“I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning.”
J.B. Priestley
By: Gabriela Yareliz
After two weeks where it felt like someone played tug-of-war with me and my head was pounding, I am here. Still. There is sunshine streaming through the window; birds chirping loudly (probably in the agony of being in frigid temperatures); and then, the birds stop, and there is quiet.
Sometimes, doesn’t it seem like life is going so fast it’s all a blur? You just want life to pause for a minute. This morning, I pressed pause. No crazy commuting with the masses and three hundred trains; no strict time agendas to meet that induce a stiff-tense neck situation. Just stillness. The stillness in the bright sun slowly brings me back to some level of humanity.
We need these moments, when we sit in stillness letting the sun and window shades cast their shadows on us; moments when the light warms us and illuminates all that we have been to busy to notice.
The film Life is Beautiful by Roberto Benigni is a film about a father’s love to mask the horrors of the Holocaust into a sort of game for his son, where the winner will take home a military tank. One sees the father do all sorts of things to bring comedy and light into their dark circumstances.
The movie was inspired by Benigni’s father, Luigi Benigni.
“The idea for Life Is Beautiful came from Benigni’s own father. Luigi Benigni, (…), was imprisoned in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp for two years after the German-Italian alliance collapsed; when he was liberated in 1945, he weighed only 90 pounds. Recounting his tale, he always sprinkled it with humor. ‘It was the way he was able to stand it,’ says Benigni. ‘He was able to tell the story, to unite the tragedy and the drama, with a laugh.'”
“Amidst poverty and hardships, the senior Benigni taught his children to see the bright side of every situation. Once, for nearly three weeks, the entire family had to sleep in a friend’s stable separated from a horse by only a plank of wood. Young Roberto saw it as an adventure—and does so to this day. ‘There was this face of a horse that we would see in the night looking at us from up high,’ he says. ‘It was beautiful—a bit like Jesus in the stall. It was fantastic sleeping there.'”
Benigni grew up sharing a bed with his siblings and his mother, and yet he retells so much of his childhood with fondness and wonder.
What makes the film so powerful is this notion that love is such a powerful gift that it saves us. This is a Christian philosophy to its core. Love literally saved us.
We often admire ideals and things in film but hold them in a category of fantasy. It’s impressive when a story that captures our hearts on film is based on reality.
I find powerful, this idea of having so much joy and humor in one’s heart, even after life’s very real hardships.
Benigni, who almost became a Catholic priest, is a believer and example of showing how to live a life of joy. He not only has lived a life of joy and imagination, but he has shared it with the world.
His legacy is an extension of his father’s legacy. It’s one that tells us that amidst tragedy, horror and want, we can experience full joy and move on to brighter days. It’s a reminder that life really is beautiful, and it’s up to us to see that, day-by-day, no matter what the circumstance.
True love’s kiss is not just a song by Amy Adams in the movie Enchanted. Though the movie is phenomenal. There is the jaded, divorced father, the young believing daughter and this wacky, innocent princess character that enters their lives.
Spoiler alert, the opposites attract and fall in love.
Ahh, what is love? Sometimes, we find ourselves “so close, yet so far.”
To love takes courage. C.S. Lewis wrote in The Four Loves, “To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness.” So interestingly, this desire to keep ourselves safe, this “avoiding all entanglements” is selfishness itself.
Lewis continues saying: “But in that casket– safe, dark, motionless, airless– it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.” (121).
The risk of love is something God calls us to. He also calls us to a love infused with divinity. God is love; therefore the truest Biblical love is infused with divine grace and patience to bear and endure all things.
“Christ did not teach and suffer that we might become (…) more careful of our own happiness… We shall draw nearer to God, not by trying to avoid the suffering inherent in all loved, but by accepting them and offering them to Him; throwing away all defensive armour. If our hearts need to be broken, and if He chooses this as the way in which they should break, so be it.” (The Four Loves, 122).
You see, God created humanity for Himself. Any love we experience is but a small mirror that should lead us to the greatest Love of all.
Charity, as the Bible calls it, is that divine, Godly love, that overcomes all things and draws all things to itself.
“We all receive Charity. There is something in each of us that cannot be naturally loved. It is no one’s fault if they do not so love it. Only the lovable can be naturally loved. (…) All who have good parents, wives, husbands or children, may be sure that at some times– and perhaps at all times in respect of some particular trait or habit– they are receiving Charity, are loved not because they are lovable but because Love Himself is in those who love them.” (133)
This means that in romantic love, C.S. Lewis writes that we must do the works of love when love may not be present. It’s this idea of sacrifice, long suffering and obedience to something divine.
C.S. Lewis goes one step further in the philosophy of this and takes us back to our Bibles for an example on what divine love looks like:
“The husband is the head of the wife just in so far as he is to her what Christ is to the Church. He is to love her as Christ loved the Church– read on– and give His life for her (Eph. V, 25). This headship, then, is most fully embodied not in the husband we should all wish to be but in him whose marriage is most like the crucifixion; whose wife receives most and gives least, is most unworthy of him, is– in her own mere nature– least lovable. For the Church has no beauty but what the Bride-groom gives her; he does not find, but makes her lovely.” (105)
Divine love is about outdoing one another to honor and serve each other. It’s about giving to make each other lovely. We must give all.
Even while unlovable, even while in darkness, we have been picked up, cared for and dressed. We have been loved and the ultimate price was paid.
True love’s kiss is one that doesn’t just vow to never leave, it’s the one infused with the only power that can make this possible; the love that never ends, God Himself.
To love truly, we must go first to the author of Love. Love Himself. And when we turn our faces to Him, we will receive and be able to practice a love that “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.” 1 Corinthians 13: 7-8
(Quotes and passages cited come from The Four Loves, by C.S. Lewis)
I walked into Claire’s to get a birthday gift for a beautiful, bright little girl who is special to me, and it took me on a ride down memory lane.
I remember how much I loved Claire’s, as a kid. I liked it more than the Icing because the Icing had mostly jewelry, while Claire’s had lotions, glitter, fun photo frames and hair accessories.
Those were my days when I would make mixed tapes by recording songs off of the radio on my purple boombox. I had a blue inflatable airchair, and my walls were wallpapered with inserts and cutouts from Teen Vogue, Teen People (now defunct) and dELiA*s catalogs.
I had my Smackers blueberry galaxy body glitter (glitter on everything!). Watermelon scented lip glosses (watermelon was my favorite) and plastic butterfly hair clips. I had diaries with the Eiffel Tower on them, with those little metal locks that came with two sets of keys. I wanted to dance like Thalia and dress like Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. I wanted Atoosa Rubenstein’s job (editor-in-chief of Seventeen Magazine). I typed my own newspapers on a typewriter and devoured American Girl books. Ah, yes. The past. And while nostalgia was triggered– things have changed.
Claire’s has changed. It no longer sells the edible Jessica Simpson cosmetics (Dessert, anyone?), and it doesn’t have half of the merchandise it used to. Half of the store is made up of cell phone covers and headphones. Children are much more wrapped up in technology, these days. I hope they still wish on stars and cut out things from magazines. I hope they aren’t just Snapchatting and taking photos of themselves.
Childhood is special. While we are in it, we are trying to figure out how to be more grown up, and we are dreaming like crazy. Being an adult is beautiful because it’s when we become and live everything we dreamed about before.
As adults, I feel like part of our task is to assure children that the phase they are in is amazing and fleeting. Cherish those moments. Live wholesomely. Dream.
The adulthood we live reflects the pieces of glitter we sprinkle around in our childhood. We only get to keep the glitter we dare to spill in our creativity and wild child hearts; so, spill away, children. Spill away. Make magic and keep it.
There was something about Humacao that reminded me of Florida. Maybe it was the bright colors, sunshine and this feeling that I was in a Calgon, Take Me Away! body spray commercial. A citrusy type scent. Yes.
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“Be authentic in the way you live life, talk to those who hurt you. Engage in honesty and love, open up and ask those in your life why they are distant. Life is short, it gets muddied by lies and fear.
Be courageous enough to reach out to others, seek forgiveness and redemption in your community. We have been given an opportunity each day to love those around us, all it takes is one step.
Healing starts with communication, communication comes with humility, and humility only comes when we are willing to lay down our lives for others.
Love right now, not tomorrow or the next day, love in this moment and watch it become something beautiful.”
T.B. LaBerge // Go Now (via tblaberge)
Today, our Bible study focused on the topic of holiness. Holiness is an important aspect and attribute of God, and it’s important for us to allow God to make us holy, if we really are to reflect who He is.
All of us sitting around the circle with our Bibles and lesson study books looked relieved at the fact that holiness is a gift from God. Our role is to come to Him and to allow Him to transform our hearts.
Still, many of us felt a bit burdened in knowing that in life we deal with very real issues and character flaws. Issues that may embarrass us or make us feel devalued. We struggle with our own pride, narcissism and our failures with others whom we love. Marriages face their potholes, relationships face their detours and sometimes our relationship with ourself is harsh, exacting and unforgiving.
A point in our Bible study was:
“Too often we are self-centered in our religion. We focus too much on our victories and on our defeats rather than [focusing] on God, who alone can give us victory.” Instead of looking to ourselves, we must look up to God. (Page 75; The Holy Spirit and Spirituality; Adult Sabbath School Bible Study)
Hebrews 12:14 tells us: “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.” Sin separates us from God; therefore, it’s inevitable that if we are close to God, His holiness manifests itself in us.
We studied in the book of Job, in the prior quarter, that being blameless means to live righteously with the light we receive from God. To be blameless before God is not to be flawless but to be spiritually mature and where He wants us to be.
How is it that we can be blameless? We all want this holiness and know that it will require humility and surrender to God. God doesn’t ask us to become holy to approach Him. Instead, He asks us to approach Him and let Him transform us.
What does holiness look like in practical terms? For those of us who end up bickering with a loved one; for those of us who maybe let the flesh desires take hold and we are intemperate, perhaps even in the way we eat; for those of us who aren’t quite patient or kind and prefer pettiness or revenge– how do we, the real humans in this drama, show fruit of holiness?
We discussed today that holiness is based on our relationship with God. It starts with relationship and end with relationship. It’s a journey, a race, a process, an endurance. It’s trying again, over and over again. It’s opening God’s word and seeking His promise and what we have been called to.
I was encouraged by Galatians 5:22-23, which discussed the fruits and attributes that embody holiness. And we must have all of them because when one is missing, something is off.
When we reflect the whole character of God, we reflect:
Love;
Joy;
Peace;
Patience;
Kindness;
Goodness;
Faithfulness;
Gentleness;
Self-control.
I don’t know about you, but I really want to embody these traits and live them out genuinely.
I thought it would be neat to pray, asking God, for each trait, one by one. Really thinking about what each one means; striving to see how we can live this out practically in the day-to-day. Asking God for His gift and power to reflect Him.
Holiness allows us to behold God. It transforms us. It was what we were created for, therefore the restoration of it in us has got to be one of the most powerful experiences of all.
Our first outing in the Old San Juan was lovely. The sun was bright, the sky was blue, and we got rained on a bit by an impromptu shower that lasted five minutes.
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The cathedral where Marc Anthony got married:
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GABRIELA YARELIZ 