Great Love Unleashes True Potential

"It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants." (Mt.13:32) Every small work done with great love unleashes true potential!

Hidden in every task, even in the mundane, is an opportunity for love to be uncovered; for God who is Love, is in all things. Our negative attitude towards work may come from a belittling view of the world around us and an enlargement of the ego within. We belittle things or people who/that don't challenge us; tasks that demean our position; and efforts that move us out from our comforts. 

On the flip side, many of us also belittle ourselves, and rely much on how others criticize us. We may become too overwhelmed by the task at hand to the point of fear and paralysis. We find ourselves constantly faced by a "Goliath"; not realizing the "David" within.

Jesus, sees something big in us, even if others belittle us; he beholds something great in others even if we belittle them. There is no servant's task too small for Him not to merit His love. He washes our feet. He takes notice of a mustard seed and tells us that the biggest thing unimaginable, the Kingdom of Heaven, is such. Are we not more than a mustard seed? 

A "Burj Eyeview" of What is Big and Small

My wife and I had the chance to go up the tallest man-made structure in the world, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai -- 828 meters and 163 floors high. It took us just exactly 1-minute to go all the way up the view deck at the 124th floor. That was really fast! Though we barely felt the speed and pressure.  The view from the top was amazing!  We could see the whole breadth of the city: the sea and the sunset, the modern infrastructure, the systematic highways, and the wide desert. Everything below was so miniature.  There was something about seeing the world from the "Burj Eyeview".  It made me feel big and small at the same time. Big, because I was the one beholding from above. Small, since I knew that if I was the one below, from the standpoint of 828 meters high, I looked smaller than an ant.

We always have to reminded of both our "bigness" and "smallness". First, God is our biggest

fan; we are big in God's eyes!  The psalmist exclaims: "What are humans that you are mindful of them, mere mortals that you care for them?" (Psalm 8:4) We're such a big deal with God, that He sent His own begotten Son, to liberate us from the dominion of sin.  Yes, God loves in a very big way!

Second, we too, have to be small before God; "He must increase; I must decrease." (John 3:30) Man, through the sin of Adam and Eve, has a tendency in wanting to be god or be bigger than God -- rationalizing that the Maker does not exist. We sometimes do not notice it, but the moment we allow pride to take over -- we want ourselves to increase, and God to decrease from our lives; a total opposite of what St. John was conveying.

We---at the same time---realize that we are big with God's love and genuinely have an inner disposition of being small before the Creator.  In acknowledging God's greatness and through our humility alone can we be granted by the Holy Spirit the gift of faith to decipher how to apply---in our own lives---Jesus' teachings: that the "first shall be last and the last shall be first" or to "love your enemies" or that "if anyone wishes to be great, he must be the servant of all." The paradoxical wisdom of Jesus is the key to life, a revelation, that requires of us to follow Him in faith with absolute freedom for our salvation. 

A Heart, Big as the World

In a retreat at St. Paul Center for Renewal in Cavite, I came upon the "Prayer to St. Paul". I was struck by the words, "Obtain for us the heart of an apostle, a heart, big as the world. 

Reflecting on this, I tried doing a "heart check-up". How big is my heart? Is my capacity to love enough only for my family and friends? How easily does my heart tire? Is my heart hosted with humility that I am able to accommodate criticism and correction? 

I am reminded of Saint Candida de Jesus (my high school alma mater's congregation founder). On favoring God over earthly lures, she said, "The world is too small for my desires". 

Indeed, when one discovers the joy of God and allows Him to enter the heart -- there is no other way but for the heart to grow bigger. 

A heart without God shrinks in size until it becomes compacted like stone. Nothing permeates through a stony heart. But the Lord cries out, "If today you hear My voice harden not your heart." It is the Lord who is the initiator of love. He knocks at the door of our hearts without tiring. Need we only open and welcome him and God will give us a new heart, big as the world!

"I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh (Ez 36:26)."

There are many out there who will discover the truth about God's love through the channel of our own hearts. 

Love not as yourself, but as the Lord using you as conductor of the currents of His powerful love. A big heart can take in and deliver large amounts of God's grace to His people. 

St. Paul, pray for us as we dare take on the world with our puny hearts in the hope that God will expand it by His grace and mercy. Amen.

Big in God's Eyes

I've always been fascinated how ants can carry 100x times their own weight (upside down, on glass according to the link). Ants are one of the strongest animals in the world--relative to its size.  This small creature has been endowed by God with something unique and special--a reflection of how He loves the little ones.

Have you ever felt small, insignificant, and even stepped on? In the Bible, God always uses the least of all to do His great works--the youngest brother tending the sheep (David), the least in a family of the least tribe (Gideon), the one sold as a slave (Joseph), a stutter (Moses), a small insignificant nation (Israel), and the list of the least goes on.

Never underestimate how God will use you. The Lord sees a lion in us even if we feel like a scared cat. God who is the source of true strength can give us the power to carry even 100 times the weight  of things we think we can't bear. Remember, Jesus bore the weight of mankind's sins that we may enter heaven. Sometimes our crosses feel like too heavy to bear, but the Holy Spirit enables us! How? We cast our burdens upon the Lord, we who are heavily laden.

“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,^* and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” Matthew 11: 28-30

We have a supernatural God who gives us supernatural strength. Without Christ in our lives, we will be borrowing strength from the wrong sources---worse, from the devil---that will lead us to our ultimate fall.

Get your Bible, hold it tight...feel the power, see the truth, live with His strength! You are BIG in God's eyes.

When Big Things Come

In the middle of much work and rush for the events, we ordered a 30-inch pizza for a short break and fellowship. Its not the usual pizza size. Everybody would say "it's big!" We had our fun and our fill as we it finished off.
There are a lot of "big" things that come our way. We have big blessings and big opportunities as well as big decisions and big challenges. What is our attitude when these big things come?
My children who are 5 and 2 years old, are very fond of watching 3 little pigs. And of course aside the pigs, with them is the Big bad wolf. We all know that the pig who built his house with bricks was safe from the big bad wolf. He was ready.
When Big things come, we should be ready. Let us therefore...
1. Have Big Faith
Knowing that we have a God who is bigger than any of our problems will give us hope to endure and overcome. Having big faith will also help us stay focused when big blessings come. Many who receive much often forget the Lord. When blessed with a business, we forget God because we become too busy. When blessed with a special love relationship, some stop serving. Having big faith will make us remember that we are here for God and that He is here for us.
2. Have a Big Plan.
The Lord blessed us with intellect and sense enough to "build a house of bricks." The problem would be our laziness. Have a Big plan. Get a pen and paper and start envisioning, setting goals, and putting them into action. In this way, we know what to do when challenges come and we would also know how to share our big blessings. Having a big plan will aid us in making Big Decisions in life. Most of all we have to discern if this big plan is God's plan for our lives.
3. Have a Big Heart.
When it's pressure time, we will come to know the size of our hearts. We will be able to measure our capacity to love. We can start to expand our hearts by exercising love even in the simplest of things like affirming people and volunteering to help. When blessings come, specially monetary blessings, a big heart will remind us that happiness is not about money but about the joy we give others and to God. A big heart will help us weather the big storms in our lives by knowing what matters, by enduring in painful times, by learning to sacrifice, and by preserving our relationships.
Don't let the big things overwhelm you. Rejoice always and be grateful for our Big God is in control if we surrender to Him.
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