"Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. Relieve the troubles of my heart and free me from my anguish." (Psalm 25:16, 17 NIV)
"Guard my life and rescue me; do not let me be put to shame, for I take refuge in you. May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope, Lord, is in you." (Psalm 25:20, 21 NIV)
Lord, my God, turn to me. I am lonely and afflicted. Guard my life, Lord. I do not know what to do. I thought I had finally found someone I could consider. But new facts have given doubt. I'd like to pursue, but what is right, Lord? Will it displease You if I pursued this? Will I sin against You if I loved him? I do not wish to be too religious about this, either. What he really needs right now is love. Not the romantic kind. But the true one, which holds no record of wrong, which is patient and forgiving, and most importantly, which is Yours. But then I am being arrogant to think that I would be the one to bring that to him.
I do not wish to displease You, Lord. I do not wish to go against Your Word. But what is right in this situation? Is he condemned to solitude forever? Would my children and my children's children be cursed if I loved him? I am hurt and confused by the developments. But You, my God, are my Lord. Lead me. Instruct me in the way I should proceed. And guard me.
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Downward Mobility
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich. And in this I give advice: It is to your advantage not only to be doing what you began and were desiring to do a year ago; but now you also must complete the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to desire it, so there also may be a completion out of what you have. For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and not according to what he does not have. For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened; but by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may supply their lack, that their abundance also may supply your lack—that there may be equality. As it is written, “He who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack.” 2 Corinthians 8:9-15 NKJV
True power is not when you come to a point where you find yourself up there with the affluent. It is when you find yourself able to go down to the needy.
Today is my presentation in Social Transformation. This is our devotional for the day. In context, Paul was referring to Christians giving money. But what God has impressed upon me is that the same applies for any good work that we do. When we start out, it is usually for good. We start out excited to give, or to be doing something that changes the world for the better. But more often than not, we get sidetracked or discouraged. We question if our giving actually does anything. We question if what we do actually has an impact. I had been losing steam these past few months. Changes in my life and relationships had shaken my convictions when it comes to my company. But God gave me the chance and excuse to do field work and observe how different organizations work. Social Transformation class has helped me pause and reflect on the things I have been doing for my company and the motives behind it. I wanted to stop and run away. Not because it was too difficult, but because I felt lost and I wasn't sure if it was worth continuing. At a certain point, I almost believed what some of our critics have told us: that creating games is nothing but play. Nothing but meaningless wasting of time. But my class and people I've met recently have made me pause and think of the original reason why I'm doing this in the first place. Wasn't it to tell our stories? Wasn't it to change the mindset of generations through games, comics and animation? Wasn't it to create a work environment where people didn't care about career opportunities, but creation. Wasn't that what we wanted to do? For us, creators, who cares about being director or senior producer? All we ever wanted was to create, to touch lives, to make people feel.
It allowed me to stop and look at where we were. We didn't start this to make brands popular. We didn't start this to make money. I didn't start this to let big organizations abuse my people. But what was I doing now?
I wanted to stop and do everything over again. But no, that's not the solution. The solution is to press on, as we always have, and slowly but surely get back on track. Many times, it really doesn't matter WHAT we choose to do, but more WHY we do it. We can make branded games. We can service ads. But I needed to remember that the point was to tell stories, stories that stir people, stories that compel people to change the world. And by stories, I don't mean the stories of the work that we do, but more what story we live by doing the work.
All of us have good work that we started. All of us have projects that we've chosen to support for the good they do. But for many of us, we've lost steam. We've been discouraged. We've questioned the effectivity and acceptability of our projects. But I think we sometimes need to be reminded, "you also must complete the doing of it." Keep the faith. Press on. And together, let us encourage each other that we may do the work our God has placed in our hearts.
Today is my presentation in Social Transformation. This is our devotional for the day. In context, Paul was referring to Christians giving money. But what God has impressed upon me is that the same applies for any good work that we do. When we start out, it is usually for good. We start out excited to give, or to be doing something that changes the world for the better. But more often than not, we get sidetracked or discouraged. We question if our giving actually does anything. We question if what we do actually has an impact. I had been losing steam these past few months. Changes in my life and relationships had shaken my convictions when it comes to my company. But God gave me the chance and excuse to do field work and observe how different organizations work. Social Transformation class has helped me pause and reflect on the things I have been doing for my company and the motives behind it. I wanted to stop and run away. Not because it was too difficult, but because I felt lost and I wasn't sure if it was worth continuing. At a certain point, I almost believed what some of our critics have told us: that creating games is nothing but play. Nothing but meaningless wasting of time. But my class and people I've met recently have made me pause and think of the original reason why I'm doing this in the first place. Wasn't it to tell our stories? Wasn't it to change the mindset of generations through games, comics and animation? Wasn't it to create a work environment where people didn't care about career opportunities, but creation. Wasn't that what we wanted to do? For us, creators, who cares about being director or senior producer? All we ever wanted was to create, to touch lives, to make people feel.
It allowed me to stop and look at where we were. We didn't start this to make brands popular. We didn't start this to make money. I didn't start this to let big organizations abuse my people. But what was I doing now?
I wanted to stop and do everything over again. But no, that's not the solution. The solution is to press on, as we always have, and slowly but surely get back on track. Many times, it really doesn't matter WHAT we choose to do, but more WHY we do it. We can make branded games. We can service ads. But I needed to remember that the point was to tell stories, stories that stir people, stories that compel people to change the world. And by stories, I don't mean the stories of the work that we do, but more what story we live by doing the work.
All of us have good work that we started. All of us have projects that we've chosen to support for the good they do. But for many of us, we've lost steam. We've been discouraged. We've questioned the effectivity and acceptability of our projects. But I think we sometimes need to be reminded, "you also must complete the doing of it." Keep the faith. Press on. And together, let us encourage each other that we may do the work our God has placed in our hearts.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)