Singlestalk: Give love

Saturday, December 17, 2011

MICHELLE: Several years ago, I attended an advent retreat in Dumaguete and despite the tiring land trip to and from Dumaguete, I remember coming back spiritually refreshed. I also came back with a lot of realizations, chief of which is our lack of zeal in spreading the good news. It’s nearly Christmas, and yet it seems many still do not grasp the true meaning of the season.

DJ: In a way, that is true. While many of us might be busy buying, wrapping or thinking of what gifts to give or the gifts that we want to receive, it will be better if instead of wishing for material gifts, we all want and wish for faith, hope and love. Someone who recently found out that her husband was cheating on her said that she would rather have a faithful husband than all the jewelry he gave her. What good is a diamond when you have been deceived? A cynic once told me that if love is supposed to conquer all, what about those times when, instead of conquering anything, it just messes everything up?

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M: If love can be gift wrapped, wouldn’t everyone want to get a box full of it? If there are Valentine blues, believe it or not, there are also what they call “Christmas blues.” Despite the merriment that the Christmas season brings, there are people who experience sadness and emptiness in their hearts.

DJ: The quest for our treasure, which we tend to associate with a fat paycheck, can indeed take its toll on some of us. Sometimes I wonder how much money we really need to be satisfied and come to say, “enough.” Working in a corporate setting demands that one must pretend to believe that what matters the most in the end is money. And the scary part is when one starts believing it.

M: That’s why I believe that the best gift that we can give ourselves is the gift of gratefulness, contentment and joy. While it is wonderful to receive gifts, especially the ones that we wished for, the happiness that it brings may only be fleeting. It would be good to take time to pause, to find some semblance of silence, and recollect what happened this year.

DJ: Time is a precious asset we often neglect till it is depleted. It’s not too late yet. Go make that phone call to your family or to a friend that you’ve always been planning for months now. Go make the first move to mend a broken relationship. Go try that bungee jumping experience you keep on missing. We cannot know what will occur. We just have to make this journey called life worth taking, and to pray that we’ll always be wiser than we were in the beginning. For every moment of our life is a beginning. May we all have our happiest Christmas this year!