WINDOWS OF THE SOUL

You are totally absorbed in what you are doing; you lose track of time. Whether you are in love with a person or with a project, it's the same quality. Time may expand --

To be a soulful person means to go against all the pervasive prove-yourself values of our culture and instead treasure what is unique and internal and valuable in yourself and your own personal evolution.

Loss of a soul creates a void, an emptiness that people fill in with addictive activities - because it is the path of least resistance.

The decision to reconnect with your soul is similar to any choice to change things for the better.

Remember and reconnect with what really gave you pleasure when you were younger and had more time, for going back to it may lead you to the soul. When you recover or discover something that nourishes your soul and brings joy, care enough about yourself to make room for it in your life.

When you attend to the needs of the soul, you experience a sense of freedom. In the midst of absorption in a soul-nourishing activity, we are liberated, creative, unaware of time, and in harmony with ourselves. When we attend only to work and neglect the soul, we may dream of being imprisoned and we are often tense, because we carry the weight of our joyless world on our shoulders. Soul-satisfying experiences open us to respond to the beauty around us, in others and in the world.

Appreciation of beauty is access to the soul. With beauty in our lives, we walk and carry ourselves more lightly and with a different look in our eyes. To look into the eyes of someone beholding beauty is to look through the windows of the soul.

Anytime we touch the glimpse of soul, beauty is there; anytime we catch our breath and feel. "How beautiful !" The soul is present.

THE HEARTBEAT

The first music any of us ever heard was the heartbeat of our mother when we were inside the womb. The sweetest rhyme was the enchanting beating of a monotonous heartbeat. We felt at peace. The deep recesses created a peaceful atmosphere and nothing could disturb us. We rested and we felt the comfort.

The constant pound of drums could remind us of our original nature and where we came from. Through drumming, we realized our own value and who we were. We always craved for peaceful existence. We longed for comfort and the easing of our senses. We wished to be inside the womb when we felt agonizing pain. We searched for soothing sound which only the heartbeat could provide. We needed to feel the rhyme and the enchanting sounds.

The best time to hear that sound again would be to pay attention to a growing child in a mother's womb who wanted to communicate while listening the sounds coming from a talking mom. The soothing voice and the melody of a tender love could awaken a hopeful child longing to meet a biological mom.

I could connect this experience to death when a cadaver would be laid to rest inside a coffin, buried into the bosom of mother earth. The pounding sound of burial and the lamenting cries of friends and relatives could attest the significance of being laid to rest in the mystical womb of God's terrain. The heartbeat and the pounding sound could awaken us in a place of great abyss, where peace and serenity could be permanent.

Our longings to listen to the music and melodies would be our part of normal tendency. We listened to the rhymth and the rhymes. Every note and sound could remind us of our past and the future, our birth and our death - our coming and going. There would always be music to welcome us and to bid us farewell.

If we listen to the constant pounding and beating, we would be reminded of our first experience: someone taught us our first lullaby -the beating of a mother's heart.

HORIZON

The line or the circle which forms the apparent boundary between the earth and the sky.
It is the limit or range of our perception.

I searched for God in the horizon, as dictated by my intuition. The sky is clear and the clouds are about to form a mystic silhouette . I can't believe what I see: the wide spread sea meets its identical replica high above an endless line, a common sight which no one may notice the difference. They seem to be twins in all appearances, except for their distinct colors. There is no limit in the distance and boundless in its magnificence. Who can ever connect the sky and the sea? Except by the great designer who lays all orders in such a masterpiece. The sea represents the earth and the sky, its counterpart and other half, heaven. There is marriage in their closeness. There is beauty in their relationships. I believe in the God of a great mind, who designs the little details of every outcome. I know and I believe. I may see the horizon from afar but its closeness can easily be grasped. There is an imaginary chasm in the scenery between God above and the people below. The ultimate connection is the straight Horizon, a line of compromise, attracting heaven closer to earth, and God closer to men.

I sense the presence of its author and I feel the closeness of His Wisdom. The horizon is the mystery to my quest and the solution to my search. What significance can a long line entail? Except perhaps to extend its long arms to outreach our broken hopes and dreams. O Great Wisdom, extend your endless line and show us your great designs.

A TAPESTRY OF ART

I look at the world as a piece of art, a wonderful masterpiece, designed and woven like a giant tapestry. The contribution of each work depends upon the labor and toils committed in one accord. The hidden threads underneath the seams record the lifetime process each person has given in the creation of this work of art.

Some threads are twisted; few threads are prolonged and cut short; while the rest retain the opulence while harmoniously designed in agreement with a greater plan. I rather say every thread would represent an individual life while being alive. Our life and our daily activities can contribute to the completion of this woven piece of art. Some lives have to be twisted; cut short and even prolonged, depending on the needs to the completion of this piece of art.

From our own point of view, we agonize in pain to retaliate upon this hidden plan while from the vantage point of God's view, high above our naked eyes, it is a work of Art, designed from scratch and formed into a better image, our world designed with the loving plan of God. His hands work gallantly in bits and pieces. He knows what He makes in this eternal process.

His guiding hands decides in proper time the right design.

JIGSAW PUZZLE

I learn a lesson from a jigsaw puzzle. It resembles life and its mysteries. Every missing piece is an answer to my quest; every bit of piece I try to fit does not always make the right guess. The empty space needs to be filled to bring about a complete self. It is always in the trial and error that we find the meaning of life and daily existence. Every piece gives the glamour and the color, but it needs to be tested if we make the right guess. Sometimes some people have many empty holes to fill with craving force while some others need the right pieces to contain but a simple quest. Depending on our own needs, we try to feel the long lost pieces. Some may find it hard and that depends how hard they try, while the rest eventually remain confused and disoriented just because their guesses never become the good choices. For people who never rest will try to compensate for a burning quest while another would like to take the risks despite gruelling feats. Our Life and the Jigsaw Puzzle may never be complete until we find the missing piece.

In death, we realize all the while the missing piece is never complete until we meet the divine creator who tries to complete the test, the game he plays, a jigsaw puzzle with one remaining piece. He keeps it in his chest.

THE LORD'S PRAYER

I cannot pray "OUR" if my faith has no room for others and their needs.

I cannot pray "FATHER" if I do not demonstrate this relationship to God in my daily life.

I cannot pray "IN HEAVEN" if all my interests and pursuits are on earthly things.

I cannot pray "HALLOWED BE THY NAME" if I am not striving for God's help to be holy.

I cannot pray "YOUR KINGDOM COME, YOUR WILL BE DONE" if I am unwilling to accept God's rule in my life.

I cannot pray "ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN" unless I am truly ready to give myself to

God's service here and now.

I cannot pray "GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD" without expending honest effort for it or if I would withhold my neighbor the bread I receive.

I cannot pray "LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION" if I deliberately choose to remain in a situation where I am likely to be tempted.

I cannot pray "BUT DELIVER US FROM THE EVIL ONE" if I am not prepared to fight with life and prayer.

(Unknown)

LATE HAVE I LOVE YOU

Late have I love you,

beauty so ancient and so new,

Late have I love you.

And, look, you were with Me,

and I was not with you...

You called, you cried out, you scattered

my blindness, you breathed perfume,

and I drew my breath and I pant for you:

I tasted, and I am hungry and thirsty;

You touched me, and I burned for

your peace. (St. Augustine's Confession X, 27).

When in my whole self I shall cling

to yo united, I shall find

no sorrow anywhere, no labor:

wholly alive will my life be all

full of You. (Confession X, 28)

I REALIZE

I realize the power within me is greater for me

than the power of another, that I have the power

to control my thoughts and that my thoughts

control my feelings and the way I see the world

around me.

I realize that negative thoughts create negative

experiences and positive thoughts create positive

experiences. Therefore, I now decide to control

my thoughts and think of the positive good side

of me and the world.

I realize that thoughts dominant in my mind

will manifest themselves in reality. Therefore,

I now decide to keep before me a positive,

happy picture of my success.

I realize the spoken word is the most powerful.

Therefore, I speak good thoughts out loud and

count my blessings out loud daily. I focus

my thought energy on the good of me, of you,

of today, of life.

I start my day by getting up

I am glad to be alive. I love myself.

I feel wanted, needed, important, special!

(Unknown)

Count your blessings instead of crosses.

Count your gains instead of losses.

Count your health instead of wealth.

And count on God instead of yourself.

THE OYSTER

There once was an oyster

whose story I tell,

who found that some sand

had gotten into his shell.

It was only a grain

but it gave him great pain.

For oysters have feelings

although they're so plain.

Now did he berate

the harsh workings of fate

that had brought him

to such a deplorable state.

Did he curse at the government,

cry for election, and claim that the sea

should have given him protection?

"No," He said to himself.

Since I cannot remove it

I 'll work in my shell,

Yes, I 'll try to improve it.

Now the years have rolled around,

as the years always do,

and he came to his ultimate destiny stew.

And the small grain of sand

that had bothered him so

was a beautiful PEARL

all richly aglow.

Now the tale has a Moral,

For isn't it grand

what an oyster can do

with a morsel of sand?

What couldn't we do

if we 'd only begin

with some the things

that get under our skin.

(Author Unknown)

THE CENTER OF THE BIBLE

What is the shortest chapter in the Bible?

PSALM 117

What is the longest chapter in the Bible?

PSALM 119

There are 594 Chapters before PSALM 118

There are 594 Chapters after PSALM 118

Add up the 594 plus 594, and you get 1188.

What is the Center verse of the Bible?

PSALM 118:8

PSALM 118:8 (NKJV) "It is better to trust in the Lord

than to put confidence in Man."

(Source Unknown)