Your goodness shall follow me

01.

I talk about being brave, but sometimes I think I really don’t know what it entails until it stares at me right in the face. I haven’t watched the movie We Bought a Zoo (although I probably should), but I remember this one quote from the movie that always comes up when I search for “bravery” and “courage” in Google: ((Sidenote (or, fine, footnote): I wish it was that easy, just enter the thing you want or need and Google and you get results. I wish it was that easy.))

You know, sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it.

Twenty seconds, huh?

How about five?

Image from we heart it
Image from we heart it

02.

There was that one mass, where I fell to my knees after receiving communion and started tearing up. Okay, that isn’t really new, because sometimes I find myself crying a lot while at church, which often feel like the safest place for my tears. I knelt down and prayed, and my heart cried out. I don’t know what to do, Lord. I don’t know if I should go forward or forget about it. I’m scared, I’m scared. I just don’t know. Please tell me what to do.

Those were my prayers, but I realize later that underneath all those prayers is this one more urgent, pressing prayer: Please tell me what’s going to happen if I do this. Please, please.

And then, the answer: I will not tell you what’s going to happen. Remember that even your mistakes are in My plan. Will you trust Me?

By the time I went out of the church, I know what I was going to do. Okay, I didn’t know how I will do it, but I know what I think I should do.

God, I’m scared.

03.

I came across this post as soon as she posted it, but I didn’t want to read it the moment I read the first few paragraphs. Not now, not yet.

Now I read it and read it and read it, not because it contains the answer I need but because it’s one of the few things that I can hold onto now, as I prepare:

You must look that answer in the eyes and listen to it, and let it ache, and let it roam around, and let it lead you. Because the truth will always lead you somewhere.

04.

“You know how when you eat a sundae and have tequila after, you expect LBM…but not too soon?” My friend made me laugh at that statement, but there is truth in what he said.

When you’ve come to the point of no return and then you are asked to wait again, it’s frustrating. Let me say that again: it’s frustrating. It’s even more frustrating when some things you sort of expected to happen later happen too soon, before you’re completely ready for it. What results is you, a complete mess, breaking down at random times in the day while you try to hold yourself together, try to not take offense, try to not over think things, try not to jump to conclusions.

It’s not like you can turn back, anyway. Or you’d want to turn back.

“The only thing you can do now is be strong, and wait.”

05.

This must be what free-falling feels like. How long till you get to the end?

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There’s so much I don’t know

July. Why does this month make me feel a little panicky? Is it because we’re at the second half of the year? Is it because I am caught between the scared thoughts like Do I still have time to do the things I said I’d do this year and Where is my life heading and is it even going somewhere, with hundreds of tiny thoughts in between? Is it because I’m expecting something this month, something big to happen?

Maybe. But frankly, I just don’t know.

Deep breaths. Calm down. Relax.

Last weekend, I was with some friends and during a discussion in the car on the way home, my friend told me, “Calm down.” I wasn’t exactly un-calm then, but I guess I was talking a little too excitedly, and when I am excited, I talk even more so than usual. Louder than usual. Faster than usual.

Then I remembered this line I read from a blog post written by a favorite blogger describing another one of my favorite bloggers: She takes my breath away, and when she speaks my heart slows down. It’s true, because I look forward to reading her posts, and her words slow me down, too. I can almost imagine what her voice must sound like in person: a soft, gentle voice, much like the older sisters in my church community whose wisdom and patience and words also slow me down.

I wonder if something similar to this will be ever used to describe…well, me.

I’m not exactly demure (believe me, I tried). I am pretty loud when I’m with people, sometimes I feel like I can never be that calming voice, the one that slows people down, because I feel like I’m too loud. Too talkative. Too fast.

Then I wonder if this entire thing reflects how I treat things. Does this mean that in the other aspects in my life, I’m also too loud and I go too fast, too?

If I am to be more specific (and honest): will I ever be that person to someone, the one who takes his breath away, and the one who slows his heart down, too?

That would be nice.

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Show me grace

01.

I don’t know if anything has changed, but things feel different somehow. It feels warmer. Not summer warm (or hot, rather), but more like the first rays of the sun peeking from the horizon after a long and sleepless and cold night. It was a welcome feeling, and I’m so, so, so afraid that it’s just a fluke, that it’s just one of those strange days that things are different.

But why am I subscribing to such negativity? Why can’t I just sit back, relax, and enjoy everything?

02.

I was angry. No, I was fuming.

I can’t remember the last time I was so pissed off about something, so bad that I wanted to cry. I wanted so much to fight back, to answer, to say something to put some people in their place. I was one click away to doing it, but a friend stopped me and told me to take a walk.

And so I did.

I was still so angry, that I needed to let it out. I called a friend and started ranting, and after I have said everything, after I have spent some time speaking about my anger, being all ranty and whiny, he says, “It’s kind of shallow, you know.”

And…he’s right.

We ended the conversation with another topic, and I thanked him. Later, he reminded me of something I used to tell myself before 2012 ended: be gracious.

03.

I was in tears. The frustration just bubbled up, and I wondered if there was something I could have done, if there was something I could’ve said to make everything stop. What if, what if, what if.

And then I wondered: are we really bad people?

It was then I really disliked everything, and even them. I hate that they made me doubt the goodness in the people I know, and most especially, me.

04.

I was snapping, snapping too fast. It was an automatic reaction when I talk to them sometimes, and I am not proud of it.

I think there’s a special kind of grace involved when dealing with your family. It’s easier to be nice with your friends because you don’t live with them, and you are often always together with them in the happy times. But when you live with some people who know you inside out, whose words can automatically set your nerves ringing with annoyance, it’s easier to snap and answer back.

But I’m too old for things like that. I’m too old to be a brat, I’m too old and I should know better.

So I prayed.

Image from we heart it
Image from we heart it

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