Beginning Again

The first month of the year is usually a time of new beginnings. It’s a refreshing reminder of the opportunity we have to renew ourselves, to start over, to begin again.

TO BEGIN WITH

It’s the first Saturday of 2021 and I’m hoping for better, brighter days ahead.

However, we must be quick to realize that the New Year is only a measure in time, just another change in the calendar. When the calendar read “2021,” those who were anxious stayed worried. Those who were without light continued to stumble in the darkness. And those who struggled kept on being stressed.

Changing our lives start within our own minds and hearts. But it is only in Christ where we can find the power to create a new heart and mind for the better (2 Corinthians 5:17). In 2021, Jesus remains the only Savior from sin, the only Way to the Father, the only Truth that gives freedom, and the only Life worth living.

It’s only through Jesus Christ that we can truly stand firm and be courageous. That’s why I remain hopeful for a better, brighter 2021. Only because of Him.

A NEW BEGINNING

The first month of the year is usually a time of new beginnings. It’s a refreshing reminder of the opportunity we have to renew ourselves, to start over, to begin again.

At work, this is also the time for planning and preparing. For sorting first things first. Sometimes it is hard to choose and too many “things to do” overlap and create much stress.

In life, it’s the same.

We are pushed and pulled in so many directions, and hear so many voices shouting at us to do this or that, we can’t hear ourselves any longer. We know what’s best, what’s right, what we need to do. But we’ve gotten lost in the disarray.

Yet the truth is we can always create a new beginning. Even when we have made mistakes, failed, and things have all gone wrong. Anytime is a good time for a fresh start.

We can begin right now to solve problems that have lingered for a while. We can bring an end to any unfinished business. We can break old habits, reorganize our priorities, and start something new.

Right now.

We can turn a new leaf anytime once we set out our minds and hearts to do so.

New beginnings start by getting rid of the old and tried. We embark on things that we haven’t tried. We become more aggressive with ourselves and stop thinking that someone or something is in our way.

The quicker we put in the work, disciplines, and right attitude, the sooner we will experience the miracles life has to offer.

I write this because I realize that every day, every moment, we have the opportunity to reinvent ourselves. We can start over and become the person we want to be. We can’t do everything, we can't be everything, and we can’t know everything… but we have the choice of what we want to be.

There is so much in life to choose from. To begin a new beginning, we must listen closely to our intuition, which reminds us of what is really most important.

When I was in college and would feel overwhelmed with studies and my many extra curricular activities (I was sports editor of our college paper, chairman of our student organization, and basketball player), my mom would always remind me, “The cream will rise to the top.” She meant that the most important would always make itself evident, and I would get it done if I focused on it.

We need to let the cream rise to the top of our lives. That’s the essence of minimalism.

I would love to hear about your experiences with new beginnings. Share it with all of us in the comments. It is wonderful when we can impart these inspiring and uplifting moments in our lives.

- “A New Beginning,” from Minimalist on Purpose (www.raymundtamayo.com), January 24, 2013

Raymund's Random Insights

Now comes another year, another chance to say thank you to friends for staying close no matter what…

Looking backward helps us to go forward with a sense of purpose.

There will always be another opportunity. For God is a God of second chances.

Poem of the Week

WE'RE PASSING THROUGH
by Raymund Tamayo

We’re passing the signs
the seasons
and the signposts
at such speed
that pausing to reflect
on where and which
direction to go
and what does it mean
grows harder and harder
year by year.

But what I do know
is that your God and mine
daily watches over
expecting us to listen
and to care about each other.

Across the fields and mountains
beyond the highways and byways,
as Jose Mari Chan sings it,
and to each sea and ocean,
I also sing to you,
reach out to you,
hoping that each new day
in the year just starting
and all those days
in the years ahead
will be full of love and reason,
like the years before.

We’re passing through this
fleeting street called Life and
no matter how bumpy
each road gets,
I want no one else to walk
it through than
with you.

(December 2008)

AND FINALLY

2020 had been rough. But now it's 2021. Let us be encouraged by God’s promises. He is the hope we carry in our hearts until the coming of that brightest day when His shout will be heard, the trumpet will sound, the Kingdom will come, and the King will reign. God bless us all!

“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love.” - 1 Corinthians 16:13-14, NIV

Thanks for stopping by - see you when I see you.

On Love And Poetry

The supply of love will never exceed the demand, but it should.

TO BEGIN WITH

When someone asks me how long it took me to write a particular poem, like, for one, this "sunset" poem below, I ask what is the date indicated below the poem. And even if I used up only minutes to commit the words to paper, I add the life I've lived to the point of writing and give that as my answer.

I say my poems of ten years ago are very different from the ones I write today. The work I do tomorrow could be miles apart from that done yesterday. My feelings when I wrote a particular poem may not be the same feelings I feel today. 

No one can judge any poem. Any poetry cannot be judged against those poets who have gone before or even its contemporaries. Because the poet is the poem. No one can judge what the poet felt at that moment. No one can safely tell what the poems should be or should have been, because it was the writer who lived in them... they are their feelings and experiences and must stand as such.

If you read a poem of mine and identify with it, then the poem becomes your experience. You will live it your own way - read into it something I probably never meant to say. That's how it should be.

Writing poetry is never a competition. It will always be an experience.

ON LOVE

For years, in an attempt to define or redefine love, I’ve filled whole books. I’ve said that “love is knowing when to be quiet, even when it hurts,” that it is “like the washing of waves,” and “anything that’s done with love is done with care.” I love, and therefore I am is too simple. That I write so much on love must mean it is important to me.

It may be that we have used the word love too often that its meaning has become obscured. The dictionary tells us that love is (1) the profoundly tender or passionate affection for a person of the opposite sex; (2) a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child, or sometimes to a friend; (3) a person toward whom love is felt; beloved person, sweetheart; (4) affectionate concern for the well-being of others; (5) strong predilection or liking for anything; (6) the object or thing so liked; and finally, (7) the benevolent affection of God for his creatures, or the reverent affection due God for them. This is how the world has made and mentioned love all these times. Despite the world’s many definitions, love is both more and less than the descriptions of those who do our thinking for us.

Here on earth, the supply of love will never exceed the demand, but it should. There are people who wanted, needed love but the one they expect to give it to them doesn’t, thus they say “love is inexistent.” There are people who have a lot of love to give, but the one they wanted to give it to rejects it, thus they say “love is an illusion.” There are people who didn’t want or need any love, and consequently doesn’t give any love, thus they say “love is being selfish.” And finally there are people who have been hurt too many times, in not getting what they want, and are just confused about love and loving, thus they say “we cannot define love.”

In knowing love, one must have a lot of patience. Particularly, patience in his or her own self. Time will come when we will know love, we just have to wait. Different people needed different durations, we’re that unique. We also must have a lot of hope. In a crazy, bluffy world we live in, it’s really very easy to give up on love and say, “ahhh… I just don’t know what love is” or “I don’t know if love will ever find me.” And a lot of faith. For who is best to define love than He who is love. We just have to believe. If not, then there’s nothing any One can do, and we’ll never find ourselves coming out from the mudpit of confusion we are in.

It is our choice whether to believe love or not. Anyway, it was Love Himself Who gave us all the freedom to choose.

Love has been defined; not by the intellectual geniuses the world knows or has known. And it is being defined every day; sometimes love’s definition is right smack in our face, we just don’t want to accept it and believe it.

Oh, and by the way, here is what Scripture has to say on love:

I may speak in different languages of men or even angels, but if I don’t have love, then I am only a noisy bell or a ringing cymbal. I may have the gift of prophecy; I may understand all the secret things of God and know everything; and I may have faith so great that I can move mountains. But even with all these things, if I don’t have love, then I am nothing. I may give everything I have to feed people, and I may even give my body as an offering to be burned, but I gain nothing by doing these things if I don’t have love.

Love is patient, and love is kind. Love is not jealous, it does not boast, and it is not proud. Love is not rude, love is not selfish, and love does not become angry easily. Love does not remember wrongs done against it.

Love is not happy with evil, but love is happy with the truth. Love patiently accepts all things. Love always trusts, always hopes, and always continues strong.

Love never ends. There are gifts of prophecy, but they will be ended. There are gifts of speaking in different kinds of languages, but those gifts will end. There is the gift of knowledge, but it will be ended. These things will end, because this knowledge and these prophecies we have are not complete. But when perfection comes, the things that are not complete will end.

When I was a child, I talked like a child; I thought like a child; I made plans like a child. When I became a man, I stopped those childish ways. It is the same with us. Now we see like we are looking into a dark mirror. But at that time, in the future, we shall see clearly. Now I know only a part. But at that time I will know fully, like God has known me.

So these three things continue: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love.

Random Thoughts

Never take a poet literally. What we write is only as important as you make it and as it applies to you.

Poets shouldn’t try to change the world. It is enough to change a mind or two and try to make a good day better.

None of us is so rich and influential that we cannot be further enriched by love.

Poem of the Week

SUNSET, CEBU, NICHOLAS SPARKS AND POETRY

by Raymund Tamayo

this is a september sunset
but grey clouds are cheating us of the stars

I mark this spot on my calendar
this 28th day of september that you’re not
                                                   around
like days in roadway inn
like nights on madelaine’s place

I circle it in red
so next year I can remember
laugh and say I over-dramatized your absence

I am alone in this stormy island
hundreds of miles away from anything
                                                   I can call home
do you know what cebu means?
it means “change everything… but us”
I know it’s corny, yeah, it is

but as corny as it sounds
you know it’s true
and longing hearts were always
                                                   like that

sitting here at the airport
felt like I’m the best-selling author
of nights in rodanthe

just thinking, wishing, just that
wanting to write, but like you
absent were paper and pens

if I could tell you one thing
this lonesome september night
I’ll say it as loving as I can

don’t wait for love
but do attend to it when it comes

(September 2007)

AND FINALLY

September is coming, and still there seemed to be no end in sight for this pandemic. I know, it's getting harder and harder to keep ourselves inspired. Let's not give up. Let's hold on as long as we can. Always take care and Sleep Warm.

Thanks for stopping by - see you when I see you.

Friendship And Love

Love without Friendship is one-sided, while Friendship without Love is deception.

TO BEGIN WITH

A sweet August day and we’re promised more when kind rains arrive. Yesterday, talking to my wife as we sleep, I realized something when she asked “do you remember all your poems?” By that question we are talking about hundreds and hundreds, and it took me a while to ponder before answering.

At church, when leading worship, I’ve been known to forget lyrics of songs I’ve sung a hundred times. When it happens more than once you learn quickly to make up something, anything, words, words nearly any words because the ensemble and the mantle of worship will not pause for you or for anything. What makes it easier during those incidents was because the new found words came from the heart.

With poetry it’s different. No, I don’t have that many of my poems committed to memory but if I read or hear a phrase from something I’ve written I can almost always remember the exact circumstance of its origin. The how, the where, the why, and especially the "who" of it.

To end this, I just want to share some thoughts on success. I measure success by how well I sleep on a given night. If I have not had to question my motives for any particular action I might have undertaken, or knowingly caused another human being trouble or discomfort, then I am at peace with my God and myself and I fall asleep easily.

If sleep comes hard, then I know the day has been a personal failure. Immediately, I say sorry and ask God’s forgiveness before I sleep.

FRIENDSHIP AND LOVE

How far is friendship from love? Not very. Both are immediate needs. Both deserve all the care that we can give them. All the trust that we can muster and let go of, all the selflessness that we too easily forget.

Friendship thrives on love. Love is so much better with friendship added. And life doesn’t work very well in the absence of either. I am in love with, or do love very much, the friend that I have in my wife. I am glad that is the case, because I wouldn’t want it any other way than how I have it right now. To lose her will leave an emptiness somewhere inside that no amount of time or rationalization will ever fill.

Nights are shorter with her around. It was always not enough. We talk about everything --- books, films, music, cooking, nba, poetry, the sea, God… the latest episode of Mom’s… everything and anything you can think of and can imagine. 10:00 pm is always the best time of the day for me… not breakfast, not writing corporate articles, not making movies, not taking a bath, not shooting winning jump shots, not playing the guitar and singing with a crowd, not going home… the best is 10:00 pm, when I’m alone with my wife, a hot cup of tea, and our daughter sleeping next to us.

Friendship consists of being a friend, not having a friend. And so it is that friendship means loving rather than being loved. The gifts that one receives for giving are so immeasurable that it is almost an injustice to accept them.

Today is Valentines day, and it only makes me think of red roses, fancy restaurants, unexpected letters, messages bent in fortune cookies, notes in bottles set adrift. I don’t have any of those, but kindness without expectation, that would be the gift. What I’m only trying to say is --- be a friend to your wife, laugh with her, sing with her. Tell jokes, if she laughs before the punchline then you know she really loves you. It is good to be friends with someone you promised forever with.

     - from "Coffee and Mornings," 2010 essays

Random Thoughts

By leaning on someone you love you help to hold them up.

When arguing, remember to remember to forget.

Silence never needs improvement.

Poem of the Week

I FEEL HAPPINESS AND KNOW YOU’VE COME INTO THE ROOM
by Raymund Tamayo

I feel happiness and know you’ve come into the room.

Standing still
you do so in a way
that peace saturates the room,
the bed, the night, the world
where you choose to be.

There’s a sweetness in you
that covers everything it touches
so that smell, feelings
linger even when you’ve only passed.

What makes you extra ordinary
in every way
is that with you, within my life
no day is ordinary or alike.
While you move easy
or stand still,
inside the room or walking out,
know that you have strengthened, sweetened,
straightened out, made my life complete
forever.

(November 2007)

AND FINALLY

I love the smell of rain. But only when I'm at home and looking out the window. Hope to have you here again and often. Coffee is on me. =) Ciao, for now.

Thanks for stopping by - see you when I see you.