Praise report for the day

Thank you so much, Leo, for sharing this. Definitely worth keeping as a sign of God's grace...

It is amazing to experience the Lord's undying grace. Today I was reminded of this grace through a handshake with Leo, leader of Liawanag Filipino Catholic Club at irvine, in which i was given a laminated card that he said was from Mary-Anne. A bit confused, i tried to recall what he was talking about. Then as I read the text on the card, my eyes began to glow and my heart rejoiced in happines. But, to understand the significance of this text, i must revert to an earlier time in the quarter.

Mid-Fall quarter, during one of Liwanag's meeting, Leo's friend, Mary-Anne, came to talk to the club. That night was an unforgettable experience for me. Mary-Anne told us the story of Saint Therese of Lisieux and how she seeked suffering to become truly one with the Lord. I was so shocked by Therese's life because all of us naturally avoid suffering, but maybe we are wrongly running from the desires of our lord. The other part of her speech though and the reason of this entry was concerned with the biblical definition of love. In [1 Corinthians 13: 4-8a] love is defined through this description:

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

Mary-Anne then told us if we replaced "love" in this definition with "Jesus" that the description would still be very truthful. However, she wondered how truthful the description would be if "love" was replaced with our own name. This question was both humbling and fascinating to me. I realized how there is so much to reach for to truly love the Lord. For days I constantly thought about the definition of love and how I myself fit into the description. Mary-Anne told us that we could print out the definition and try making a memento in which our name is apart of the definition. Through my own laziness and other unimportant thoughts, i never got around to doing this even though I have given this matter so much thought. Oh by the way here is what the card says:

Brenton is patient. Brenton is kind. He does not envy, he does not boast, he is not proud. He is not rude, he is not self-seeking, he is not easily angered, he keeps no record of wrongs. Brenton does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. He always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

I was spiritually refreshed and emotionally uplifted to read this card. It knocks me off my feet to see God's love in action. And although i do not think they read this, I want to thank Leo for remebering my value for Mary-Anne's speech and to Mary-Anne for not only making the card, but also for her unforgettable advice.I'm not sure how u guys knew I really needed this and how much I really wanted it (not to mention that i never did it on my own hah) but I am forever thankful for this litttle card that will always be at my side. I promise to do my best to fulfill these admirable words.

Now i ask all my readers to take their own name and replace "love" in the definition. How truthful is the description? I am confident that most of it is VERY true because you are all such wonderful people. But we are all flawed! There is so much we can do to strive towards being a complete definition of this love. I wish everyone self-strength and self-truth. So Much...

For the readers, this card I gave Brenton was printed as an "accident". I was making these cards for each of the seniors for the KAIROS retreat back in November and somehow I made two of the same card (one of our seniors is also named Brenton). Remembering that Leo told me about how Brenton from Liwanag was touched by the message of "being love", I knew that it was no coincidence. So there you have the story behind it all. With God there are no accidents or coincidences...