I LOVE sunsets!
Especially beautiful and inspiring are the golden shadows reflected in the water and in the sky as the sun slowly disappears from the horizon!
What a beautiful and amazing sight indeed! A perfect scene to introduce the coming of the night!
Sunset in Manila Bay? Sunset in Boracay? Sunset in Bauang Beach?
Which sunset is more beautiful? I believe it is a matter of perspective! I guess it would also depend on one's company! Of course, one's state of mind at that time also plays a role. I find sunsets awesome, from whatever viewpoint!
Watching the sunset at nearby Bauang Beach this week, while recuperating from illness, was what I had been able to do. Although on a forced "vacation" leave, it was a taste of a long-time dream, to take off for the beach, relax, read, swim, and... watch the sunset, whenever I just feel like it! As the sun set and will hide its face for the next 12 hours, I realized that each day that God allows the sun to rise and the sun to set is one day less for me here on earth.
This fact got me into serious thinking. "What have I done to fulfill God's purposes for me?"
I once listened to Mr. Onofre "Pagsi" Pagsanghan, an 82-year-old teacher from the Ateneo de Manila High School. He shared an inspiring life story and interspersed it with his beautiful rendition of the song "Fill the world with love."
What touched me and everyone else was his evident passion for life. At 82, he was still teaching at the Ateneo High School. He had been doing the same thing, day in and day out, for more than 50 years. Of course, for now, on a part-time basis, for obvious health reasons. Asked why he did not take up other offers to teach in the university or do administrative work, his reply was simple... "I love to teach young boys. They need me."
... He had a calling! He fulfilled it!
Truly, he had a zest for life, born from a passion and a purpose for living.
We were all mesmerized by his talk, but the lyrics of his chosen song reverberated in me long after his speech. Today, as I gaze at the sunset, these lines keep going through my mind...
"... In the evening of my life, I shall look to the sunset,
At the moment in my life, when the night is due,
And the question I shall ask, only I can answer.
Was I brave and strong and true?
Did I fill the world with love my whole life through?"
MY DEAREST "Soon- To- Be" Senior Citizens of this World,
The "Sunrise and Sunshine" segments of our lives are getting lesser. Have you realized this?
Has it "bothered" you?
Our lives seem to be moving closer towards the sunset periods. Living our lives purposefully seem to be getting more urgent and under more time-constraints.”
"... And the question I shall ask, only I can answer.
Was I brave and strong and true?
Did I fill the world with love my whole life through?"
Was I brave, and strong, and true?... to my values and my principles?
Did I make the right decision each time I had to make one?
Did I build character as I faced each challenging situation that life brought my way?
Did the "Fruits of the Spirit" ripen (or rot) in me with each of my chosen decisions?
Galatians 5:22 enumerates the Fruits (character traits) as follows: "Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control.."
Did I fill the world with love my whole life through? Did my family, my friends, my associates, my boss, my staff, my co-staff, strangers, and even those who may have ill will against me, feel my love?
May we sing the song and end with a resounding "yes" in our hearts!
May we all continue to fill this world with love, until... our sunsets!
Note: for feedback and comments, please contact the author at 0917-5064759 or email him at "mydearest_sunstar@yahoo.com"