A Love Letter For No One... Yet.

You got mail!

Dear You,

I think this is really a corny/cheesy idea... writing a letter (or a blog post on this matter) for you, but I'm doing it anyway. Maybe because of the season, it's February! It is when my Facebook news feeds are filled with posts about love. It is when the preachings in my home church (Sunday service, youth service and even in our Kids Church Tweeners service) are all about love. And it is when the malls are full of hearts and reds. Maybe somehow these also compelled me to do this. :) A little cheesiness won't kill me anyway. :)

I just want to say that I'm praying for you... Whoever you are. Before I wasn't that consistent, but this time I'm pretty much more disciplined in doing it compared before hehe. :) I think I'm more guided now in what to pray for you, God is just leading me so. :) I'm praying that you will be the man that God wants you to be, that He will bless the works of your hands and will make you fruitful in every area of your life. I'm praying that you will be a man that is after God's own heart and be excellent in your craft, that you will be a leader serving out of love, who is generous and a man of integrity that flees away from sin. A man who have a child-like faith. And above all else your greatest concern is honoring God, pleasing Him and glorifying Him.

Sometimes I think that you are not existing, and yes I'm open in being single for life. If that is the case, then this letter will be "null and void" and all of my prayers and preparations are just in vain, like a "chasing after the wind". But I am just keeping myself open with the idea of single blessedness so I may not be so focused with the fulfillment of the promise (you) that I'm on my way to neglecting/ignoring the Promise Giver (God). I just want to keep everything in good placing but really, I'm still praying for you and believing that one day I will meet you (or maybe I have already, I may still just don't know now).

I have many crushes but I'm praying that God will guard my heart and keep me emotionally pure haha! Please pray for me that I will be pure even in my emotions. I am praying the same to you. :) Reserved and preserved. :) As early as today, I'm already learning to love you and honestly sometimes it is not that easy, but I know God is helping me (He is my greatest "stirrer" you know! Haha!) It is also my prayer that God will not just prepare us but also our families and friends. Geez I have lots of friends who are excited to see you and sometimes I think they are even more excited than me haha! So don't be surprised if you have to meet many people from different groups of different shapes, sizes and backgrounds. :) But still no pressure! All is well in God's perfect time and ways. :)

This doesn't look like a love letter don't you think? Haha! It's quite challenging to write a letter addressed to no one. At least for now. :) And I hope one day when we both figured out who is the "you" in this letter, we will just at least have a good laugh at this! ;)

                                                                        From,
                                                                             Your soon-to-be bestfriend & suitable helper                                                            

Patches and Wineskins

I attended the first installment of our February/Love month series called "Crazy Love" in our church's Thursday youth service yesterday. To summarize our guest preacher, Ptr. Dan Monterde's message about love, using this very popular verse (and I believe this was also the first-ever Bible verse that I've memorized) in John 3:16

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

He just gave 3 points about love from this. First is "Love is a decision" (God decided to love us. He loves us. Period. Love is not about feelings or emotions.), second is "Love is giving your best" (God gave His best to us, His only Son Jesus Christ) and "Love is eternal" (God is eternal, He is love and His love is eternal).

But I just want to emphasize on one of his message's chunks that was under point number 2 which is "Love is giving your best". He shared to us that loving is about giving and not gaining. The question should be "What can I give?" and not really "What can I gain?" Then he continued and gave some examples on how can you give your best to the person you love. One point is to respect the person's current season. It's also becoming the best for your love when you respect and maximize your own season right now--being the best child that you can be for your parents, being an excellent student or an outstanding staff in your work or just honing your craft or fostering your character (because a lot of people are looking/waiting for the best person for themselves but they are not being the best for the person that they are looking/waiting for). Every season have its reason (or reasons) and every season is a preparation for your next one.

Then I remembered these verses from one of  my quite recent devotionals in Matthew 9:16-17

“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”

This reminds me of seasons in our lives though Jesus didn't mention any word that you can directly relate to it. It just says that there are some things that we are not fitting to do in a particular season. If we still do, things will just get messy (the tear will get worse or the wineskin will burst). Unshrunk cloth will not fit on an old garment, neither new wine on old wineskins. It's like some of your old ways will not be fitting to do on your new season. There are some things that you do as a student that you cannot do as a single young professional. There are some things that you usually do as a single person that you cannot do as a married one. There are some things that you are so used in doing when you are 20 that you cannot do when you are 40. Of course we can still use our "free will" ticket and still do those things but just like the verse paints it, things will get messy. We may not see the effects for now but in the future we will.

It just doesn't fit.

Results might be unmet expectations, disappointments, broken hearts, regrets, should've, would've and could've thoughts, etc.

No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.

So let's preserve ourselves. :) Seasons will not adjust for us-- for our feelings, whinings and mayhems. Besides God is super wise that He knows what He's up to when He put us in the season that we are in on such a time as this. :) He is wise and He superbly loves us too that He will put us in our new seasons just in His right time and ways for our own good. :)