How Do I Love Thee?

I remember a poem back in highschool entitled How Do I Love Thee by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. In this poem, she tells of how much she loves her beau Robert Browning as "she counts all the ways"

I am sure all of us have experienced being in-love, or at least infatuated once in our existence. A person in-love doesn't care much of what others think of him. The only thing that concerns him and is significant for him is what his beloved [girl/lady] thinks of him. May sariling-mundo ika nga. All else simply become shadows in the light of their love (oha!). Lahat ng pagkaing nagpapaalala sa kanya sa kanyang mahal, sumasarap! Kahit mapait. Lahat ng lugar na pinuntahan nilang magkasama, kahit mabaho, nagiging masaya! At lahat ng tao nagiging maganda! Parang ang sarap tuloy mabuhay! Sabi nga nung isang kanta: "Kay sarap ng may minamahal". Yan ang in-love! Laging sabik! Magkasama na nga maghapon sa school, magka-text pa magdamag. Ang isang taong in-love, late matulog at sobrang aga magising kasi laging excited! Ang isang taong in-love napagkakamalang baliw kasi bigla-bigla na lang napapangiti. In short - hindi ito maitago-tago! Personally, wala akong naging crush na hindi nalaman/nabuking ng aking mga magulang at mga kapatid, totoo un! heheh. There's so much to talk about when it comes to this topic, we can talk about it all day.

One night (or midnight rather), Tito Felix (my favorite uncle) and I were talking. Nakarating ang conversation namin sa "second-coming" of our Lord Jesus Christ. He told me: "Zion, alam mo bang sa rapture, maraming Kristiyano ang maiiwan". To show him I know something (hihi), I responded: "Opo, kasi may mission Si Lord para sa kanila diba?". Then he said: "Bukod dun". So I asked him: "Ano po ibig niong sabihin?" He answered: "Kasi ang kukunin lang Ni Lord ay ung mga talagang in-love sa Kanya. It's the marriage of Jesus (bridegroom) and His Church (the virgin bride). Hindi ka pwedeng magpakasala kung 'di ka in-love". Those words immediately prompted me to think. "Oo nga noh" I said. I asked The Lord: "How much do I love Thee Lord?" Tito Felix added: "Malalim ang issue of idolatry. Hindi lang mga rebulto ang mga idols. Anything or anyone that steals God's Throne as Front & Center in your life is an idol". At this, napa-isip ulet ako so I asked: "Eh pa'no nio po maa-assess kung mas mahal nio na ang isang tao kaysa Kay Lord?". He answered: "I-kumpara mo, kung ang mga bagay na ginagawa mo para sa tao o bagay na yan ay ginagawa mo din Kay Lord, dapat higit pa dun ang para Kay Lord." At this, napa-analyze na talaga ko nang husto at nagtaka: "Why am I not as excited in my devotion as I am with playing NBA Live? Why am I not as excited in reading God's Love Letter (The Bible) as I am in reading certain people's blogs, friendster comments or text messages?" There's something wrong. It seems I'm forgetting the first and greatest commandment (Matt. 22:37).

But as I have mentioned previously, The Love that The Godhead (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) has for us is so Great that He doesn't want us to remain off-track.

God gave me a revelation of His Love yesterday, sa C.R. pa. hahah! Tawa ako nang tawa sa banyo as He made it clearer and clearer to me. Try to picture this: Imagine your girlfriend/boyfriend/crush so in love with you that there's nothing, absolutely nothing you can do to make him/her love you less. Imagine him/her leaning towards you and listening eagerly and attentively to what you have to say, to Your thoughts. That is how much our God loves us. That is how excited He is for us. Understatement pa nga yan kung tutuusin eh. In fact, He's so crazy for us that when His fellowship with us on the Garden of Eden ended, hindi Siya matahimik. He said: "OVER MY DEAD BODY (literally). I WON'T SPEND A DAY WITHOUT ZION, OR WITHOUT MARK, OR WITHOUT GRACE (put your name there)". This is where the phrase: JESUS, LOVER OF MY SOUL comes in (and is the front page of my devotional notebook right now). You see, if we would realize how much The God of the universe Loves us and how undeserving we are of That Love, then we would never have to feel unwanted or insecured ever again. This one single reason is for me, more than enough reason to eternally praise and worship This God.

So Go On. . . Don't be shy. . . Be in-Love!!! with The Author of Love Himself

- JESUS CHRIST