Once again, the harsh cruelty of nature has just struck Japan with the killer earthquake and tsunamis. To date, there is a death toll of around 900 people and 10,000 people are unaccounted for. It sets me to ponder why God allows such natural disaster to take away lives that He so loves and creates. What is the point of creating them and yet allowing the cruelty of nature to take such fragile lives away? If I continue to pursue these questions along this line, no answers will ever satisfy me. It's just like asking which one comes first; the eggs which hatch the chicks or the hen which lays the eggs?
In life, all of us will experience our earthquakes and tsunamis. They will shake and sweep us off the tangent from our way to God and causes damage to our inner state of lives and even cracks which come in the form of hurts. Emotional turmoils, like tsunamis, may sweep us off to nowhere and we feel lost. We may experience such 'natural disasters' in the forms of the death or illnesses of the loved ones, broken relationships, unforgiveness towards people who have offended or wronged us, accusations and persecutions from others, injustice or abuses in any forms from someone, especially loved ones whom we have trusted so much, etc. During such times, we may have the tendency to ask why all these 'natural disasters' must happen to us and what we have done to deserve such treatment. We may even go on to doubt if God even loves us at all to allow us to suffer from such 'natural disasters'. Sometimes, when certain people look fine and calm on the surface, it does not mean that they are getting on fine as these people may tend to keep everything within and the storms are just turning them upside down deep within. Does that mean that by denying and pretending nothing happens help?
During this period of Lent, it is a solemn and reflective time for us to journey with the community in God to face the damages from the 'natural disasters' in our lives so as to be prepared to rejoice and truly celebrate in the Resurrection of Christ when the Easter Day comes so that we, too, will also be resurrected in hope from such damages.This period of Lent until Easter Day is meant for us to quiet down down and to examine deep within us and lift all the damages and cracks in our lives for God's Love to penetrate through the damages and cracks within us to the core of our being to be healed and be alive again. We may feel heavy on our feet to walk in our life journey at times. But, if we choose to surrender all the baggages, Jesus will carry us as his cross through our life journey. We do not have to walk alone.
Journeying with the community is important. Just like the aftermath of the killer earthquake and tsunamis in Japan, we can not deny that they need all the necessary assistance from people and government and even from other countries to rebuild their homes. For us, in our spiritual lives, we also need one another to rebuild our spiritual 'homes' within so that we will be more complete. Even hermits can never say that they only need themselves and nobody else from the fact that they also come from their mothers' wombs. They come from the births of people too. So, nobody is an island. Sometimes, the earthquakes and tsunamis in our lives teach us to be humble reminding us that we are not almight powerful and we need one another especially during such tough times to walk with us. We are not powerful by oursleves where such power may go out of control to get what we want as if we were gods and hurt others and ouselves along the way with no space in us for God since we would be so dangerously full of oursleves by then. They are precious lessons for us to learn that we need one another since our lives are so fragile and should treasure one another in our lives and never take for granted that the people in our lives are always there for us. They are gifts from God who will be taken away for our growth when called forth. Being vulnerable during such times allows God to work thorugh different channels such as through the quiet time before the Blessed Sacrament, Eucharistic celebration where the presence of Christ is there, Christ in the faces of people comforting and encouraging and walking with us, the bible, etc.
Howe much does one's pride cost? If we continue to be prideful denying that some aspects of our lives need God and others to help us, we are short-changing ourselves. We reject the gifts from God that God would have offered us through the help of others and Himself for us to grow and be more complete so that we can enjoy our blessings as healthy beings. He is always there. Before we lament and complain, we have to ask ourselves if God has really abandoned us. The fact that in Singapore, we see churches everywhere, weekday and Sunday masses are always available, we stay close to one another to give us chances to build relationships with one another, etc. tells us God is always there. It is up to our free will if we choose to shut ourselves off from them or choose to seek Him through them. I never believe in sitting there complaining and doing nothing. People who have come to me for advice would have known that I get irritated whenever they come to me and complain blaming anyone else and yet never try to do anything to improve on their lives. By blaming others does not mean that I am perfect. It just shows that I am immature pushing all responsiblities and blame on others. It just shows that I am a coward to own my actions and words and I can never grow to be more mature in my spiritual life. It may result in me only 5 years old in my spiritual life when I am actually 50 years old. All my behaviour and words will show that 5 year old of my spirtual life even if I am in my 50s. There is this spiritual author (which I can't remember who, maybe, Robert Baron) who mentioned that there are good people in this world. But Christianity offers us to be better people. So, why don't I embrace my faith in Christ as a gift from God and choose to be a better person instead of just being a good person?
I know surrendering and letting go can be difficult. I am currently facing the tsunamis in my life where I can't even sleep at night since the tsunamis in me is tossing me actively around. I am still hanging on to the faith that this tsunamis will stop tossing me one day just like any tsunamis which will stop at some point in each episode in the nature. I know that if I continue to hang on to this faith as my anchor in life, I will see the sun shining through and I will rebuild my home within with the help of God and others in life so that I can be stronger in life to face greater challenges just as I believe that the Japanese goverment and people will find ways to improve on the infrastructure and resources and areas to strengthen themselves if the disasters strike again. I always tell myself that if I let go of certain people and things in life when called forth, God will never fail to bless me manifolds. He is Love and will never fail. No matter what, I will never be short-changed as I am a beloved child of God whom God wants to mould into a being who is more and more like the image of Him.
With Love,
Elena
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