Love is Patient.
Posted on Apr 30, 2010 06:58:46 AM
I would lie to you if I said I’ve never been a religious person. I have been. I don’t consider myself religious now, but rather, a very spiritual being. I have come to understand that by no means religion is a synonym for spirituality. I think I’ve mentioned this before. I have come to know the God of my understanding, yet religion has offered me a well of knowledge and I can never seem to forget this verse:
If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
And if I give all my possessions to the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3
In a Fast Food Nation, where most things are categorized as instant gratification, marriage can often turn into a difficult road to endure. Feminism freed women from infidelity, telling them “Don’t take that crap from anybody sista’!”. Laws protected us women against domestic violence, and still women die each day from this. What ever happened to forgiveness?
Excerpts from The Love Dare by Stephen Kendrick & Alex Kendrick:
Love is built in two pillars: patience and kindness.
Love will inspire you to become a patient person. When you choose to be patient, you respond in a positive way to a negative situation. You are slow to anger. You choose to have a long fuse instead of a quick temper. But patience stops problems in their tracks. It is a choice to control your emotions rather than allowing your emotions to control you, and shows discretion instead of returning evil for evil.
Anger is often an emotional reaction that flows out of our own selfishness, foolishness, or evil motives.
Patience helps you give your spouse (or loved one) permission to be human. It understands that everyone fails. When a mistake is made, it chooses to give them more time than they deserve to correct it. It gives you the ability to hold on during the tough times in your relationship rather than bailing out under the pressure.
I’m not saying: “Go out girls! Get beat up by your boyfriends or husbands.” By no means I would ever say: “It’s just another woman. Big deal!” Domestic violence, infidelity, disrespect, and other great offenses are deal breakers for me and go against my rule book. Respect is as vital as air for a relationship to survive.
I heard once that “when people say for better or worse, they usually mean for the better.” I understand that now. My grandparents have been together for 54 years. My parents have been together for 27 years. There is a saying in Puerto Rico: “Nadie sabe lo que está en la olla. Solo el que la menea”. It translates to: “No one knows what lies inside the pot. Only the one that stirs it.”
I recognized there is a mystery in every lasting, good relationship. I will never know what my grandparents and parents have gone through to learn unconditional love. Nowadays, such love seems like a myth. People such as myself ask themselves daily: “How much is too much?” “What if there is someone better out there?” “What if I’m making a mistake?”.
Truth be told, you are the only one who will know when too much arrives. There is ALWAYS someone better out there. The only problem is, once you find that someone better, there will always be someone better out there. What if you are making a mistake? I believe nothing in this life is coincidental.
Life is a tough school to master. Whatever the lesson is, you have to give it your best, or else you will fail. And by you, I mean… ME.
Freelance Writing and, The Dream Quest
Posted on Mar 19, 2010 11:59:59 AM
Good morning world. I have the intention of writing daily on this blog, but evil forces lure me into other tasks, and I end up succumbing into not writing here.
This post is meant to be a light at the end of the tunnel for aspiring writers.
I used to have the notion that having a conventional job (meaning five days a week, eight+ hours shifts), was mandatory. Fortunately, I matured enough to realize, no one can force me into doing something I don’t want to.
If you have been following this blog, you know I quit my extremely, annoying, conventional job, two weeks ago. At first, I was terrified. Psyched, yes. But also, very scared. As a result of quitting that job, I have landed in the course of two weeks, two steady freelance writing jobs! I also have one more possible project, the ability to write on this blog as I please, and the upcoming rewriting of my first novel. It does not end there.
I had forgotten the passion that ignites inside my soul every time I play, and sing. I used to be this incredibly passionate musician, always with my guitar, or piano, singing my heart out. What happened?
I thought having a $7.50 per hour job was all I needed. I hated it…
I constantly felt lost, drained, breathless — I know now I was depriving myself of my endless capabilities as a human being. The capability of going after a dream.
My aunt recently sent me a message via Facebook. It was a casting for a local TV show here in Puerto Rico. I went. I got it. Come Sunday, I’ll be singing one of my songs in front of a camera thousands of people will be watching. You can even watch it if you live in Florida, New York, or any other state that has Univision. All because I said: “To hell with the world. I’m doing my own thing.”
Deciding to live life in my own terms has been liberating. I have trusted, I am trusting the God of my understanding to guide me every step of the way. People come along to help me from Africa, Australia, China, Canada, Kansas City…
Somehow, following my desires, and rooting for myself has brought opportunities I would have never imagined. Seizing those opportunities takes a lot of courage, but after I’m done, the second I realize I trusted myself and God completely… I feel the most joy, the hope, the love, the happiness, the peace, and the certainty that God is doing for me, what I couldn’t do for myself. Every day I drift further from the past, I become closer to my freedom. Not only because I am doing what I want, and not what is expected of me, but because I feel grateful, and happy by doing so.