Thursday, March 8, 2012

Salutation #107

A COMMUNITY DEPRIVED
of the feminine expression is barren and desolate.

It knows of no hearth,
no home, no place of rest...

no company to renew,
no heart to come home into;

no cheer to grace with solace,
no warmth to bless with courage;

no gaze to remind of beauty,
no love to bear with injury;

no touch to soften the harshness,
no fire to tame the wilderness;

no peace to prosper life,
no strength to ward off strife.
---<--@



(Woman)

When God made Woman,
the LORD fashioned her as a companion to Man;
a faithful helper, equal in dignity and promise,
without which Man
shall never be complete
as himself.

For there are no creatures
- upon the earth -
like Woman is to Man.

From this new community
God fashioned out of Man in Woman
comes the lineages
of all the generations
of the children of Mankind.

The truths established by God
in the story of the joining of Man and Woman
form the common foundations
of the institution of the human family.

It is the strength of the family
that determines the strength of the nations
unto which the preservation
of both human dignity and human promise
is universally entrusted by God
for the sustenance and protection
of all our generations
to the very last of our generations.

When the dignity of Woman
is left unprotected - and her promise -
is left undefended,
Man is not elevated but diminished.

When Man and Woman
exist in conflict with each other,
no nation will hope to survive the test of time.

That is the truth.

- selah -

Truly, truly,
each human relationship, no matter how humble,
have a lasting impact on individuals.

For these are the bonds
that God deigns to place in our way
not to entangle our spirits
and create more brokenness in our lives
but to liberate us
and allow us to freely enter
into the Truth with Him
and in Him.

Community is the LORD's way
of enlarging the love kept in our souls,
because our God is a great and good God.

We can see this in the way
God created the first community
in Adam and Eve.

Let us ask ourselves
how instead of reprogramming Adam,
which was not beyond the LORD's power to do,
why did our God choose to bless him
with a partner in Eve?

- selah -

Relationships matter
just as much as individuals -
each creates and recreates the other
and does so in a way and a fashion
that only the LORD can generate and perfect
with our willing cooperation.

One who seeks maturity
and longs for wholeness in the self
should always tread the holy ground of relationships
(either thine own or others like thine own)
carefully, gently, and with love.

- selah -

This is why
it is important for us to celebrate
International Women's Day -

We must ever be reminded
of this fundamental community of Man and Woman
and must always live in remembrance
of this most vital of all human relationships
- established by God Himself -
which forms the nucleus of every human family.

The success of any nation depends on it.
The ultimate destiny of all Countries is shaped
by how deeply we understand its truth.

Man and Woman
together form a common bond
and this bond guarantees
not only the order of our generations
but the quality of our everyday human living.

Man and Woman
together form a common witness
for the universal example
of the peace of their marital togetherness
- safeguards -
not only the transmission of human life
but the divinely ordained purpose
of the nations of the children of Mankind.
---<--@

Think about it -

I once thought that Filipina hair
was just plain black hair and that was all.

Obviously,
I was not at all in love
with my Philippines then.

I never really noticed
that our women sported not just plain black hair!


Framed by the warm light of our tropical sun,
our women's hair is actually cast
- in many subtle hues -
in darkest shades of golden brown.

Subtle, not obvious -
and pretty but
- only when -
love is in the eye of the beholder.

Exactly in keeping with our conservative nature.

As far as I am concerned,
all our Filipinas are princesses.

Beauty being what it is, inherited.

We should work to make sure
- this Country of ours -
is more a suitable place for all our women!
---<--@


March 8 is International Women's Day.

I love my Miyang. PERIOD.