Paint Party: My Inheritance Forever!

A friend commissioned me to do a 

Filipino Nativity, and this is what I came up with.

I hope she likes it!!

 "Let the high praises of God be in their throats." Psalm 149:9

I have to confess that I don't praise God enough. I don't take the time to stand up and sing during my prayer time in the morning. I usually do that during prayer meetings, with brothers and sisters singing at a crescendo with the music ministry.

What I fail to realize every day is that if I do praise God I do it in unison with the largest and the best choir in the world (and out of the world!) We sing with the angels, and archangels, the saints, the hosts and powers of heaven. Indeed if we do not praise God, we do not really know Him, for to know God is to know He is worthy of praise, of immeasurable praise!

A preacher I was listening to on Youtube said that praises to God was like a huge, eternal Mexican wave (the rhythm achieved in a packed stadium when successive groups of spectators briefly stand, yell, and raise their arms). We need not initiate it, we just need to choose whether to join in. I like that, at any time anywhere that I choose to praise God, I would be part of this wonderful cloud of praise going up to heaven. One with Sandi Patti, Don Moen, Suzy Yaraei, Kim Walker, Nicole Nordeman, etc. The list goes on.... Isn't that exciting?

 "Your decrees are my inheritance forever, for they are the joy of my heart." Psalm 119:111

One thing I like doing is reading different versions of a bible verse to understand it more. For this verse, I prayed, "Thank you for your decrees, your testimonies, your unchanging word, your laws, your written instructions, your covenant laws, your rules, your written instructions, your book on living. This is my inheritance, my heritage, my possession, my treasure and gift forever. It is truly the joy and delight and exultation of my heart."

 When I think about how some people take the wrong path, make the wrong choices, compromise even if they say they want to obey God, I am so grateful for my parents who taught me how to pray, to obey the Lord, and read the Bible. If we want blessing for ourselves, for our children and children's children, it's not enough to attend mass and listen to the priest's homilies, or attend service and listen to preaching. We have to plant the seed of the Word of God in our heart ourselves.

Isaiah 40:8 says, "The grass withers and the flowers fade but the Word of our God stands forever."

"He is not God of the dead but of the living, for to Him all are alive." Luke 20:38

Do we really realize that 100% of us, with no exception are going to die? This body which we take so much care of, is decaying, even as we breathe.

St. Paul writes in 1 Timothy 4:8, "For bodily exercise and discipline is of some value, but Godliness and spiritual training is profitable, has value for all things in every way, for it holds promise for the present but also for the life to come."

I can't help comparing the time we spend for our bodies (dressing up, putting on make-up, eating, buying clothes and shoes, etc.) with the time we spend tending our spirits.Our body is not who we are. When we take care of our body, we are taking care of a temporary thing, a decaying thing. But when we take care of our spirits, we take care of the eternal.

 Jesus, as He was on the cross, called out, "Father, into Your hands, I commit my Spirit." To commit means to entrust for safekeeping. Jesus didn't say, "I commit my body", perhaps because He knew He would get a brand new one. It was so easy for His Father to recreate His mangled and bloody body, just as He will for us one day.

Do we spend more time taking care of our physical bodies than we do for our true selves, our spirits? Let's take stock of our priorities!!!

 Oreo at the office!

He likes to approve my sister Peggy's designs as she works!

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Patsy