Sharing Stories

 https://open.spotify.com/track/0G83uoJhOytmXMMKezC0Yd

Over the holidays, I was reminded of a sharing I wrote back in 2012, to an almost different set of people in the management team.

It may have been a different set of people and challenges back then, but the same spirit echoed then and echoes now - the beats of a thousand hearts to the same drum.

In one of the homilies last year, the priest said Good Soil determines a bountiful harvest. This was what he learned he says, in working with rice farmers. He mirrored this experience with how we have chosen to live our lives. I was challenged with the question then whether I was Good Soil - whether I can bear fruit - whether I can bring about a harvest? Travelled around Bicol, in search for answers.

I realized some things - it was not only whether it was Good Soil - it was also about the right quality of seeds, the right fertilizer inputs, the weather conditions, the time of the year, and the farmer deciding whether it was time to plant. I knew in my heart it was time - a time to plant - a time to start the farm again. I was deadset, insisting it was time, BUT my time is not God's time.

I learned the value of a process - that I needed to respect the process of preparation, amidst challenges and adversities.

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens. Ecclesiastes 3:1.

In a visit to a church in Baths in 2009, I received my first heartbeat - written on the holy water font at the entrance of the church - it said - "I have called you by name and you are mine" Isaiah 43:1. This started my faith journey in search of a path that will fulfill this call.

I am still on the same path, despite the challenges and adversities. I have found brothers and sisters side by side treading the same terrain together with me, whether it was easy or difficult - the beats of a thousand hearts to the same drum. My compass still points to the only True North. As sure as the sun rises, I know God will keep lighting the path.


From: "Joni Gail Morales" <jonigail.morales@gmail.com>
Date: Dec 24, 2012 07:52
Subject: A Merry Christmas to everyone!


A Merry Christmas to everyone!

Yesterday was interesting for me. My friend recommended that we visit the Wong Tai Sin Temple because it has been said that whatever it is you pray for in that temple, it will be answered. I was naturally curious - why do they believe? Entering the temple is a god standing on top of a dragon, claiming victory for slaying it and walking further is a company of statues lined up like in a chess set with animal heads, seemingly preparing for war - which I'm assuming are the warriorlords. Walking a bit further is the praying place where all the believers flock to ask their questions and to pray.

This past year, my prayer has been for constant strength - strength of mind and strength of heart. Sabi nila na everyday sa farm ay parang bayani challenge - where you are asked to make the impossible happen. I have no hesitations in agreeing with this. Sa bawat pagreklamo ng mga tao na walang tubig sa farm - na hindi makakaligo o makapagtoothbrush man lang - na walang tubig para makaluto ng kanin para sa isang libong tao - na hindi makapagpatubig sa mga pananim o makapagpaligo ng baboy - hindi po ako tubero at hindi rin ako ang water district - lalong-lalo na wala po akong superpowers to summon the waters of the great seas. BUT one thing I was sure I had - the team. I had the team who supported me in each and every challenge.

When it was the first time we had a hundred guests in the farm who devoured more than we can handle and needed to wash piles of dishes, kahit na hindi nila naging toka, all the kalinisan nanays jumped in to help the kitchen staff clear all the dishes and clean-up. When it was the first time to organize a wedding in the farm, and the grassroots kitchen floor tiling needed to finish in record time, all the foreign interns and construction workers worked day and night so we can have a dance floor. Nung nawalan ng tubig nung expo due to a water pressure problem from the water district, nag-igib ang buong team - discreetly, while entertaining guests in between igibs, so the kitchen and the toilets will have water to use. When we needed to finish a lot of construction and clean-up in the farm in preparation for the expo and we asked for help from other GK villages for bayanihan, all came without hesitation. I feel I was just not a witness to a bayani challenge this past year - I was also a witness of a bayanihan challenge - the challenge to work together with one mind and one heart.

I am grateful for what I have seen and experienced. Through the farm's lens, I am seeing the miracle I've always wanted to see - the miracle of sacrifice, of family, the miracle of love that will end suffering and poverty in this country. This is not by the strength of a few but a thousand minds and hearts having one common goal.

I may have a glimpse of an answer to my question on why people believe their prayers will be answered in the Wong Tai Sin Temple. When you know you are backed up by an army - of warriorheads - all armed and ready for war - all committed to fight and never give up - there is no reason for you not to believe. Now we're building an army and now is the time to believe.

Thank you Tito Tony for the inspiration and sharing the vision with all of us!

Ecclesiastes 3
A Time for Everything

1 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:

2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

9 What do workers gain from their toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. 13 That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. 14 I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.

15 Whatever is has already been,
and what will be has been before;
and God will call the past to account.

16 And I saw something else under the sun:

In the place of judgment—wickedness was there,
in the place of justice—wickedness was there.

17 I said to myself,

“God will bring into judgment
both the righteous and the wicked,
for there will be a time for every activity,
a time to judge every deed.”

18 I also said to myself, “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. 19 Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. 20 All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. 21 Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”

22 So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot. For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?