I blink to clear my vision.

God never allows pain without a purpose in the lives of His children. He never allows Satan, nor circumstances, nor any ill-intending person to afflict us unless He uses that affliction for our good. God never wastes pain. He always causes it to work together for our ultimate good, the good of conforming us more to the likeness of His Son (read Romans 8:28-29).  

― Jerry Bridges

I think the sweetest thing that can happen to anyone's to be freed from all the shackles of past pains. To move around lightly in the present. But, it's not an overnight thing. Like most things, it involves a process. Often, people want to rush things. They want things happening NOW. They want to skip certain phases and it frustrates them more. Not realizing that the more they wait for change to take place, the more it seems far from happening. There isn't really much to do but to continue living. Same routine. Life shouldn't be hindered by an event. Especially not by unpleasant ones. To reach a destination, one must continue walking and even with obstacles ahead ― Jump over them, take a detour, crawl under...whatever way possible ― CONTINUE. No circumstance must be allowed to take control of your life. Utilize every difficulty and turn them into opportunities. It's seeing beauty in the ugly.


Pain isn't gonna stop happening. We may try and find reasons for things or we may keep questioning why things hurt but none of these will help. I used to think that if I only get the answers to my questions, it would be a lot easier to go on. It won't be as painful. I was thinking that knowing can be a salve. I didn't believe the saying, "what you don't know can't hurt you." I realized it's just another excuse to allow myself remain in an emotion or condition or situation. It's comfortable that way. I got used to it and I resolve to just stay the same. But, life is like any computer game -- you move to the next levels. Each level has its own difficulty. Once you passed one, expect more difficult challenges in the next. Some challenges from the first levels may be present but they're easier to deal with. It's the tougher challenges that need more attention and getting used to.


Life has phases and you can't expect to encounter the same trials and problems as you move to the next. But, you gotta be wise in utilizing the "power ups" collected along the way. Challenges are meant to strengthen us not to weaken us. They're meant to make us more positive that whatever's ahead, we have the ability to face them.

 “You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”   

― Eleanor Roosevelt

You will be a beautiful person, as long as you see the beauty in others.

“What the hell did you see in me?” 

“I saw YOU. That was all. Just you. Everything about you. And the entire package was everything I wanted. I didn’t want it altered or changed one bit. I just saw…you.”

―  One Last Chance 

Beauty can be seen everywhere even in the ugliest places and situations... simply by having the right set of eyes. The Bible says, 

"Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness." Luke 11:34 

"But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!" Matthew 6:23

The way we view things makes a lotta difference. We can either see a situation positively ...or negatively. And depends on how we see a situation, that's how we respond. It's not the situation that ruins us, it's our attitude. If we don't realize and acknowledge this and make every effort to change the way we look at things, we are surely to end up filled with junk. 

It's a common excuse to blame others or circumstance for our failures or mess. A drug dependent pointing at his parents' busy-ness for his addiction. A teenage mom resenting her parents' separation. A womanizing husband ascribing his acts to his nagging wife. All these examples are nothing but lame excuses. We have been given free will to make our own decisions. We have the decision to either be influenced by outside forces or confront the issues we have within. Our responses to every situation we face reflect what we're made of. Our response to a given situation is based on our perspective ― how we perceive things. It's easier to pass the buck than to acknowledge one's own mistakes, it appears. 

I know of many "from rags to riches" stories. Those people didn't allow their circumstance to stop them from reaching their dreams. They did not wait for situations to change. They used their situations as inspirations to be better. They have the right set of eyes. 

Recently, I had a talk with a friend. She asked why bad things happen to good people. Sadly, I don't have the answer. But, what I know is, there's beauty in everything... only we have to find it. And if we can't really find it, we create it. Our vision is really limited. We can only see from an angle. Most of the time, we are positioned where the angle is bad. But, we need to remember that that angle is just a piece that completes the whole thing. 

There's this male friend who I've not seen for a while. He showed up one Sunday just to drop by and say hi. He asked about our common friend and said he wasn't receiving any mobile message from this friend anymore. All of us chanted, "he's really not replying to anyone!" I was surprised when he tried to convince us that this friend's replying to text messages because we all know that's not the case. He continued saying, "he replied to me once." I was impressed by how he rather see the positive instead of clinging to the negative. It doesn't matter to him whether our common friend replies frequently or rarely. What he sees is he does. 

Am also enthused by another person. Am just so amazed at how he CHOOSES to see only the good. He'd receive all sorts of discouragement, disparages, criticisms but what he chooses to hear are only what's helpful in building his hope. I asked him once about it and what he said was ...all the discouragement he's receiving only make him perform better. Whenever he's told he's not this and that...his response would always be "not yet, but soon."  In stead of sulking and hating, he uses the bad for good. Which reflects how good he is inside. How he sees things make him respond in an admirable way. 

There are times we can't really fool ourselves we're seeing only what's right in front of us ― unpleasant. No matter how we twist our lenses, it's just but that. Besides, we're really in a chaotic world. A world full of injustice, partiality, cruelty... but we're given a choice to have a better perspective. This doesn't mean we are to lie to ourselves we're not seeing what we're seeing. It's just choosing to draw the good in every bad. Seeing the beauty in the unsightly. Because there isn't any help in complaining about or sulking over what's not nice. But, if we rather change our perspective, we can respond far better; ultimately, improving our attitude and character. 

“In other words: Whatever the problem, be part of the solution. 

Don't just sit around raising questions and pointing out obstacles.”  

―  Bossypants