Mustard Seed

“The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed." Mark 4:31

Jesus liked to compare His Kingdom to small things, like yeast, and mustard seeds. Apparently there is not much fanfare or big signs that point to His Kingdom. Yeast and seeds, especially the tiny mustard seed, are so small and insignificant. It reminds me of Mother Teresa who often compared herself to a little pencil.  "I'm just a little pencil in the hand of a writing God, who is sending a love letter to the world. I am a little pencil in God's hands. He does the thinking. He does the writing. He does everything and sometimes it is really hard because it is a broken pencil and He has to sharpen it a little more."

Jesus started with a little band of insignificant men and women like us. They weren't very intelligent. They didn't have Master's degrees from important schools. They weren't eloquent speakers at the start. They weren't even very brave. But just like a tiny seed which grows in the right soil, and yeast which makes dough rise, we too can contribute our gifts and talents, no matter how little, for God to use in the growth of His Kingdom. How wonderful if God would say to us, at the end of our life here on earth, “well done, good and faithful servants! You were good seed, usable pencils, living yeast!”

Clean Hands and a Pure Heart

“Who can ascend the mountain of the Lord? or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart...” Psalm 24:3-4

In 1847, the concept of germs bringing infection was unheard of. Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis observed that pregnant women avoided the student-run clinics and preferred to give birth in the streets because the mortality rate was so high in the clinics. It was almost inevitable that the women died of puerperal fever, an infection of the female reproductive organs. He concluded that the students brought something into the clinic from the mortuary where they performed autopsies. He ordered the students to wash their hands in a chlorinated lime solution before every examination. The death rate dropped from 18% to 1%! 

The amazing thing is Dr. Semmelweis was ostracized and ridiculed because doctors refused to believe their hands were dirty. The wrath of the medical community drove the wise doctor out of Vienna into an insane asylum where he died 14 days after at the age of 47 years old. 

In Psalm 24, we learn that it is only those whose hands are clean and whose heart is pure who can go up God’s mountain and keep company with Him. We cannot claim to have clean hands and a pure heart unless we wash our hands and heart. Just as Dr. Semmelweis advises, we have to do this all the time, because we always come from the mortuary of the world. Just as in the good doctor’s time, many people today ridicule God’s Words and bullheadedly do their own thing. 

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” (James 5:16) 

Let us go to Jesus all the time so He may wash us in His blood, and bathe us in His mercy. 

A Hundredfold

“But the seeds sown on rich soil are the ones who hear the Word and accept it and bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.” Mark 4:20

Who does not like those returns? A hundred, sixty or thirty percent return? When we buy stocks, especially in today’s climate, we already rejoice with 5 or 10 percent!!! With God, we never lose! Whatever we invest in time, talent, resources and money, He multiplies! 

I used to facilitate workshops entitled, “Wrapped in Prayer”. The participants made a doll to remind them to “wrap everything in prayer”. The journey to my giving workshops started in 2006 when I was dismayed to realize that after praying early in the morning, by 10 am, I could not remember what I prayed about. I could not recall the Bible passages I meditated on.

So I decided to embellish the bible verses in my prayer journal with cut outs from magazines. Through the years, the collages became doodles and then I started painting, which later graduated to painting on my Bible. I now enjoy using digital apps to illustrate my reflections. The seed I planted years ago has indeed returned to me a hundred fold in so many ways. 

I have been enriched by reading and meditating on the Word of God, and I am able to share it around the world through my blog, Facebook, and Instagram. I have even sold some paintings and have given many workshops. An added bonus is I get to “meet” many kindred spirits in cyberspace and share about our lives and pray for each other. 

Truly there is so much blessing in the Word! It is like a seed- so much potential, life and energy! If we understand the Word, embed it in the soil of our hearts, it can bear fruit a hundredfold!

New Song

“Sing to the Lord a new song...” Psalm 98:1

Many people like to make new year resolutions and we know that most of those resolutions are forgotten after a while. My friend said with a good deal of humor she stopped putting “lose weight” in her resolutions because she’s been including it for years and it has not happened! My son said he does not go to the gym in January. There are just too many people. But by February the crowd thins considerably. Still, it is good to face the new year with a new attitude, a new hope, a new confidence. We then should examine ourselves, and see what needs changing, perhaps even admit that we need help.

I admire my friend who put a post on Facebook, “I was just wondering how an ordinary wife and mother can turn dull routines into life enhancing rituals..how her ordinary work can create extra-ordinary impact in her home making it a haven of tranquility for her family - a home that lessens stress and creates inner peace for her entire family...” What a wonderful goal for every mother! I know how cooking and cleaning and washing and doing it all over again can be very tedious and time consuming and can make a woman long for escape sometimes. 

I suggested studying the life of Brother Lawrence who found the secret of joy doing menial things, like scrubbing floors and peeling potatoes. He was always, always talking to God. 

He wrote, “I have found that we can establish in ourselves a sense of the presence of God by continually talking with Him...I have resolved to make the love of God the end of all my actions.” Even if he had a natural aversion to the kitchen, Brother Lawrence found his work easy during the fifteen years he was stuck doing kitchen duty. 

Perhaps we can start singing a new song to God by imitating Brother Lawrence. Whatever we find tedious, our repetitive work, a relationship that needs constant tending, disciplining the children, we can find new life by “practicing the presence of God”. I can certainly sing a new song while I am doing my breathing and leg exercises, and waiting, waiting for my breathlessness to subside. With God as our partner, we can have a wonderful 2025! 

The Joy of the Lord

“The joy of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10

Billy Graham, the evangelist, told of a time the Bee Gees were at the top, their Saturday Night Fever album was a record breaker and sold 15 million copies, and they won a Grammy for Album of the Year. Barry Gibb should have been on top of the world but he said he "felt inside like warmed over death." He was miserable. He had lots of money, several expensive cars, crazy fans, a handsome movie star face and a falsetto voice people wanted to hear. Fame, Popularity, Good Looks, in capitals, what more could one ask for? 

A lot of us think that if we only could have more money, if only we could have a prettier nose, if only we had more friends....

But if we had all the wealth of the whole world, all the beauty, all the fame, all the power, but we do not have anything to feed our soul, what happens? Matthew 16:26 says, "And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?" 

There are "idols" all around us. Anything we make more important than God is an idol. 

It can be our children, our job, a longed for boyfriend who doesn't want to get married, 

a relationship we are fighting to keep at all costs, the latest iPhone we are saving for, whatever!

Only one thing is important- 

"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." Matthew 6:33

Truly, the joy of the Lord, joy in the Lord, is our strength. 

Prayer Changes More Things

“Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting Me?" Acts 9:4

Saul was traveling to Damascus on a mission to arrest and drag anyone following the 'new way' to Jerusalem. In Acts 9:1, he is described as 'breathing murderous threats' against Jesus' disciples. He was stopped by a light in the sky, and a voice asking,"Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?"

He converted to Christianity on his way from Jerusalem to Damascus. Syria became known as the Cradle of Christianity, a center of early Christianity, and Christians, some still speaking Aramaic, have lived there for 2,000 years. They are persecuted widely in the Arab and Muslim world by modern day Sauls who want to exterminate them. They are being driven away from their homes. Hundreds of thousands of Christians are being kidnapped, tortured, and even crucified and beheaded. Their churches are targeted and burned. 

There is not much we can do. But I know prayer changes more things than this world thinks it can. Let us pray that these modern day Sauls get converted if not by a light from the sky and a voice from heaven, then by other miracles. Nothing is impossible with God! And He is so creative! I believe that even now, saints are arising in the persecuted areas of the world! Let us cover those areas with prayer! Let us combat the jihad against Christians with an army of interceding warriors!

Are we persecuting anyone? Probably not. But sometimes we hurt people without even knowing it. We do not think of the words we say and how we say it. I admit I am not very conscious of how I put things. I can be judgmental and unkind. I can jump to conclusions and say negative things. Being sensitive to how others are feeling is a strength we should develop. We should practice treating others as if they were Jesus. The world will be a better place. 

Lord, Heal Our Land

“I will put my laws in their minds and I will write them upon their hearts. I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” Hebrews 8:10

In the beginning of Ezekiel chapter 37, Ezekiel describes his vision of a lifeless valley of very dry bones. It’s a desert. As Ezekiel gazes at this desolation, God asks him, “Can these bones live? Can they ever have life in them again?” Ezekiel answers that only God could ever know that. But looking at the bones, it seems as if all hope is gone. 

When we look at the present landscape, it seems just as bleak as this valley of dry bones. Of course economies around the world have suffered but ours is especially vulnerable. Unemployment has remained high in the Philippines, sadly it is almost twice the level of surrounding countries. 10.2 million of our countrymen had to seek jobs abroad which means fragmented families and millions of children deprived of parental supervision and support. It is heartbreaking that we are also in the midst of a learning crisis with our students consistently ranking low in international assessments.  Our health care system is also weak. In 2022, the Philippines ranked 58th out of the 60 cities analyzed worldwide with the poorest public transit systems. All this can be traced to widespread corruption. We hold the dishonor of being the second most corrupt country in Southeast Asia after Cambodia 😭😭😭

We hope we are over the worst of the effects of poor leadership, but we will feel its impact in generations to come. “Can we have life as we know it again” we echo the words in Ezekiel. 

If we look at this scenario, let us gaze through God’s eyes instead. Nothing is impossible with God. Only He can bring a fresh, new wind, the Holy Spirit, through this desolation. He says, “Hear My Word, read My Word, and I will dwell among you, and guide you, and you shall be My people once again…I will put My laws in your minds and I will write them upon your hearts. I will be your God, and you shall be My people.” 

Instead of helplessness, if we focus on God, He will be sure and give hope. If He can bring a valley of dry bones to life again, it will be easy for Him to get our country and people on track again if we turn to Him. “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14) 

Balance

“He told His disciples to have a boat ready for Him because of the crowd, so they would not crush Him.” Mark 3:9

Jesus seems to be escaping from the crowds of people who were following him from Jerusalem, Idumea, from beyond the Jordan, even from Tyre and Sidon, from the north and south of Israel. Shouldn’t He be helping everyone He can, healing and preaching from sun up to sun down, until “it hurts”? Apparently not. Jesus sets limits. He takes time to pray, to connect with His Father, He takes time to sleep and rest and even attend parties. How does He decide how far He should go, how deep His commitment, how much energy to expend? 

Jesus does not let the “crowds” decide for Him. He does not let the demands of a to-do list determine His path. He obeys His Father, and prioritizes the mission the Father has given Him.  It would be ideal if we could hear the Father say, “This is the way, walk in it.” (Isaiah 30:21)

I have just started reading Sue Monk Kidd’s first book, “God’s Joyful Surprise: Finding Yourself Loved”. In it, she described her stress filled life as she tried to be “perfect as Your heavenly Father is perfect”, not knowing that ‘perfect’ in this verse meant ‘whole’. (Matthew 5:8) The 29 year old Sue was a mom with two children, and she had an image of herself as “super mom, superwife, successful career woman, church pillar, community helper and fulfilled person”. She tried to do it all, role overloaded and role conflicted and still guilt ridden, until she felt searing pains in her chest that wouldn’t go away. As I have not reached even half way of her book, I can’t tell how it ends, except that based on the title, and the fact that she has written several books since, I can say she survived, and she was able to accept that she was loved by our Father, just as she is, imperfections and all.  

We need balance in our life, and listening to our Father will give us that. Like Jesus, we need to get close to God, in order to listen and hear God’s voice, and not get “crushed” by the world’s urgent demands! 

God Shares What He Has with Us

“And Abraham apportioned to Melchizedek a tenth of everything. His name means righteous king of peace.” Hebrews 7:2

A man named Bob bought a cup of coffee and a bag of mini pretzels. After laying his jacket on the seat next to him, he settled to wait for his plane in front of an older man reading a newspaper across the table. Bob drank his coffee, got a pretzel, and worked on his laptop. Then with amazement, Bob noticed the older man get a pretzel from the bag, and smile at him. Bob got another pretzel and moved the bag nearer to him. A little while later, the older man got a pretzel, and returned the bag where it was beside Bob’s laptop. Bob was getting more and more agitated when the man got up, opened the bag, took the last pretzel, divided it, then left half a pretzel in the bag. All the while, the older man had a smile on his face. 

Eventually Bob’s flight was called, and he got up. Collecting his jacket from the seat next to him, he was dismayed to see his bag of untouched pretzels. It had fallen to the floor! We can imagine Bob’s chagrin! The older man was not taking Bob’s pretzels, he was sharing his own with Bob! 

Like that older man, God shares what He has with us. In the Bible, there are mentions of how we should give a tenth or more of our money, our time, our resources to God. In Genesis 14:18-20, we read how Abraham gave Melchizedek, a mysterious King of peace, a tenth of all the goods and possessions he and his trained men had won from the invading army. Sometimes we are reluctant to do the same, not realizing that all the pretzels in the world are God’s. 

All that we have, our money, our home, our work is all God's. Our time, our gifts and talents, our energy is all His. So when we give, we are merely returning what is His. Still, it appears God is very careful with what we give Him, that NOTHING will go to waste. When I give Him my time in prayer, or serving in some way, I can be sure that He will multiply what time I have left and I am able to accomplish more than if I did not dedicate some time to Him in the morning. When I give Him my gifts, I have seen how He has made it bloom and grow. With money, when I give tithes, I have tested Him as He said in Malachi 3:10, "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it."

Lord, help me to always give thanks for everything I have. Give me the gift of generosity that nothing You have given me will go to waste!

Is God Unjust?

“God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you have shown Him as you have helped His people and continue to help them.” Hebrews 6:10

Is God unjust? If we measure Him against human standards, He certainly is. In Isaiah 55:8, the Lord tells us, “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts, and My ways are far beyond anything you could imagine." (New Living Translation) 

The wonderfully amazing thing is He wants us to get to know Him. He wants us to become like Him. And that is why we have the Bible, the story of how an awesome God calls us to be His own, calls us to be His people. He is so generous, He wants to share His wealth of wisdom, peace, love, joy, and then ultimately eternal life in His Kingdom, with us, mere servants! 

In the parable Jesus tells in Matthew 20, there is an owner of a vineyard who indiscriminately calls anyone to work for him. He invites workers at the start of the work day and says he will pay them the daily wage. Then he hires workers at midday, then at 3 o'clock, then at the 11th hour, one hour before all work finishes. He pays the workers who worked for one hour the daily wage. He paid the same amount to those who worked for more hours. The workers hired for the whole day complained. 

Perhaps we would do the same. Working in the vineyard is hard work. I am sure the sun was hot, and the work is back breaking. 

But what if the daily wage was eternal life? Is there anything more valuable than fullness of life that is eternal? That is God's promise for all the workers of His vineyard. As long as we serve Him, follow Him, love Him and His people, that is what we will get at the 12th hour. And just like the owner of the vineyard, God calls us all, the intelligent, the not so intelligent, the shy, the sick, the lame, the poor, the sinner, the drug addict, the prisoner, the drug lord, the corrupt politician, everyone! We are all called, chosen even, to work in God's vineyard! 

Lord, thank You for the opportunity to toil in Your vineyard. We are all imperfect people with our own unique flaws and weaknesses, yet You do not give up on us. Help us to see others with Your eyes, and to love them and be generous like You!

New Wineskins

“No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak. If he does, its fullness pulls away, the new from the old, and the tear gets worse. Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are ruined. Rather, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins.” Mark 2:21-22

I believe God's Word is always new, ever fresh, eternally alive and exciting. However it does not always appear that way, does it? That is because it is put into OLD WINESKINS! I believe that we all need to find fresh new ways of understanding, listening, obeying, teaching, loving. We can't do the same old, same old. When we went to Europe several years ago, I noticed the magnificent churches and cathedrals were filled with old people. How do we reach the younger generation?

Last January 12, our community, Ang Ligaya ng Panginoon (The Joy of the Lord), celebrated our annual Day of Dedication, where like in Jesus’ time, new babies are presented to the community. Jesus’ parents, 40 days after His birth, took Him to Jerusalem to be dedicated to the Lord according to Leviticus 12:4-5. Our community has done this every year since 1984, for 41 years now! What a milestone! My niece’s baby was presented, and he is a fourth generation child born into our community. His great grandparents on both sides were part of our community. We have to share our wine with our children and our children’s children and have to make sure we have fresh wineskins. 

When our family watched Jeff Cavins’s Great Bible Adventure, my son immediately asked, “When was this made?” because the video looked old, and the graphics left much to be desired. He also asked me if we could make the video run twice faster which is how he usually watches! This showed me what a different world we live in. 

These days, what are our children into? I use Viber, but our children have abandoned that in favor of Telegram. They don’t like Facebook, and prefer Instagram. Lots of people use Tiktok and I hardly open that. From Facebook and Instagram to X and YouTube, more than 5 billion people use social media platforms today, equal to roughly 62% of the world’s population. Yes, people nowadays have a new way of interacting. We don’t need the handshake anymore or face to face meetings. The worldwide pandemic changed that! There are no borders anymore, and there are myriads of ways to reach out! It is exciting to see, experience and use these new frontiers! We all should be winemakers, filled with the Spirit of God, excited about what God wants us to do and HOW He wants us do it!

Every Spiritual Blessing

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed you and I in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, as He chose you and I in Him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before Him. In love, He destined you and I for adoption to Himself through Christ Jesus." Ephesians 1:3-5

Hetty Green was called "Americas Greatest Miser" because her stinginess was legendary. She wore one old black dress and had only the dirty hem washed. She ate cheap pies and cold oatmeal because she hated spending for heating it. Even if she had millions from her success in real estate and investments, when her son broke his leg as a child, she tried to get him treated in a free clinic. Because of delay and years of poor treatment, his leg had to be amputated. When she died in 1916, she left an estate of $100 million.

We don't want to be like Hetty Green, do we? So let's not wait to discover how rich we are! God has blessed us with EVERY spiritual blessing! That's more valuable than any earthy blessing! More valuable than $100 milllion! And the best part is, He chose us to be adopted into His family! Isn’t that something to be excited about?

Follow Me

Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post. He said to him, "Follow me." Luke 5:27

When Pope Francis was asked in an interview, “Who is Jorge Mario Bergoglio?”, he answered, "I am a sinner."

“When I had to come to Rome," he continued, “I always stayed in [the neighborhood of] Via della Scrofa. From there I often visited the Church of St. Louis of France, and I went there to contemplate the painting of ‘The Calling of St. Matthew,’ by Caravaggio. That finger of Jesus, pointing at Matthew. That’s me. I feel like him. Like Matthew.” 

Here the pope becomes determined, as if he had finally found the image he was looking for: “It is the gesture of Matthew that strikes me: he holds on to his money as if to say, ‘No, not me! No, this money is mine.’ Here, this is me, a sinner on whom the Lord has turned his gaze. And this is what I said when they asked me if I would accept my election as pontiff.” Then the pope whispers in Latin: “I am a sinner, but I trust in the infinite mercy and patience of our Lord Jesus Christ, and I accept in a spirit of penance.”

God is also calling us to turn away from some things, and come follow Him. We can say, just like Pope Francis, “I am a sinner, but I trust in the infinite mercy and patience of our Lord Jesus Christ, and I accept Your will in a spirit of penance.”

God’s People

“They came bringing to Jesus a paralytic carried by four men.” Mark 2:3

This story of the paralytic and his 4 friends show just how important being part of a community of believers is. There were too many people surrounding Jesus inside a particular house in Capernaum, so the four men carrying the paralytic broke through the tiles of the roof. They let down the mat on which the paralytic was lying to bring the sick man to Jesus’ attention. 

When I was in the hospital, it was a big comfort to me that so many were praying for me. My family, friends and my community brought me to the attention of Jesus. One of my doctors, after the open heart surgery, mentioned, “Millions are praying for you.” I was so surprised because I did not know him, but I assumed he knew someone from my community, Ang Ligaya ng Panginoon (The Joy of the Lord). 

At times, we are the paralytic being brought to Jesus by our friends, but we can also be one of the friends carrying the mat. There are so many in need of prayer. Do we take the time to stop and pray? How many people have we carried through the streets, up to the roof, and through broken tiles? Has our faith and love brought someone to the notice of Jesus, enough for Him to say, "I see your faith. I will heal your friend!" 

Sometimes we give up because of the "crowds", the busyness, the hopelessness, or even our lack of faith. But if we want to see "incredible things", we should persevere and push through the crowds, and whatever obstacles are put in our way! And we should remember, that even if we put down the mat, we can always take it up again, and continue the journey. That is what it means to be a part of God’s people. 

Amen

“Encourage yourselves daily while it is still ‘today’...” Hebrews 3:13

In another version of the Bible, it says to encourage one another daily. Encourage comes from an early 15th century French word, ‘encoragier’, which means to make strong, and to hearten. To hearten means to inspire with courage, hope or spirit. It may also mean to stimulate growth, to foster or to help. 

Ever since the pandemic, many have been interested in taking care of plants, and I know many ‘plantitas’. I do not have a green thumb but I know that talking to plants helps it to grow better. The researchers of the Royal Horticultural Society conducted a month long study which actually corroborates this. 

If plants respond well to encouragement, how much more will humans? We need to intentionally talk and behave in a way that gives people around us the stimuli to be better and to do better. Sometimes it is sad but true, we can be our own worst critic! We should not only be kind to others but to ourselves as well. We should not be the person who stunts another’s growth, or hinders our own growth because we are discouraging or unsupportive. 

Someone told me of a teacher in an exclusive school who was so disparaging of a young student’s artwork, that she actually crumpled it. The student became so disheartened he killed himself! Here we see the devastating power of words. But words also have a creative power. We all know the first verse in the book of John: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” We also know the verse from the first chapter of Genesis, about the creation of the world, “And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.” We can create light in our life and the life of others by our words. 

The theme chosen for the 2018 Holocaust Memorial Day was “The Power of Words”.  David Sterling who spoke at the event said, “Words can have a huge impact, whether for the good or bad....If we are to help build our shared and diverse society, we must ensure that words should never be tolerated to marginalise, inflict pain and hurt against anyone regardless of race, colour, religion, creed, nationality, sexual orientation, or disability.  We must learn from the past if we are to build a better future.”

More than ever today, we should choose our words to create light in a dark world. Father, may I bring love into miserable situations, peace and hope where there is turmoil and chaos.