A Life of Writing Footnotes

We love to take credit for the good things we do. For the cool songs we write that move people. For the moments, the skies and portraits we capture on film. For the brushstrokes, and the words, for the thoughts that spill onto paper...and computer screen. We love to be recognized for our technical prowess and business acumen. But at the end of the day, who can really claim credit for anything good?

The songs I've written that truly matter, the ones that resounded in peoples' souls -- it's like I pulled them from the air at the precise moment when my whole being was disposed to catch them. And the truths that they express existed long before I was born. The skies, the moments, the people my talented friends capture in photographs -- they all have a Creator. And long before they snapped the shot, their subjects already were, at the very least, a thought in God's mind, already in motion. The images we paint, the pieces we write, the work we do -- all our attempts at creativity, though beautiful, can only be so because they reflect things that already existed before we even noticed. And the sciences, the numbers and theories that we feel we have a hold on because of education are an attempt to map out the territory that's been there for ages.

My line of thought is this: that truth, beauty, goodness -- they already have an Author, and we're basically just making footnotes, in all our attempts at creativity and progress.

What good do I really do? What good do I actually create? I don't create anything. I echo, reflect and decipher. Mankind at its best is merely writing footnotes.

I think Jesus knew what He was talking about when He said that God is good. It's a huge statement; not just some sing-song alliteration. All our attempts at good -- they are simply us saying, "hey I noticed something that God did -- see?"

God alone is good. Not my songs. Not her dances or his cleverness. Not my friends' photos or works of art. Not our genius in industry, economics or whatever. The more we humbly understand that only God is truly good, the clearer the reflection of good, the more crisp the sound of the echo of God's glory. God alone being the true good also gives me hope. Because I'm very capable of doing the not-so-good, and even the downright bad. But when I realize that it is only God who can pour goodness into my life, He eclipses the pressure to be great. I become more content to be who I am and let God be great. And it is He who will do great things in the world.

The cool thing is that He uses us. To reflect and echo, to present our friends with a fresh new take, an inventive angle, a different color from what they've seen. God uses us the more we recognize that He's good. So keep the reflection pure. Keep the echoes clear. Keep writing accurate footnotes to the Author of everything good.

Stuck in a Moment

Stuck in a moment. Have you ever felt that way? Most know me as an idealist, impassioned, optimistic, energetic, lively and loud. And they are right, because that's what I am... most of the time. But I have these moments when apathy gets a hold of me, and I just want to... exist. Just exist. Breathe in and out, in and out, and do nothing better than that. Well, I think "want" is the wrong word. Nobody really wants to be apathetic. At the moment of apathy, nothing is all you feel, whether you desire it or not; and the trouble is, you're perfectly fine with nothing.

Other times, I feel stuck in sin, even after asking for and supposedly receiving God's forgiveness. Even after the effort to change. The words of a wise priest I know then resound in my mind: "Sometimes we have more faith in sin than in God's mercy." What a true and convicting thought. So often, we get stuck in a rut because we have more belief in the power of sin to weigh us down than in the power of kindness and mercy to change us. We have more belief in our tendency to fail than in the grace that empowers us to change.

If what we have faith in is evident in our action, may the Lord have mercy on us for having so much faith in sin. May He forgive us for having so much faith in the status quo, a profession we have made in our apathy, in our resignation to the way things are and refusal to get up and actually do something -- for ourselves, for God, for our neighbor, for the world.

We Are The Comeback and the Restoration

I was reading about World Food Day. It turns out, the world produces enough food for all its inhabitants. Yes, even in this supposedly over-populated, degenerated, globally warmed state that we're in, there is still enough food for everyone. Makes me marvel at the Creator's wisdom -- what an impressive piece of work this planet is! But in spite of this abundance, over 850 million people around the planet go to bed hungry every night. That's ten times the Philippines. The more fortunate of these people are reached by feeding and nutrition programs that offer the bare essentials. But for many, even that is a luxury.

This made me think. God made a world of abundance that pretty much throws the economic premise of scarcity out the window. The world does have enough, and in fact, already produces enough. It's not scarce. It's the avaricious attitude that mankind is disposed to have toward the world's abundance that's the problem. Man is disposed to bite off more than he can chew.

But onto brighter things. In spite of this reality, I've been thinking about the power of hope. Jesus was all about hope. What can I say -- I'm a fan. These are some of my hopeful and idealistic musings. They're a little neo-classical-cheesy-sarcastic-rapper, so I warn you. Enough with the disclaimers. I hope you enjoy.



Hope and Struggle

Hope and Struggle
Make a lovely couple
You can't have one
Without the other
They sometimes fight
But in spite
Of their differences
You know
They'll always be together

A toast to Hope and Struggle!
A strange but lovely couple!



We Are The Comeback and the Restoration

We are the comeback
And the restoration

The return of the downtrodden and lame
Of the beneficiaries of misfortune
And shareholders in calamity
With the high-fisted audacity
To make such a claim

We are the comeback
And the restoration

Bold enough to be the transformed
Criminals, redeemed and reformed
The garment was torn
But remade, we're reborn
Like an innocent child
Now breathing, alive
Gazing into the light
For the very first time

We are the comeback
And the restoration

The sanctifying grain and flavor
In a world that's lost taste
And polluted by waste
As one we endeavor
And believe it can change

Because we are the comeback
And the restoration

The small hidden seed
Breaking ground trodden down
By lies and deceit
Mankind's conceit --
The overworked feet
Treading filth that has steeped
It in reservoirs of withdrawing
One's heart from the Maker

We are the comeback
And the restoration

When evil began dreaming
Its candied fantasies
Mouth watering with an appetite for mankind's disease
It shuddered in fear
For its twilight was near
In the scent of Redeemer
Its end was proved true
For in Redeemer
Its nightmare
Was realized
In you

In Redeemer
Its nightmare
Was realized
In you...

In Redeemer
Its nightmare
Was realized
In you...

You who believe
In an invisible Force
The reforging of good
Beauty
And truth
A sword indestructible
Cutting straight through
Flesh and bone
Soul and spirit
Light, and darkness removed

We are the comeback
And the restoration

Oh, let us come and be changed!
Come, let us make idealistic claims!
And oh, if all of us could be so brave!
To cease the attempt of our lives to save
But believe that in dying
The freedom to choose
The eternal comes alive
Hailing evil's swift doom

We are the comeback
And the restoration