201108

201108 Challenge #2 - The Gift of Nationhood



In the last monthly challenge, we dealt with judgment. Because there are judgments we tend to make that does not reflect the judgments we should make as citizens to each other.

We can not reject the fact that we are citizens to each other.

We may choose to ignore it but it shall still remain as truth in our heart. And this truth shall make its appearance according to the seasons of the soul; that weather within which is subject only to the purposes of the LORD, the one Sovereign of all nations.

This is so because our nationhood is not something we decreed for ourselves to be - our belonging together emerged as something our generations as a whole have merited from God who gave us the gift of each other, as a certain labor upon the earth.

This is why there are some of us who are seeking for answers as to who we are as a people upon the earth. And this question is now spreading from some to the many. Because the season is turning.

It is always good not to fight against the truth and not kick against the pricks.

This is why we dealt with judgment in our first monthly exercise

Because judgment is the faculty of our soul that deals with separating truth from fiction; light from darkness. And the reality of our citizenship with each other is no fiction - it is a most profound truth, something inside of our selves that goes deeper than we could now possibly imagine.

My honorable compatriots, there is an old saying goes - "no man is an island."

In the sense that we are a now people upon the earth, let us add to that - "because the earth can not be built without nations."

- selah -

Now, a lot of this conversation here deals with our identity as Filipinos and it is this gift of our nationhood that we shall reflect upon this month. (And we shall do this in preparation for next month when we shall proceed to reflect upon the actual work of nationhood.)

It shall consist of only one photograph:



I challenge us to understand it.

- selah -

DAILY EXERCISE: Citizen, what have caused the appearance of our people upon the earth? 

God will ask each of us, my fellow Filipino compatriots, what have you done with the Peace I have entrusted to you?



I think our Janela Lelis gave to God a very good answer to this question.

She might not, at this point in her life, even be completely aware and understanding of what she gave to us that day - a lesson in who we are.

Thank you, Starshine - mabuhay!

A Filipino is a kind of love and it binds us together as a nation.