Food adventure

I was advised by my doctor to avoid certain foods that might be causing my breathing problems. For two weeks. What are they? Dairy, tomato, chocolate, nuts, beans, alcohol and cigarettes. My heart sank when I heard the last two. Okay, that's a joke. I don't drink and I am allergic to cigarette smoke. Seriously though, I told my doctor that I love yogurt. He said that it's not dairy. Hmmm... I think he is wrong in that. My next complaint was I won't be able to eat ice cream. He suggested that I try to find non-dairy ice cream! But is there such a thing?

When I got out of his clinic, the list of food to avoid began to increase. Pizza! Pasta! Cheesecake! Okay, I can always eat oil-based pasta. I like eating chocolate but I can survive without it for two weeks. Yeah, I can do this.

And so I headed to the grocery to buy snacks for the next two weeks. Got the surprise of my life! There are so many kinds of food that have milk or chocolate in them! BIscuits, cookies, muffins, chips, etc. Choco-filled, choco-flavored, filled with choco chips, nut-filled, cheese flavored, milk-flavored filling, butter flavored, etc! I ended up buying fig-filled cookies, malunggay flavored chips (I still have to try and see if it would even taste good!), salted and vinegar flavored chips.

The challenge was brought to the next level when I tried to look for something to eat for dinner. I love tomato and tomato-based sauces and soups. Hmmm.. Ended with a vegetable roll but I had to ask the salesgirl to take out the nuts. This would definitely be a challenging two-week diet to follow!

Then off to a wedding tonight. And what did I see? Delicious food! A choice of either white or red sauce for pasta. Shrimps in tomato sauce. Fish fillet with butter sauce. And lovely looking cakes and desserts with chocolates, cream, and milk. Waaaahhhhh! I couldn't eat those! I satisfied myself with the other food offered (which tasted good!)

At least I can look forward to another wedding in two-weeks time. And by then, I hope I would be allowed to eat these food that I love!

Faithfulness

If there is one word that could describe Christian and Claire's marriage, it would be faithfulness. God's faithfulness. As testified by the couple as well as their families, God's hand was present in every step of their journey.

Congrats and best wishes Christian and Claire!

For their story, please visit: http://capncrisp.multiply.com or http://ccwedding.multiply.com/

Knew

I knew the reply. I got the confirmation.

So be it.

Dreams

According to www.pageaday.com for women :

“Dreams say what they mean, but they don’t say it in daytime language.”

—GAIL GODWIN

•We need these messages too. Our dreams give us balance.

Memory

My memory

Often it fails me.

The things that I just heard or said.

Even those I wrote down.

It can be irritating when you need the information.

You grope within your mind

Grasping for the right words.

Reminders don't always function.

Yet, these days

The challenge I face

Is trying to forget.

Why do I recall the little details?

Words, actions, places

Clothes, food, activities

And the hardest

Mistakes I said

Wrong decisions I took.

What I want

To remember the things that I must

And forget those that should be forgotten.

I am learning: On loving God’s Creation and men’s souls

The bus stopped and the passengers prepared to get off. The lady beside me popped a candy into her mouth. She slipped the candy wrapper into the narrow groove of the bus window. Then, the bus ticket from her bag joined the candy wrapper. I had to muster all my willpower to stop myself from confronting her. I really wanted to ask her, “What do you think you’re doing? After Ondoy and Pepeng? Can’t you keep your garbage inside your bag until you find a trashcan?”

What I just described is a common scenario in our metropolis. Passengers indiscriminately throw thrash while riding jeepneys, tricycles, buses, trucks and even their private cars. Heaps of garbage-filled plastic bags mushroom at street corners. Empty lots become repositories of unwanted junk. Apparently, we Filipinos haven’t learned our lesson from the tragedies that our country has just gone through.

Yes, our flood control system is substandard but it was aggravated by its severely clogged drainage networks, all filled with garbage. Big ones and small ones. Here we see people who don’t care about nature. People who don’t realize and don’t remember that the trash we throw away will always come back to haunt us. We forget that nature won’t take care of itself. It was given to Adam and his sons to take care of God’s beautiful earth. See what we have done so far with the responsibility given to us?

On the other side of the spectrum are organizations which fight for the environment. I often see them inside the malls or as I walk through the Ayala walkway. I understand and agree with most of what they are advocating for. Like I said, we are stewards of earth and all that is in it. However, I have qualms about those groups which veer toward extremism, becoming hyper-zealous for protecting nature while overlooking the reality that Creation is not the master to be served but, rather, its Creator.

I am not saying that we should not busy our lives taking care of nature. But we must remember that even this is just a reminder that our first calling is to share the Gospel. I believe that those who truly know God should have a high sense of stewardship for everything God created, that includes our environment. We might forget, though, that there is a more important kind of life that must be sustained. Spiritual lives.

We must remember that men’s souls are still more important. When Jesus came to earth, He gave us The Great Commission: To go to the ends of the earth and make disciples of men.