christmas is over!

i really wonder why the best is always reserved for last. yesterday marked the end of the christmas season. it is also when i got the most important lesson i have yet to hear.

yesterday, since i woke up early, i planned to hear mass at 9am. our church wasn't really far from my house. it only takes a 5 minute walk. but since i did a little chitchat with mom before i left, i didn't realized i was already running late. the priest was already in his homily when i arrived. so ok, since im late already, i decided to do my errands first and attend the next hour mass instead.

10 am, i was lucky to get a good seat near the garden. while listening to the homily, i was amused. ikaw ba yan, Lord? para sa kin ba tong message na to? in his homily, the priest said that in life, it was not how well or how fast we moved that matters, its how many times we have paused. then it all dawned on me. now i understood why these all happened. why i got sick and then having to give up my job(s), not been able to get into residency, and not been able to reach my ultimate dream to live on my own. i remember how i described my life- me in a car running 250mph then suddenly put into a halt just as when i can almost reached my goal. i had long dreamed of that moment when i can finally be free from the school and start making my dreams come true. but then it all happened. i didn't blame God for it. what i felt was more of frustration than anger. i realized now, i forgot that two essential things, pause and reflect. i was too eager to do everything at once not realizing what God's plan was for me. had i not paused will i know where i am going?

father Ino also said that we are all like the three wise men following a star. imagine, those wise men came from different parts of the world but their paths crossed because they were after all, following only one star. in a night sky filled with stars, we have to choose that one star we must follow throughout our lives. picking which star among all the glittery ones is the hardest. it's no different from choosing a career, a residency program, or a lifetime partner with the knowledge that once a choice was made, you have to stand by it for better or worse. but again in order to do this we must first pause, think, reflect and most importantly, pray. in the end, it doesnt matter how fast we get there. what matters is that we made the right choice and followed the right path.






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