November 18, 2015

Friendship Makes my World #Wonderful

Even though many issues and problems (usually man-made) happens to our daily lives in this world that we live in, I still think that this world is such a wonderful place to be alive. I can't even start to fathom how wonderful it is and why it is so. But one thing I know for sure, I am blessed -- just living in this wonderful world of ours. Like I said a while back, I can't just sum up how wonderful my life is. But for this blog entry, I would try to summarize them in 3 things. I would relate why these 3 things makes my world wonderful but I would dwell on one of them more. 



As for the moment, I am going to talk about the 3 things that come to my mind on why my world is wonderful: Hillsong United, Saving Private Ryan and Kristina. These 3 represents 3 aspects of my life that I am very grateful for and how they make my life a world of wonder. They seem so specific but they serve generalized facets of  my life.




Hillsong United is one of my favorite Christian bands. I love almost all their songs and sing it to worship my Creator and remind myself of how God has been gracious and faithful to me all my life. I particularly made "Oceans" and "Touch the Sky" my life songs. Hillsong United basically is the embodiment of my renewed faith in my Saviour and my spirituality. An aspect of my life I always run away from but always end up returning to, like a prodigal daughter. I am not perfect, far from it actually, but this my faith is something I will never be ashamed to proclaim to the world. No matter what other people think - like I am religious or righteous -- I am not. Although I try my best. After all, when the robber meets the road and all the world has left you, I bet anyone would turn to God to give them comfort. Which in my case I did. I am blessed enough to found that peace, comfort and joy.




Including Saving Private Ryan in this list is somewhat ironic from Hillsong United. An exact opposite since this tackles war, destruction and violence. But I have learned something more profound from it. Many don't know that I am very into WWII stories. It's rare for a female to love anything related to war or military, but I know I am different. I first encountered stories about WWII when I was a kid; we had a library at our ancestral house before and we have this old big and heavy book full of photos about WWII and weirdly, i found myself browsing thru it over and over again. Then came my 5th grade in elementary where we tackled it in our world history class. I was probably the only one genuinely interested to listen to my professor's stories and lectures about WWII. Then when I got older, I still continue to have interest about history; even putting off what I am currently doing when History Channel airs something about WWII (WWII in Color is my favorite). Why do I like history you might ask? Well probably because this war was fought for my freedom. Freedom to live and do whatever I want to do (our country played a great part in that war too). Sometimes we get too self-absorbed and self-entitled of the freedom that we enjoy that we tend to forget the lives lost for that battle for freedom. The thought of somebody else taking that bullet for you so you can enjoy this world with freedom of  expression. Knowing these stories of heroism of the men who fought in that war for the lives we enjoy  today, humbles me greatly. I can't forget what Captain John Miller told Private James Ryan while he breathe his last breath: "Earn it". Also when actor Richard Speight Jr.'s speech when he honored fallen soldier Sgt. Skip Muck (who he played in Band of Brothers) in a memorial: "Skip Muck is not just a character I played on TV, he is a person that I came to love and admire. A man whose picture sits on my desk as a constant reminder of the standard of excellence and selflessness which we should strive to achieve". That is probably why I love reading non-fictions/memoirs because it humanizes you, removes your head far from where it's stuck up your @$$. With that, I tend to be careful of my life choices, making sure when I meet my Maker I will be able to say, I've led a good life and that I have been a good woman. 




And lastly, Kristina. Kristina sums up all the friends and the kind of friendship I have. You might say, how come I didn't include family. Well that's already a given fact. Your family will always have your back no matter what - even if you fail, even if you made mistakes and even if you're wrong, they will always be there for you. But true friendship comes rare these days. Someone told me once, he thinks I have no friends. Well that depends on how someone defines friendship. For some it means having someone who always go to happenings with you, like every weekend you eat out or go some place. Friends are those who goes with you on a vacation trip or a trek to the mall. Friends who'll get drunk with you until the wee hours of the morning. Friends are those who you make gossip with and continually make other people lives as topics of conversations and make fun of other people's misfortunes so you can feel better about yourself. Friends are those who you need to help you put yourself ahead of other people and other superficial meanings of friendship. 




I have been thinking of just doing a blog post about friendship for sometime now and just pour out my random thoughts about this virtue. It just so happen that this #Wonderful movement came along and it touched on some of the things that make my life wonderful. Well, my life is #wonderful because of friendship. 




Friendship to me knows no distance or time. I have friends who live halfway across the world from me. Yet even just a silence in social media stirs up their concern for me. They take time from their busy daily schedules just to send me a SMS or Facebook message and ask me how I am doing. I have friends who I don't see everyday or every weekend, friends I don't get to stroll around the mall on Saturdays, friends who I get to talk to or see a few times in year. But you know all too well they care for you and think of you. Friends who always have your best interest in mind. Friends who sometimes can't (or will never) understand your life choices, but will tell you, "I support you". Friends who never hesitate or feel embarrassed to tell me "I love you Jen". Not everyone can say I love you to their friends. I even have male friends who tell me "I love you Jen" in the context of friendship and it doesn't feel awkward. They just say it those 3 words because it is true, because they really love you. That's a rare kind of friendship, more precious than a diamond.  




I have friends who are like sisters to me, yes more than friends actually. Friends who REALLY pray for you when you ask them for prayers. Who prays for you right there and then, who will stop what they are doing to actually pray for you, who really includes you in their list of "things-to-pray-for". Friends who will tell you to do life decisions that would honor the faith you believe in and not how the world does things or thinks what you're supposed to do. A friendship where conversations revolve around encouraging one another to follow your passions, on building one another up instead of tearing each other down, on uplifting each other's morale, assuring them that everything's going to be alright and that you have a bright future ahead of you. A a kind of friendship that bends on just sitting there beside you in silence and listens more than giving opinions. 




The kind of friendship I have is goes far beyond the usual night outs, trips to the mall or movie house. Far beyond conversations over coffee, hanging out at their house for lunch or dinner and travelling to vacation spots like Boracay. I have friendships deeper than being friends. Friendships that knows no distance or time. So I think I have proven that person wrong, the one that told me I have no friends. Because I actually have friends, a bunch of friends that only amounts to all the fingers in my hands to count them all. The friendship I have is more of quality than quantity.




My world is #Wonderfiul because I have my faith, a life that does its best to strive for excellence and selflessness and have friends who define friendship more than the boxed connotation of friendship that this world defines it.




How about you? what makes your world #Wonderful? Share them and you might just get a chance to fly to New Zealand for free! Visit  wonderful.ph/ for more details.


Philippine Airlines flies to Auckland, New Zealand starting December 2015.
www.philippineairlines.com

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