I really think it`s already summer in Manila. I left this morning to submit a video edit and you wouldn`t believe how hot it is outside! It actually feels like April, to think that February had just started!

 

Since there isn`t anything we could do about that… I might as well enjoy. Summer is beautiful gift from God, isn`t it? I know many of you are looking forward to summer because it is really cold in countries with winter.  But for the past few years, it hadn`t gone really cold here in Manila even when it`s supposed to be cool months. Except this year, of course. So I was just wishing it would last a little longer. Oh how I love sleeping with blankets! It feels bad that I would have to put away cold-weather clothes before I even got to wear most of them.

 

Now enough of my frustrations with the weather. I really wanted to share what I saw on my way home for Kuya Noy`s Production House this afternoon. 

From the prod house, I rode a jeep (the common public transport in the PI) and the route passes by a public elementary school and high school. Since it`s lunch time, kids are already going home and so the almost-empty jeep I was riding instantly got filled.

 

That little girl who sat beside me really touched my heart. She was small and cute and had black hair which curls at the ends. I overheard her discreetly calling her two sisters who were sitting beside the driver. The little girl was so excited about the little frosties that were in her sister`s bag, which are sold on sidewalks for a peso or $0.025. The older girl was quite funny since she chose which was biggest before handing the smaller ones to her sisters. I watched them as they happily enjoyed the sweet treat. And you could see in their eyes and on the way they ate it, that they`re actually wishing for more, but that`s just what they can afford. And it really broke my heart.

 

Almost everyday, I think only about myself. How to earn more. How to fulfill my dreams. How to do well in the things that I do. How to be faithful in my ministry. I`m living a really sheltered life, actually…and I  do forget about other people.

 

I do forget about kids who don`t have enough. I forget that “the world” I am living now is just a part of a big reality, that there are people who needs to be helped, to be hugged, to be loved.

 

And I remember that the world does not revolve around me. My dreams and life isn`t the only thing that matters. The truth is, they appear selfish when brought beside the smiles of the little girls on the jeep this afternoon.

 

And I remember

what it means

to really love and obey Christ.

 

 

²⁰The young man said, "I've done all that. What's left?"

²¹"If you want to give it all you've got," Jesus replied, "go sell your possessions; give everything to the poor. All your wealth will then be in heaven. Then come follow me."

Matthew 19:20-21

 

365 DAYS OF LOVE: Today, I regret not being able to help the girls in any way… But I pray for them that they would know about Jesus` love and that they will have a good life. And I hope I`m gonna meet them again sometime.

Until then, I will open my heart and my hands to other little girls and boys and will not be afraid to show love. Perhaps, I will carry with me treats so when I get to meet them (and others) again.