Day 11 - Looking Back and Planning Ahead

It was an awesome day yesterday!  My day started early as I woke up around 3am.  I decided to engage in my weekend morning ritual which was walking and a little bit of jogging around the Marikina Sports Center.  Then, I attended The Feast at PICC, which had a very inspiring topic.  Right after, I met with friends slash former officemates to watch Sherlock Holmes and stayed around the MOA for until around 9pm.  Crazy schedule right?  Well my schedule for the past months has always been like that!  Now you should know why this blog went on hiatus for quite a time.  But now, I'm back!  With greater fervor than before!

Let me backtrack a little and update you of some small triumphs I had which I know would eventually lead me towards the achievement of my goal.  Here are some:

1. The evaluation I got from the students I handled during the first term of my teaching was very satisfying.  During a faculty meeting that we had, I was announced as one of the faculties who got an "Outstanding" remark from students.  Not bad for an amateur, right?  But that won't definitely make me rest on my laurels.  This actually served as a challenge for me to serve even better and to aim for a higher goal.
2. I was hired last September as an accountant for a multinational company which operates in the IT distribution industry.  I was back on the rank-and-file level.  But it doesn't matter.  Right now, I am perfectly enjoying learning new skills in this job.  The process I'm handling was quite simple and easy.  And now the challenge is on how I could deliver more from the small process I perform.
3. The shoe merchandising business I started out with friends did great during the Noel Bazaar last December.  We had an amazing time!  From the planning phase until the last day of the sale, we enjoyed it!  And not just that.  We even earned money while enjoying.  Now I'm looking forward to the fulfillment of our greater plans.
4. I was able to cross out one special thing in my dream list last December.  And it was "to take my family in an all-expense-paid trip to Baguio".  Oh yeah, I have no idea that it would happen sooner than I expected.  I guess I wanted it too much in my heart that the universe truly conspired to make it happen.  Again, I'm looking forward to new family vacations and trips that I would be crossing out in my dream list.

Time indeed flew fast.  The next thing I knew it was already 2012.  And I feel very excited.  I bet you would want to know why.  Well, it is because 2012 is my banner year!  This is the year that I will become a millionaire.  I am claiming it with all my heart.  I knew God will prosper and bless me more this year so I could bless more people.  He will make my dreams come true.  And I completely trust Him.

Bro. Bo talked about planning last Sunday and since this is my first post for 2012, let me share with you some of the small dreams or plans I wish to accomplish this year (aside from earning Php 2 Million by the end of the year).

• Start earning a masters degree
• Invest in the stock market
• Start new businesses
• Grow my current business
• Develop my accounting and teaching skills and start freelancing

Bro. Bo shared a very important thought.  He said that our mind would usually be filled with only two things: Memories and Imagination.  Planning takes a very important role in terms of how we live our life.  If we don't plan, we live our lives based on memories.  But if we plan, our lives will be lived based on our imagination.  Isn't that a great realization of how critical and important planning is?

My next post would focus on my purpose, my higher cause.  I know I have touched on this topic before, but let me do a quick reassessment and reinstating of my purpose.  I know this should have came rather ealier than this post, but I believe its never too late to go back and do some quick fixing.  After all, the chances given to us to recreate our life is unlimited.  So as our opportunities of redefining our purpose.

God bless everyone!  Yes to the fulfillment of our dreams! :-)

Day 9 - Disturb Me

Earlier in the Feast, we read a prayer by Sir Francis Drake to put emphasis on the good things that come from letting your life be disturbed by the Lord.  Let me share it with you.

Disturb us, Lord, when

We are too well pleased with ourselves,

When our dreams have come true

Because we have dreamed too little,

When we arrived safely

Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when

With the abundance of things we possess

We have lost our thirst

For the waters of life;

Having fallen in love with life,

We have ceased to dream of eternity

And in our efforts to build a new earth,

We have allowed our vision

Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,

To venture on wider seas

Where storms will show your mastery;

Where losing sight of land,

We shall find the stars.

We ask You to push back

The horizons of our hopes;

And to push into the future

In strength, courage, hope, and love.

The poem was basically about moving out of one's comfort zone to achieve greater things in life.  The Feast series this month was entitled "Heroes" and the first talk focused on being a hero by letting yourself be disturbed by the Lord to reach out to serve more people.  Serving most of the time requires us to sacrifice and to live out of the comfortable territory.  It may sound ironic but I know you would agree with me if I say that most of the time, it is only through serving others without expecting anything in return that we get to satisfy certain emptiness in our hearts.

I already had let God disturbed me for many times in my life, and just recently, when He called me to serve and to teach, I willingly obliged.  Though I could not still  quite attest that I am very much willing to live out of my comfort zone I would like to think that little by little I am learning to let go of my fears and just embrace the fullness of living.  

So right now, I would like to encourage you to let God disturb you.  Let Him take control.  And witness how the Lord would use your hands to create great miracles.

PS

I am also giving you the privilege to disturb me.  Be it a problem you would like to talk about, a story you would love to share or some assistance you need on your projects or tasks, disturb me and let me offer what I can.  God bless us always.

Day 5 - Hone Your Craft, Develop Your Character and Learn From Your Mistakes

Two months after I decided to quit my corporate job so I could give more focus on my budding career in the academe, I found myself sitting in front of the internet wasting my time looking for another job which is absolutely the same as that I just abandoned.

How stupid.  Really.

Reading through the few posts I had in this blog and being reminded of the dreams I keep in my heart, I knew that getting a similar job is the last thing I need to make my dreams alive.  Perhaps it is true that humans tend to easily forget pain.  Thus, allowing us to give in to temptations and commit the same mistakes twice.

I have been attending Bo Sanchez’ Feast every Sunday for more than five months now and I could gladly say that it made a huge impact in my life.  It taught me many things and gave me the necessary courage to go in search of what would make me happy.  It just rightfully deserves this space in my blog.

In one of his talks, Bo emphasized the need to finish strong.  In terms of professional career, relationships, personal life and spiritual beliefs, finishing strong, much like success, requires patience, endurance and commitment.  Oh but we all know that.  However, he mentioned two very important multipliers that greatly affect how strong one would finish and eventually succeed.  And these are Capacity and Character.  Capacity is defined by one’s talents, gifts and potentials.  Character is how one uses these.

I was greatly surprised by this revelation for it opened my eyes to the reasons of the major failures I had in my life.  I started out strong (having the right Capacity) but finished wrong (lacking enough Character).  It has always been that way.  I have been blind about it all these time.  I even put up reasons like, “I’m really not a finisher.  It’s just not my thing.”  But, reflecting over the character I upheld in the past years, I had a clear realization of why, most of the time, I fail.

Walking away from a job entails leaving behind the life I used to live.  With it, I hope, I would also leave the bad habits I had and the mistakes I committed.  With me I would carry only the lessons, the valuable lessons and the loving memories.  Right now I just feel very fortunate.  Many don’t get the chance, or afraid of the taking the chance, at a renewed life.

From this time on, I would only walk with faith.  The Lord has been so kind and so generous to not limit me of chances to recreate my life.  I had already been granted several chances before and had miserably failed.  But now I’m dusting myself off and, with more confidence, will brave a new life – a life filled with success and happiness.

For in Christ, nothing is impossible.

PS. The Feast is a prayer meeting led by Bo Sanchez every Sunday, 8:00am-10:00am and 10:30am-12:00nn at the PICC.  If you wish to be part of it, please feel free to come.