Gifts: Visible Signs of True Feelings

Why do people give gifts? Because gifts are visible signs---tangible expressions---of the reality of our true feelings and intentions. Sure, we love our loved ones, but it is also in the material and perceptible signs of love---touchable gifts---that clues about how we sincerely feel for the other is hinted, is initially understood. Not that we value more the material expressions; but that we find means to show the truth of our inner dispositions; regardless the monetary cost of the gift. God sent his only begotten Son, Jesus, a sacrificial and redeeming gift---tangible in human history---to show how much He loves us and that He is with us. That same Gift of God Himself is offered to us in the Eucharist, not merely as a sign pointing to Christ but the reality of Christ Himself received as bread and wine -- nourishing and sustaining us in the Divine Truth of God's Love.

Dare To Trust

To trust is not as simple as it sounds. Trusting is an act of faith.  It involves risk.  But in exchange of the risk we take in trusting others, there is a heightened sense of empowerment for the entrusted.  Jesus exemplified this when he said, "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father (John 14:12)."


The same is said in one of General Patton's quotations:

 Once in Sicily, I told a general who was somewhat reluctant to attack that i had perfect confidence in him. To show it, I went home.
Never tell people what to do, and they will surprise you with their ingenuity. (General George S. Patton)


Imagine. God entrusts us fully to continue the work He started. He even went home to His Father.  Whether at home or at work, how do we build trust with the people God gave us under our leadership?


T - Train with them
To give someone such a big responsibility without preparation or adequate training is like letting your friend pilot an airplane without going to flying school. It's bound to crash. With the training comes the discipline and expectation. With this you are positioning them to be trustworthy.


R - Respect their gifts
Each of us are endowed with talents.  By acknowledging a person's strength and matching it to the right task will help build up confidence.  By respecting their God-given gifts, they will do better than expected.

U - Understand their situation
Genuine empathy will help them realize that you care.  As John Maxwell says, "They don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care."  To doubt the validity of their reasons for being absent or failing to deliver is an indicator of a weak foundation of mutual trust.

S - Space to grow
Give them room to initiate and innovate. If you are there to meddle at every step of the way, they won't feel that they have achieved something.  Without creative space, there is no true empowerment.  A smaller tree cannot grow under the shade of a bigger tree.  Trees are planted at a distance from each other so they can have sufficient sunlight and water.


T - Time for bonding
The more time you spend with the people you trust or hope to trust, the deeper will be the foundations of trust.  Time is also about attention.  It makes the other person feel important and listened to. Trust is built over time. Recall a person you trust.  Your cherished memory of this person will most likely be your times of bonding.


More than 2,000 years after Christ's death, through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, Christianity continues to grow because the He entrusted to us His mission to "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations... (Matthew 28:19)."  He also said, "As the Father sent me so I send you (John 20:21)."


Jesus trusted His apostles like no other.  Although some of them betrayed Him, His love for them remained unchanged. Let us dare to trust like Jesus trusts.

Build On The Goodness God Has Gifted You

There is a self-imposed pressure people set on themselves in becoming like their predecessors, specially when the one before them was very gifted. Yes it is right to emulate the strengths of previous leaders, but to be burdened by becoming like them might not be God's purpose for you.  Build on the goodness God has gifted you. 

Things to remember when God calls you to lead:
1. God has called your predecessors for a specific purpose, for a specific time, matching their specific gift.  This means God wants to accomplish something else in your term. Something uniquely matched to your gifts as well.
2. Know your strengths, and build on them.  If you are an artist, build on your knack for design and expand from there.  If you are hardworking and persevering, then build on it and grow from that quality.  If you are a visionary, express what you see and let others gravitate to the bigger picture.
3. Let love be the reason for all that you do.  Any ordinary thing done out of love becomes extraordinary.  This, I believe should be felt to the ones you are leading.  And the rest of the details will just flow.

"I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another (Romans 15:14)." 

The Best Gift

The 13th IKV's final day was truly empowering! Bro. Nic Escalona gave an inspiring talk to the kids, sharing how he was also a KFC member. He said something that struck me, "The greatest gift that my parents gave me was to bring me to Kids For Christ."

This Christmas season, everyone is busy buying gifts for their loved ones.  We think of what will make that person happy and feel special.  The best gift we can ever give to someone is an invitation to a life with Jesus.  Christ is the gift Himself.  God our Father, sent His Son Jesus, to bring us the gift of salvation.  Now, that's Christmas.

Victory Belongs to God

In my last night in Greece, we went to Sounion. It is a promontory or mass of land overlooking the sea, where we can find the ruins of the Temple of Poseidon. People drive an hour and a half from Athens to Sounion to witness the spectacular sunset at around 8:30pm. The temple overlooks the Aegean Sea. In classical Greek mythology, the Aegean sea was named after the King Aegeus. It was said that the king, upon seeing a black sail on his son's returning ship, commited suicide by jumping off the cliff of Sounion and drowning in the sea. Thus, the name Aegean Sea. His son, Theseus travelled far to slay the beast, Minotaur, and was victorious. But sadly, he forgot to raise the white sail that signified his victory, and so in despair His father jumped off Sounion.

In my reflection, there are important details in life that we take for granted. These are details that do not mean much to us, but mean a great deal to God. Things that we consider victorious, but we forget what victory means to God. Worldly victories like getting a good job, being promoted, having good grades in school, getting married, winning a championship game, receiving an award or recognition, profiting big in business and many more. These are things we prayed for and asked from God. God grants these gifts of victories to us. But sometimes, when we get want we want, we forget the Giver and focus more on the gift.

We forget the Giver when:

- we fail to thank Him.
- our attachments to the gifts lead us far from God and the service.
- we think we achieved it by our own strength

Failing to thank God is a sign that we did not acknowledge His gift of victory to us. We are more drawn to the feeling of victory or success. Often these leads to pride and boastfullness. "But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:57)."

Our attachment to the gift should not overcome our attachment to the Giver. How many times have we seen single people in romantic relationships end up being inactive in God's service? How many times have we seen people being "too busy" with work for them to serve God? "As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace (1 Peter 4:10)."

Hardwork is not the only reason for our success. We are successful because, by God's grace, He allowed us to be. Those who attribute success and victory solely to themselves, will run out of steam sooner or later. Some even commit suicide if their business fail because they think they didn't work hard enough or made wrong decisions. They do not see God's strength and will behind circumstances. Let us then honor God of His graces upon our successes. "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been ineffective. Indeed, I have toiled harder than all of them; not I, however, but the grace of God (that is) with me (1 Corinthians 15:10)."

Theseus achieved victory in defeating the Minotaur. But he failed to do what was most important: to raise the white sail for his father to acknowledge his victory. In our life, when God grants us his gifts of victory, let us not forget to do what is most important: to give the glory back to Him by thanking Him, serving Him, and honoring Him. Our victories belong to God!

Use Your Talents to Build God's Kingdom

Yesterday we went to Salzburg, the city where Amadeus Wolfgang Mozart was born and raised. It's also the city setting of the movie, Sound of Music. But I'm inclined to be more interested in Mozart and how this genius came to be. I was able to visit the house of his birth and the house where he grew up.

Mozart composed over 600 works. He composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. After Mozart's death, his older sister "Nannerl" had this to say about her brother when Wolfgang was three years old:

He often spent much time at the clavier, picking out thirds, which he was always striking, and his pleasure showed that it sounded good. In the fourth year of his age his father, for a game as it were, began to teach him a few minuets and pieces at the clavier. He could play it faultlessly and with the greatest delicacy, and keeping exactly in time. At the age of five he was already composing little pieces, which he played to his father who wrote them down (wikipedia).

Mozart was a prodigy. Yet his talent could have only come from one greater than him...God. What talents do we have? What are we doing to nurture God's gifts of talents? We recall the parable of the talents. The others did well in multiplying the talents God entrusted to them, while the one who hid it had this to say:

'Master, I knew you were a demanding person, harvesting where you did not plant and gathering where you did not scatter; so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground. Here it is back (Matthew 25:18).'

This is what the talent giver had to say at the end of his reply:

Now Then! Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten. For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away (Matthew 25:28-29)

These are some of my realizations: We have to acknowledge God's gifts through our interests. God planted in us a feeling of bias towards particular interests. Not everyone is interested in the same things. Then, we cultivate and grow our interests so it may bless others and help in building God's kingdom on earth. Many are blessed with amazing talents but use it only to enrich themselves without thought for others. Even worse, some use it out of greed, corruption, and exploitation. If we hide our talents, (in the context that it is not used for the good of God's kingdom) we are preventing God's blessings upon us. Hiding our talents from God's intended purpose will cause us to live a life that is deprived of His goodness. Think of those who use their intellect and administrative talents to make themselves rich. At first their conscience will haunt them. Then they are able to train and tame their consciences. Then corruption becomes their lifestyle, until all these lies and deceit will turn against itself and bring them to peril. Then everything will be taken away from them, including their souls.

Mozart is considered as one of the world's greatest musicians who ever lived. But as Christians, we only seek to be great in God's eyes. Let us use our talents for His service and strive to grow them so others may be blessed and God's kingdom expanded.

Building and Honoring God's Gifts

I was watching History channel today. The episode was about the History of America, particularly about how the Statue of Liberty was mounted in New York. It was a gift from France to the United States as a thank you for helping them obtain their independence, and as a way to celebrate the 100th anniversary of America's independence. The different parts of the statue came in gigantic crates. Now, the problem of the city was that it was too expensive to actually to put up the statue. They didn't have the money to build it. The gift meant a lot and it was important to honor it. The people were determined to build it. The one who lead the construction, Joseph Pulitzer, was also the owner of the most popular newspaper of that time. Through print media, they asked the people of New York to help build the statue. After the sound off for support, money came in through letter envelopes. There were 120,000 people who gave money and most of them gave less than a dollar. Amazingly, through the help of the people they were able to raise more than enough money to be able to put up the statue.

The Statue of Liberty is like God's gifts to us. We have been given great gifts from the Lord, but we have to build it up. We have our talents, our family, our friends, our jobs and many more. But for us to realize the full potential of these gifts, we have to ask others for help. We need them to be able to put together the different pieces of God's gifts to us. If God gifted us with the talent for leadership, we need to be mentored by different people and gain insights so the gift may be harnessed. God has given to us the gift of family and we need each member to contribute so that the family will stand strong. The gift of our jobs or businesses can only grow if we have co-workers and customers. The gift of our creative talents like playing an instrument, painting, singing, dancing, and writing will be maximized if we actually study and asked to be taught by others. To achieve something great through our gifts, we need other people.

If we have to build something great out of our lives by allowing God to fully use us, our vision for ourselves must also be clear. What do we envision ourselves to be? What do we see ourselves doing for the Lord? It helps if we start to draft a personal vision and mission statement. "Each one, as a good manager of God's different gifts, must use for the good of others the special gift he has received from God (1 Peter 4:10)."

Another insight I got is that the people of New York were excited to help because they were awed by the possibility of this grand vision. For us to be able to get people to support our cause, the vision must be as clear as building the Statue of Liberty. It should be something that excites and captivates the imagination. The vision should make our hearts long for its completion.

God has a great plan for our lives. "I alone know the plans I have for you, plans to bring you prosperity and not disaster, plans to bring about the future you hope for (Jer 29:11)." With this great plan comes great gifts. May we be able to build up and honor God's gifts so His glory may be seen throughout the world.