Here’s another long one. Happy New Year! May you all have a blessed 2012.
The unthankful heart… discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings! – Henry Ward Beecher
“For each new morning with its light,For rest and shelter of the night,For health and food, for love and friends,For everything Thy goodness sends.”- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Sailing Into the New Year
The night was bright with fireworks sparkling like twinkling stars. The build up towards the New Year had begun. Standing on the helipad atop 50+ stories of the Pacific Plaza South Tower, I could see a 360° view of Manila’s celebrations. Everywhere I looked, the excitement for something new, maybe a new start, maybe a new phase, maybe a new promise was evident.
I was excited too. I still am.
Up on the helipad was an older Australian woman who asked, “Who of you was born on the year of the rat?” I told her I was but didn’t know much about it. “This is going to be a great year for you!” I told her that I wasn’t superstitious, that my belief is that your year is either great or terrible depending on what you choose to highlight in your life and what you choose to remember. I choose to remind myself of my Father’s goodness.
It’s true.
The grateful will always feel blessed. They don’t have to try. The ungrateful or forgetful will always pity their situation. They, also, don’t have to try. Just earlier I was feeling that self-pity coming over me and I decided to stop, to pray and list down the many many things I’m grateful for. That’s the only way to win that fight: to remember and be grateful to God, for every big and small thing, even the painful things, and to never take anything for granted. Taking something for granted is like when we have something really special or important but we fail to notice it, or worse don’t treat it as special. In relationships, taking people for granted is not appreciating what they are there for, or have to offer, or can do, thinking they will always be around.
They won’t.
Relationships are not fixed points. We are like boats on the sea, either sailing together on the same direction or drifting apart.
Life Offering
A proposition is something brought forth. It is an offering. Every day we have the privilege to bring forth our lives and bring our Creator glory by offering the best of our lives. I said it was a privilege because it is. To be alive is a privilege, and the only thing necessary to enjoy this privilege is to realize just how valuable your life is, and that there are people, whether you or they realize, needing and waiting for your life’s value proposition.
Our Life’s Value Proposition is something about our life that helps meet the needs of others, especially the needs of those we’ve chosen to love. And love is a choice. When we choose to love someone, we choose to offer to him or her the best of us.
Where do we start? We start where we already are.
Are you intelligent? Then enlighten our darkened minds.
Can you sing? Then soothe our restless soul.
Can you paint or sculpt or perform? Then inspire us with the message of your work.
Are you a father or a mother? Then introduce to the world a new generation of selfless stewards.
Are you a son, a daughter, or a lover? Then never stop showing your appreciation.
Are you rich? Then deal generously with us.
Are you lonely? Then welcome the isolated among us.
Are you a leader? Then show us the way through service.
Are you mature? Then be patient with us.
Do you eat too much? Then start feeding us.
Are you lonely? Then welcome the isolated among us.
Are you strong? Then protect us.
Do you like to cry? Then start crying for our dying.
Are you poor? Then show us how to endure in hope.
Are you sensitive? Then show us kindness.
Are you impatient? Then be impatient with corruption.
Are you hurting? Then empathize with our pain.
Are you dying? Then remind us, the living, to embrace life.
Whoever you are, wherever you’re coming from, you’re in a position to start offering your Life’s Value Proposition. Look past yourself. Look up at your Father with gratefulness, He has blessed you so. Look out to the world with purpose; you have a role only you can fill. Your life’s offering is unique because there’s no one like you. If you don’t offer the best of you, then people won’t enjoy the best, or worse, they’ll suffer your worst.
Bon Voyage
Last year, I literally sailed into the New Year. I’m not on a boat this time but the wind is blowing me in a new direction, and as it does I write this to encourage us that 2012 will be our best year yet, as we not only achieve our own dreams, but through the propositions of our lives we will help others achieve theirs.
Wherever you’re sailing to, whether shaken in a storm or enjoying auspicious skies, I wish you a good journey. Don’t quit when it’s hard. Don’t settle when it’s easy. Don’t take the still calm for granted nor curse the storm. Be grateful that you’re here and always remember: “you can never go wrong with the priceless things. They’ll always be a steal.”
