God's Balancing Act

Have you ever thought what would happen if God created all people rich and powerful?

If everybody has equal footing in terms of net worth, possessions, power and influence?

Surely the world will stumble.

There will be total chaos. War will be a never-ending activity among nations. Peace will never exist. For sure, there will be no poverty, but people in the world will not survive. Simply because nobody will be doing the we-thought-ordinary-but-equally-important work that servants, farmers, street cleaner, fishermen and other ordinary people do and contribute to society.
Perhaps God in His wisdom must be thinking this scenario when He created the world. That's why He allowed different people to have different backgrounds and stature, different interest and different way of life. People from different walks of life had varied standard of happiness and different array of problems. Look closely at the people around you and you'll fully understand what I mean.

Some people are blessed in some areas deficient to others. Some families are financially rich but poor in terms of relationships. The parents are separated, children not in good terms with their parents, kids are drug addicts, kids don't do well in school and many other relationship deficiencies. Some might be enjoying the comforts of living in a nice home but can't enjoy life simplest pleasures. Others might be poor in monetary measure but bursting with happiness and contentment in their relationships.

GOD surely knows how to balance people's lives. At the end of the equation of life, we might be deprived of some things but looking closely we are blessed in some areas of our lives. We are equal, not maybe in the standard of the world,but in God's eyes, we are.

No Turning Back

One early morning, while browsing one of my favorite social networking site, www.christianster.com, I came across a heart stirring story that almost brought me to tears. The story was all about the blind girl who hated herself just because she's blind. She hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend. He's always there for her. She said that if she could only see the world, she would marry her boyfriend.
One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her and then she can see everything, including her boyfriend. Her boyfriend asked her, "now that you can see the world, will you marry me?"
The girl was shocked when she saw that her boyfriend is blind too, and refused to marry him. Her boyfriend walked away in tears, and later wrote a letter to her saying. "JUST TAKE CARE OF MY EYES DEAR."

Many of us seem to act like the blind woman. Most of the time we are guilty of the crime of not keeping our promises. Overruled by our selfish tendencies, we tend to promise something not putting in mind the binding commitment to fulfill them. Oftentimes, we failed to mean what we say and say what we mean. We failed to realize that aside from the pain we inflict on others, when promises are broken, it breaks down the fragile walls of trust and confidence that must be maintained in order for any relationship to flourish. As children, we are taught that promises are unbreakable pledges that should be fulfilled. But, as we grow older, the old adage, "promises are meant to be broken," more often justified our lack of commitment in keeping them.

Until now my favorite part in a wedding ceremony is when couples exchange vows to love each other in richer or in poorer, in good health or in sickness, in good times and in bad times until death because it signifies the commitment to give unconditional love to each other. That for me, is the core and essence of marriage. But a lot of couple will agree that those promises are easier said than done.

One funny aphorism I once read states, "Marriage is like a cage; the birds outside are desperate to get in; and those inside are desperate to get out. Marriage is not a bed of roses,as they say. Like any other vocation, married life has its share of sacrifices and struggles, trials and tribulations, imperfections and uncertainties. During trying moments, it is very tempting to ask, "Did I marry the right person?" and blame your spouse for the unfortunate situation in your married life, instead of owning the blame and start asking yourself, "Am I the right person for the one I marry?". I once read an email sent by a friend that, "THE KEY TO SUCCEEDING IN MARRIAGE IS NOT FINDING THE RIGHT PERSON; ITS LEARNING TO LOVE THE PERSON YOU'VE FOUND."

Marriage counselor and author Gary Smalley beautifully states, "Honor is at the heart of all healthy relationship - and genuine love is a decision - not a feeling."

When one decides to love, there should be no turning back. Precisely the good reason why the Catholic Church don't allow divorce among couples. Every couple should have in mind, that their union as a couple is a decision based on love and commitment, thus, they should be ready to embrace whatever life that awaits them. After all, when God blessed the marriage, He desires every couple to build eternal and satisfying relationships.

Husband and wives, the path we choose to embark doesn't guarantee eternal happiness but we can choose to build eternal relationships because God designs every marriage to last a lifetime. I would be radical in saying, that we can achieve a happy and satisfying marriage, if everyday, we will remind ourselves of the very promises that we uttered to our spouse in the presence of GOD and His people and try to live each day, with the grace of GOD, fulfilling those promises with so much love, faithfulness, commitment and dedication.

Starting today, let us carve those promises and vows in our hearts, so when tough and trying moments besets our marriage, just like a house built on a solid foundation, our marriage will not be shaken.