From Windows to Glory

It was nothing grand, at least for me as I had this conversation with my friend yesterday. We were plainly and simply talking about my ~ window. Haha. See, it was nothing grand or glorious. I was just telling my friend how happy I was to have my green blinds finally up! Little, happy me! It just so happens that my blinds was a bit smaller than the room windows. But I think I'm okay, I can live with that. Then my friend asked me,

Why don't you add curtains? It would at least fill the gaps on the sides.

I listened to my friend so as not to seem uninterested. I like the idea very much as I like simple, domestic, interior designing. I was just thinking, would that really be necessary? I just have a simple, humble, little abode. Having those curtains for that purpose would be too much (of a bother). But it is not a bad idea after all, though.

So, I took simple peeks:

Goodness! How about that? Now I want to faint. Heehee. Nice, nice, nice!

Still yet this echoes: Would that really be necessary?

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This morning, I was reading my quiet time companion/guide, Charles R. Swindoll's Come Before Winter. I flipped the page where my bookmark was: A Touch of Class. It got me by the title. Reading along:

• Being financially responsible is one thing. Being ridiculously frugal is quite another.
• Why have we embraced the idea that elegance and class have no place on the spectrum of spirituality?
• Who ever said that humility and beauty cannot co-exist?
• ... Artistic frames for the windows... Why not? God's reputation was at stake. God's name was on display.

Boom. I was silenced. 
Isn't this the one I was discussing with my friend last night? How would this get so timely? 

Now I know this would be necessary.

It doesn't appear shallow and unnecessary to me now. It occurred to me that there's a message beyond the windows. So now, why just the windows? Ahm, why not the entire house as well? Then this verse was brought to remembrance:

'The glory of this present house will be greater 

than the glory of the former house,' says the LORD Almighty. 

'And in this place I will grant peace,' declares  the LORD Almighty."

Haggai 2:9 (NIV)

Now I want to do something bigger. By God's grace, and provision, and trusting His timing, I know it can be done.

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As I wrapped my reading for the day, I flipped my desk calendar to today's date. And whoa! This can't just be:

The way you keep your house, 
the way you organize your time, 

the care you take in your personal appearance, 

the things you spend your money on 

all speak loudly about what you believe. 

"The beauty of Thy peace" shines forth in an ordered life. 

A disordered life speaks loudly of disorder in the soul.
~ Elisabeth Elliot, A Heart for God desk calendar

From windows to glory. It means so much to me now. If you think you missed the point and didn't get what I meant, it's okay. I know this post would be more challenging to express than the rest. This is just me, sharing.  

But, I will show you the windows when it's done. :)

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image credits:

Aliexpress.com

skroutzondeck.com

Something on a Midday

Well said, Ben Stein. Very well said.

This was the sum total of my thoughts when I was on the road midday yesterday. I kind of synthesized and debriefed myself for what had, what has, and what is about to come.

That's the reason why I love long travels. It feels like I am forced to shutdown all active systems in my thoughts to bring me to, if I may say, prayer time. It works for me. Really.

I've still got too much to do and take. Literally. I will be counting years, man. Does it bother me? A bit. Really? Not much. Ahm, I don't know. Maybe not yet. I really don't know.


But from where I am today, I know I am (as all of us are) called to do the best, whatever the given circumstance. Favorable or not. Comfortable or not. Uh oh, I think I need to swallow hard(er). Heehee. 

Being given a vision and a dream bigger than myself, I know I am called to make the most of every opportunity. And that I have a perpetual calling to help others. I want to be of excellent help. And that's the reason, too I was on the road yesterday on a midday.

As I am aiming towards that, as I take every step, may I always be reminded of those people I'd like to help and serve in the course of my lifetime. 

My preparation time isn't going to be an easy, overnight deal. I know that to the bones. It is just my sincerest prayer that God, by His grace will keep my spirit alive and going and fighting. Understand defeat but never to embrace surrender.

My midday travel has somewhat prepared me for the things I was not expecting to hear and do. God is so gentle and wise. He knows I will be on that very thin brink of giving up and going on had He not spoken to me on that midday travel. God knows best. He really does.

My mentor told me to write the thoughts I had on yesterday's midday. So, here I am banging the keys. I know she's right. She knows man's vulnerability and susceptibility to discouragements. At times I happen to fall in the pit of low spirits, I know I just need to go back to this post. And if I happen to rant, seems like forgetting what I had written, help me remember this post.

Will you?

Shades of Home

Hello, it's been a while. It's been a long while.

I am officially home. It was on April 30th I finally bid good-bye to a chapter of many years. 

And now that I am officially back home, I am taking one day at a time. I am taking each pace slow but sure. I am still afraid, perhaps. But, this fear that I have is an acknowledgment that I can't do this alone. Probably the Lord had already called and summoned the heavens to calm me down. Hey, it will be okay. You will be okay. I got you, okay?

It was more than two years ago I penned The Grace to Stay & The Grace to Go. It's just so funny how time flies and now that I am living on the Go. Coming back home was not an overnight deal of decision I had made. It's God's grace that prepared me (that long), it's by His grace I was led out, and it's the very same grace that will carry me through.

And now that I am officially back home, I am keeping the hue alive and the same. I have filled my heart and abode shades of life and hope. I think it will do me good as the window brings this each day:

As I wake up each day, there were times I needed to come to my senses first to say to myself, 

I am really back home. I really am. :)