Month: August 2013

Join the Two-Page a Day Writing Challenge

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Spiritual Writers Network is sponsoring a two-page a day writing challenge, which begins on September 1 and ends December 31.  That’s a total of 122 days and if you write an average manuscript page consisting of 200-250 words, you would have a complete manuscript by the end of the year! I’ve joined this challenge mainly because I realized just recently that my writing persona has changed through the years, and from being a feature writer, I want to focus on spiritual writing.  Join us! HOW IT WORKS: On September 1st we will all start the Two-Page-a-Day challenge together.  Be sure to join this event NOW so you will be reminded to start writing on September 1st. (Late-comers will be welcome to join at any time but they will have to spend some extra time writing to catch up.) Be sure to dedicate a time for writing each day.  It’s only two pages. You can make time…no excuses! Get up an hour earlier if you need to. You must make a commitment to yourself and stick to it. Some days your …

Blooming in Hard Times

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As I write today, I marvel at how brightly the sun is shining outside my window – draping the leaves on the trees and bushes with its warm glow.  The computer monitor is positioned in such a way that even as I glance at it, I have a clear view of the backyard, if I so choose to train my eyes above the screen. How time flies, and how time moves on so swiftly, as though what happened a few days ago can be so easily forgotten.  And how well we humans cope with the fleeting nature of time – we move on with it and bravely march onward. Looking at the backyard now, who would have guessed that earlier this week, the same trees and bushes that are now bathing under the sun were drenched.  Everyone’s roof tops are dry once more, providing houses with shelter from the sun’s heat, whereas a few days ago, many rooftops in the Metropolitan Manila area served as safe refuge from the rising floodwater. “I always worry when …

Praying

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“Every day there are moments when I find myself drawn to pray.  I pray because I must, because regardless of my good intentions I lose my bearings.  I make mistakes. I am stopped by the way the world challenges and confounds my plans.  When a loved one is beset by illness, ache, or fear, I pray their healing may be deep and true.  When I feel suddenly lost or lonely, I pray for the comfort of a nourishing spirit that will tech me, show me the way.  At other times my prayer is filled with gratefulness for the numberless blessings showered on any life. In these moments, my prayer is astonishingly simple: Thank you.” –Wayne Muller in LEARNING TO PRAY,  How We Find Heaven on Earth  Photo courtesy of MorgueFile In loving memory of Rosauro Cruz, 1935-2013  

Hope

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Hope helps us build emotional muscles. When life presents us with pain, hope presents itself as an alternative to despair, depression and giving up. Hope helps us find the threads of faith within our soul. It shows us that we have the capacity to believe in something or someone greater than pain. Hope opens the door so that we can allow faith to come into our lives and view the circumstances of pain and tragedy from a different perspective. Hope is always there. But it is not always easy to hope. It takes a long time to understand hope. Photo courtesy of Morguefile