It has been more than a year now since mama joined a group
of old women, some retirees like her, doing ‘Taichi’ in front of the BSU
Library. Every morning, except Sundays, she joins the group in doing 10-, 16-,
24- steps routines (she’s still practicing the 42, sword and fan steps).
Whatever those numbers mean or steps are, Taichi
has been doing her good by the grace of God. She claims that with her almost daily
Taichi, she since has stopped taking
her maintenance drug for her heart issue, and lowered her maintenance doses for
her diabetes and hypertension. Taichi
was her perfect therapy since Daddy died. She not only gets the health
benefits, but the social benefits of having her Taichi-mates as ka-berks.
“Taichi chuan (Tai Chi) is an internal Chinese martial art
often practiced for health reasons. Taichi is typically practiced for a variety
of other personal reasons: its hard and soft martial art technique,
demonstration competitions, health and longevity.” (Source: http://twincitiestaichi.com accessed April 23, 2012)
(We thank God for the privilege of watching Khane graduate nursery. We know it's a loooong way, but don't we all start as nursery, formal or informal? Way to go, Khane potpot!)
(I found this list in a "Gospel Transformation" lesson series from the World Harvest Mission. One goal is to acknowledge more fully the different areas of a fallen world that can pressure us, tempt us, or bring suffering into our lives.)
[The suffering and pressures of life: a closer look
1. Relationships. Kids misbehaving, boss at work, family upbringing, husband or wife's neglect, anger, or criticism, in-laws, siblings, people in general (their actions, opinions), physical abuse, sexual abuse, bad role models.
2. Possessions. Car, house, computer, washing machine, lawnmower, television: anything that can break, mess up, or damage something! Lack of possessions, not enough money to make ends meet.
4. Work/career. Lack of time, exams, lack of sleep, job concerns, cooking, housekeeping, routine, finances, Monday mornings!
5. Fallen world. Death in family, tears, sorrow, depression, pain, thorns and thistles, and meaninglessness.
6. Satan and the world. The world tempts us to conform, either by force or by seduction. Our culture can tempt us according to various things that are "important" for our culture, such as respect, independence, beauty or superiority.
7. Sinful nature. As Christians, we live with two realities, two natures--the old and the new. The old pressures us towards sin. The sinful nature fights against the Spirit.
8. The wilderness. We are a wilderness community who has not yet entered the Promised Land. Like the Israelites, we are faced with lack of water, same food, same schedule, dust, heat, same clothes, and uncertainty.
9. Good things. Blessings, success at job, unexpected gifts, good family life, promotion, increase in salary, better living conditions. It is harder to see these as temptations, but they can be powerful. Consider the prayer in Proverbs 30:8-9: "Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, "Who is the LORD?" Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God."]
Then it goes on to expound about how biblical characters like Joseph, Solomon, Job, Asaph and Jesus responded to temptation and suffering. Asaph, for example, who ended up being content and satisfied with God alone. It concludes with an assignment as follows:
Consider the one circumstance that you want to change (don't want to change), and ask the questions: " Can Jesus be my delight and satisfaction in the midst of this difficult (blissful) situation? Can I get to know Jesus better in this situation, even if it does not change (even if it changes)?"
(I find them good questions to share. I find them good questions to consider when we are in difficult situations. I even find them good questions to consider most especially when we are in the best of our situations--just got promoted, just got an award or when we are just mighty blissful for some reasons. Nice.-che)
I was in this meeting, and one famous probably 80+ years old Agricultural Economist bluntly asked me, “Who are you?”, “What is your educational background?”and “What are you doing?”.
How do you answer such questions? I wanted to answer him “Well, who are you, why are you asking and why do you care?” or “Well, I am an igorot, a child of God redeemed and justified by Jesus Christ; and I have a 4-yr old, a 4-month old baby, and a husband who prays.”
Anyway, I wrote my name in his notebook, replied “I graduated my Bachelor’s degree from Benguet State University, graduated my MS at UP Los Baños, graduated my Ph.D (by research) from a Japanese University;” I worked on a resource economics issue for my research using contingent valuation and choice experiment techniques. Well, you see, he asked me that question a little after his discussion of what they wanted to do and find out for their project, and after his colleague made a rundown of the people they wanted to work with…so and so a graduate of University of Hawaii, so and so from UP Diliman, so and so from UP Los Baños, so and so from National University of Singapore, so and so who is well published regarding this, so and so who wrote some book, etc. After that, they asked me to discuss the studies I am handling, how am I doing it, my accomplishments, etc...and over lunch, some talks continued yet always, discussion goes back to how many Ph.D.s, M.S., where these people took their Ph.D.s, etc.
After the meeting, I felt exhausted, drove home, pumped milk for my baby, played with him and nursed him. His smile took my tiredness away big time.
What is my point and why am I relating this story? I guess probably because of the stark reality of the general way people look at things. In this world, you are identified by your educational attainment, where you graduated from, your honors; you are identified for what you have accomplished; you are identified for what you have published; whether you have delivered in your projects, etc.
Such a big contrast with how the gospel identifies people. Such a big contrast with how Apostle Paul talks about identity.
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. — Galatians 3:27 . . . and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places . . .— Ephesians 2:6 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.— Ephesians 2:19
As Bryan Chapel puts it “the above statements by Apostle Paul make no sense if we base our identity on our human abilities and accomplishments. But when we understand that God in his grace has chosen to grant us the identity of His Son, we see how they (the verses) can apply to us.”
The experience reminded me of God’s grace in choosing to grant me the identity of his Son. May God grant me the grace to accomplish enough in my work, the grace to perform well in my research studies in service to the Master , the grace to serve Him in my family as a wife and mother. But more than anything, may God grant me the grace and mercy to live up to the essential identity granted me by the gospel.
