Let Us Start Rebuilding

While struggling to come up with something new to start 2014, I was lead to read the book of Nehemiah.  This was actually the second time that I've read the story of this great leader who rallied the people of Israel in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem while they were held captive by the Persians under King Artaxerxes. It was only in my second reading that the traits of this royal cupbearer and man of God resounded with such impact that I tarried on reading a verse which will serve as my mantra this new year. 

The story opens and presents to us Nehemiah receiving news from his brother that the remnants of the exile returned to the provinces but the walls of Jerusalem remain in ruins and its gates burned.   Such news struck Nehemiah with grief for his people and for his nation whom God has established as His own.  The very thing that created his identity and convictions as an Israelite is now in ruble and ashes. Instead of being immobilized by this hapless situation, Nehemiah found solace in prayer and fasting.  The first response was to immediately take a lowly stance in the presence of God which clearly showed his heart and faith; two things that remained standing loftily in the midst of a dispersed nation and crumbled walls. Chapter 1 ends, "Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today..."

Nehemiah planned his next move and that is to find favor in the eyes of king Artaxerxes who was crucial in mechanizing each cog of Nehemiah's plan to turn. Nehemiah's countenance in the king's presence ignited a query from someone who can provide  the necessary resources for the rebuilding of the walls: "Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.” Even in fear, Nehemiah knew his position in the presence of the king and presented the authenticity of his heart. Things fell perfectly in its place when the king replied “What is it you want?” God's hand orchestrated the spontaneity of the succeeding events.  Nehemiah was allowed to go back to Jerusalem to build the walls and was even provided the resources to make things happen.  There, while inspecting the walls he did not utter any word to the priests, nobles and officials who were with him until such time that he saw and surveyed the situation in its entirety.  More than anyone who could give him the right counsel at that time, he drenched himself in what God gave him in his heart.  It was what he needed most to start a gargantuan task. 

With all the blueprint laid out in his mind he faces his people "Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.I also told them about the gracious hand of my God on me and what the king had said to me.They replied, 'Let us start rebuilding.' So they began this good work."

Each day gives us the opportunity to start rebuilding. Let me say it again - rebuilding.  How is the new year new for most of us?  It doesn't have to take us a minute to realize that we are still in the presence of the same group of people whom we either love or loathe.  You get a few hundreds (or pennies) more from doing a job you held for years or even decades but still captivated by the thought of that dream position in Utopia Inc. There are still relationships that you've sewn countless times with all the stitches you could ever think of that it now looks like a ball of gnarled thread than a tapestry of love.  The word "quit" is just a vague urge and you convinced yourself that sobriety is the antonym of "Lindsay Lohan". Your image in the mirror shows you the same features that you tried to enhance or get rid of but gravity and time engages you to a lifelong battle over aesthetics. Again, you look at yourself in the mirror and what's more tormenting are not the things you immediately see with your eyes but what you see with your heart.  The same brokenness ails you, the same weaknesses debilitate you, the same needs and wants clamor inside your heart. Is there anything new in these? You could only wish that they will leave your back door just as 2013 did.       

The concept of a fresh start as we learned from Nehemiah is to rebuild using what's left of the rubble and finding the resources to rebuild the newness of things again.  His success was attributed to these:

1.  His full reliance in God set the stage and lead them to the completion of the task.  From the characters (whether hero or villain), to the setting, and the plot, God directed each act. Nehemiah did not overlook the power of his God.  To show this he prayed, he fasted, and again he prayed. Nehemiah knew from the very beginning there was nothing he can do without God - not his position as a cupbearer to the king, not his ancestry, not his skills, neither his personality.

When he was troubled and told God his desires he prayed: Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant."

When he feared the possibility of failure he prayed: The king said to me, “What is it you want?” "Then I prayed to the God of heaven,and I answered the king,"

In the time of ridicule from the opposition Nehemiah uttered: "Hear us, our God, for we are despised..."

When danger lurked as they build the walls, Nehemiah recollects "But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat.

In the event when fear made a detour and struck Nehemiah's companions instead, Nehemiah prayed "Now strengthen my hands.”

2.  Nehemiah took out his sticky notes and made sure all items in his To Do list are ticked off done! A man of faith is a man of work.  The kind of work ethics displayed by Nehemiah was exceptional.  He planned, kept track of time, resourceful, motivated the people, and anticipated calculated risks as the work progressed.  He kept moving and doing and gave us a picture that in the equation of productivity and success, you have to be one of the values.  You cannot be asking God and you are absent from the formula.  There is no doubt in what the power of God can do but an instrument such as us must be there so that it will be manifested.  

3.  Be aware of threats and oppositions.  Lead them and not the other way around. Like us, Nehemiah encountered set backs.  They are there to remind us that while we are rebuilding our aspirations, we should be attentive of our surroundings.  There are so much threat to our dreams that we cannot afford these threats to creep into the gaps of our walls.  While workers and builders were doing their tasks, Nehemiah stationed families under the lowest points of the wall to guard it against the enemies.  As one hand held a tool to build, the other holds a spear to defend.  Build and protect.  Execute and do not compromise.  

 If there is one thing new that you need to start your year, it is a new disposition under God's power.  Let us rebuild our dreams, our lives, relationships, and priorities out of what we have seeking God's grace so that we will not remain exile among the ruins of our past mistakes and weaknesses.  

Let us start rebuilding! (Nehemiah 2:18)

Able

An allergy attack sends me to the ER.  

An intravenous injection of 50 milligrams of Benadryl jet propels me to Lala Land.

Nobody wants to be held down by sickness.

Especially a mom. A mom with 4 kids.

I woke up the next day with a little of yesterday's gray cloud still hovering above me. The phone rings with my doctor's name displayed on the screen."Dr. '------' read your lab works already." Physician assistant tells me.  I had a wellness check up a week ago and now I'm about to hear the results. 

T'was a brief conversation but it  surely shook off my drowsiness from yesterday's Benadryl shot. I was given a clean bill of health! 

To be blessed with a big family calls for a healthy well being in all aspects of motherhood. If one is sick in the family, the regimen does not only call for medication, rest, and nourishment.  You have to complete the equation by placing "mom" into it.  Childhood was rough on me because I grew up with asthma and allergies but whenever the worst brings us those ghastly trips to the emergency room, I would always find comfort from my mom. Always.

Now that my hands are pretty full with 4 children, a husband, and a home, my health matters to me and to my family who I take care of.  If you are the family's care provider put more importance to health.  Exude and live a robust life because motherhood is synonymous to selflessness therefore it will shake you, throw punches at you, and keep you standing on the tips of your toes. A mother is most beautiful when she has learned to balance what nature can offer and what she does to respond to it's goodness. 

A healthy mother is able.

Able to comfort, assist, encourage,and inspire.

When she is able, there is warm food on the table, her angels coast through dreamland while tightly tucked in bed, her refrigerator door is decked with children's stars and ribbons brought from school, her hands equally tough as her husband's and yield productive labor all lavished in love and hard work.

If she is able, she is as strong as breakwater rocks taking on the sea's blows head on.

If she is able, she will unceasingly give back to the Giver of life because He makes her able in all circumstances. 

"Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well." 3 John 1:2

         

"You Don't Bring Me Flowers...

...anymore", as the song of Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond goes.  Seventeen years of togetherness and the only memory I have of him giving me flowers was when he came to see me after class on an ordinary day on my 4th year in college. They were the loveliest blooms... if only he took them out - from his duffel bag! Two dozens of roses all wrapped and ribboned...stems pointing out - from his duffel bag! And to add more  insult to such gore (Who stashes roses upside down, anyway?!...in a duffel bag!), a classmate exclaims, "Is that for Rose?" I swear, he looked like wanting to zap his way out of the scene more than giving me that bouquet. It was too life changing for both of us that I end up wanting to relive the memory and him not bringing me flowers...anymore.

We are not a typical couple. We adhere to one another because our relationship is like those magnets that you could only put together on opposite polarities. Do you remember the scene in Shrek 1 where Fiona asks "What kind of knight are you?", my husband knows the next line by heart  and replies in unison with the ogre, "One of a kind." Yes he is, because beyond my surreal perceptions, my "man" has lived life's grand and grotesque ways with me all within the sphere of reality.

Looking past the flowers, my marriage rewarded me with a garden whose blooms were ever constant like the love I received everyday. The means and ways of affection were not glaring as if you could single out one incident and call that "love" in its entirety. It was rather the bits and pieces of what initially I am incognizant of, the times of testing which tarried on like forever, and our personal irregularities that we work on smoothing out to fit each other. We constantly helped each other, moved in one direction yet we never lost the importance of our individuality. We made an identity as a couple and as separate beings. 

Looking past the man, I see a soul made wise by his Creator. He is not a mere provider of what's tangible and passing because he knows that no bag or ring or flower can ever adorn the wife he loves. His children will look at his legacy by living the same righteous life he has, not measured by things that are inheritable. I respect his decisions without any tint of doubt in his capacity because his love transcends his concern for himself. It embraced me and our children. 

So much for that song. The couple conversing through the lyrics "drifted apart" anyway. Looking past myself, I have the loveliest memories of the flowers I wanted, married the man who attempted to give them in the most special way he can, and he never stops giving me the best he could offer...himself.