovered this beautiful prayer after Holy Communion by St. Pio.  It beautifully captures what we want to tell and ask from God, but which we are unable to articulate on our own.   Now, I try to pray it first before I start my free form prayer. 🙏🙏

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Image by Tep Ro from Pixabay

Prayer of St. Pio of Pietrelcina after Holy Communion

Stay with me, Lord, for it is necessary to have You present so that I do not forget You. You know how easily I abandon You.

Stay with me, Lord, because I am weak and I need Your strength, that I may not fall so often.

Stay with me, Lord, for You are my life, and without You, I am without fervor.

Stay with me, Lord, for You are my light, and without You, I am in darkness.

Stay with me, Lord, to show me Your will.

Stay with me, Lord, so that I hear Your voice and follow You.

Stay with me, Lord, for I desire to love You very much, and always be in Your company.

Stay with me, Lord, if You wish me to be faithful to You.

Stay with me, Lord, for as poor as my soul is, I want it to be a place of consolation for You, a nest of love. 

Stay with me, Jesus, for it is getting late and the day is coming to a close, and life passes; death, judgment, eternity approaches. It is necessary to renew my strength, so that I will not stop along the way and for that, I need You. It is getting late and death approaches, I fear the darkness, the temptations, the dryness, the cross, the sorrows. O how I need You, my Jesus, in this night of exile! 

Stay with me tonight, Jesus, in life with all it’s dangers. I need You. Let me recognize You as Your disciples did at the breaking of the bread, so that the Eucharistic Communion be the Light which disperses the darkness, the force which sustains me, the unique joy of my heart. 

Stay with me, Lord, because at the hour of my death, I want to remain united to You, if not by communion, at least by grace and love. 

Stay with me, Jesus, I do not ask for divine consolation, because I do not merit it, but the gift of Your Presence, oh yes, I ask this of You!

Stay with me, Lord, for it is You alone I look for, Your Love, Your Grace, Your Will, Your Heart, Your Spirit, because I love You and ask no other reward but to love You more and more. With a firm love, I will love You with all my heart while on earth and continue to love You perfectly during all eternity. 

Amen.

How to Protect Yourself from Bank and Credit Card Scams

Times are hard and scams are on the rise.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay 

Scammers are getting sophisticated in mimicking  the characteristics of bank transactions (look, tone & feel) that's why a lot of people are getting tricked into believing that whatever email or text message they received or whoever called them are legitimately from their bank.  Even smart people or those who are aware of how scams work still get duped because scam tactics just get better and better, and even involving some psychological and emotional plays.

The latest heartbreaking story I heard preyed upon a person's fear.  Remember how your credit card provider would call you when it detects unauthorized transaction/s?  That was the scammer's entry point.  The scammer called the unsuspecting victim and informed her that they detected unauthorized transactions amounting to an obscene amount and that they need to immediately cancel the transactions one by one. The victim said that the caller sounded legit - English-proficient and there was even an office background noise.  The caller then informed the victim that they will trigger OTPs to her account and all she needs to do is to give the OTP one after another so each transaction will be cancelled. And she did.  At the end of the call, she was informed not to use her credit card anymore as they will cancel it and that she will be sent a new credit card within 7 days.   Right after the call, the victim thought of calling the bank's hotline and that's when she found out that an obscene amount was charged to her credit card.  😱 Though the victim explained to the bank that she was scammed for those transactions (and they were apparently even overseas transactions), she is still liable to pay for them since she technically gave authorization via sharing her OTPs. 😭

Now let's take a step back and analyze what were the tell-tale signs that it was a scam.

When a bank calls you when they detect unauthorized transactions, they will just ask you to confirm if they are indeed unauthorized.  If you say they are unauthorized, they will block the transaction/s and inform you that your card will be cancelled as it has been compromised and that you will be sent a new card within xx days.  That's it. All of these were done by the scammer which was his attempt to mimic a legit bank transaction, except that the scammer added some additional elements that a bank would never do.

A legit bank call (or any kind of communication triggered by the bank) will never ask you for any kind of personal or private information.  The only time you are asked for personal information is when you are the one calling the bank's official hotline to prove that you are really the account holder.  In the scam scenario above, the red flag was the request for OTPs because the purpose of OTPs is solely for the user.  A One-Time Password (OTP) is a secondary security layer so that if your password has been compromised, a third party won't still be able to access your account as you are the only one who can receive an OTP via your mobile phone.

But how can a scammer able to trigger OTPs to the account holder's phone?  This could mean that a scammer was either (1) able to log into the person's online account - usually they are able to get your login credentials via email or SMS phishing attempts at an earlier time (the phishing attempt could have happened on a different day from the call), or (2) in the case of credit cards, a scammer may know your 16 digit + 3 digit security code at the back of your card (to complete an online transaction, some banks require an OTP as a final step of confirmation).

As scammers' tactics are getting more believable and they prey upon one's emotions (so that even the smartest people won't be able to think clearly while it is happening), we really need to learn how to protect ourselves.

Here are some ways to protect yourself:

Ways to protect your personal and private info:

• Never share your log-in credentials.
• Always secure your phone (as OTPs are sent on your mobile phone).
• OTPs are for your own use only - they are your secondary layer of security next to passwords.
• Always secure your wallet or where you keep your ATM and credit cards.
• For credit and debit cards, cover the 3 digits at the back of your card with a small strip of sticker or tape a piece of paper to cover the 3 digits (make sure though the sticker or tape doesn't overlap with the magnetic stripe).  Just memorize the 3 digits or note the 3 digits somewhere.  As you know, anyone who has the 16 digits + 3 digits of your card can already use your card to transact (as not all banks have OTPs in place).
• Avoid using public wifi hotspots when making online payments or accessing your bank accounts.
• Only use your credit cards and debit cards with reputable online sites and as an additional protection, don't save your card credentials in the site.
• If you want to check your bank account or make changes in your account, always log in via your mobile app or by directly going to your bank's website (never through a link sent via email, SMS or any kind of communication).

Ways to protect yourself from phishing attempts (Email or SMS):

• Ignore all bank-related emails and SMS.  Phishing attempts mimic the same email template design that your bank uses to make it seem legit so it's hard to tell at the onset if it's legit or not unless you check the sender's email address and other tell-tale signs.  For SMS, senders can mask the sender's name so it appears as your bank name so it's also difficult to tell.  Not everyone is tech-savvy to detect phishing attempts so my general advice is to just ignore all bank-related emails and text messages.  Ignore them even if the email says your account is about to be deactivated, that there have been unusual log-in attempts, that they detected unauthorized transactions, that you need to change your password, that you are entitled to some rewards, etc.  The primary objective of all these kinds of email is to trigger you to click on a link (that leads you to a landing page which exactly looks like your bank's website but it is a fake website).  What you can do instead is if you're worried that what the email says may be true, then call your bank's hotline or log in to your account via the mobile app or by directly going to the official website (but never ever by clicking on a link from an email or SMS or any kind of means of communication).
• Never ever click on a link or open an attachment from a bank's email or SMS.  File attachments may contain malware and once opened, they could crawl into your device and steal personal info or get access to your accounts.  Even for emails where the bank sends you your statement of account, instead of opening the attachment, you can just log into your mobile app or log in to the website to access your SOA.  For interesting deals you see in emails or SMS, just also go to the website to find out more information. 
• As a general rule, always remember banks would never lead you to a landing page where you are asked to log in to your account or any landing page that asks you for any kind of personal information or account-related information.

Ways to protect yourself when you receive a call:

• If you get a call who claims to be from your bank, just know what the issue is about and immediately end the call.  At the most, you can confirm if the transactions in question are authorized or not authorized, but that's about it.  If the caller asks for any other info, end the call.  Don't give any kind of personal info or account-related info.  Some scammer-callers may also send you a link to your email or via SMS while you're in the call where you will be asked to log-in and/or input your OTP.  Ignore all of those and end the call.  Instead, right after the call, call your bank's hotline to verify if there is an issue with your account.  Make sure to save all your bank's official hotlines on your mobile phone so it's easy to call them even when you're in panic mode. Never trust the hotline number featured in an email as that could also be a fake one.
• As a general rule, banks would never get any of your personal information via phone call that is triggered by the bank. 

Some scammers use a combination of email, SMS and call to get bits and pieces of information from you and these could happen on different days. 

It's very important to be always be on the guard because if the scammers are able to transact using your cards since you technically authorized the transactions (as you thought the email, SMS or call you received was legit), you will unfortunately still end up paying for whatever was charged to your card. 😞

How life can be more meaningful and worthwhile

A friend recently forwarded this message of Pope Francis - a good reminder for all us. 

Image by JamesDeMers from Pixabay 

Rivers do not drink their own water; trees do not eat their own fruit; the sun does not shine on itself and flowers do not spread their fragrance for themselves. Living for others is a rule of nature. We are all born to help each other. No matter how difficult it is… Life is good when you are happy; but much better when others are happy because of you.

Let us all remember then that every changing colour of a leaf is beautiful and every changing situation of life is meaningful, both need very clear vision. So do not grumble or complain, let us instead remember that pain is a sign that we are alive, problems are a sign that we are strong, and prayer is a sign we are not alone. If we can acknowledge these truths and condition our hearts and minds, our lives will be more meaningful, different and worthwhile.