I PRAY AND ASK THE LORD FOR YOU ALL!

This year of 2010 I am sure it is going to be a very special year. Just starting with its numbering: 20 and then 10, I feel it.

In my spirit I feel is the year of the 100 hundreds returns. Everyone will receive twice as much as it gives. If good things, better ones! If wrong ones, worse ones! Two for one, twenty for ten, two hundred for a one!

There are times in life, especially when growing older that we tend to feel we are being left alone, left behind, in solitude, even in loneliness.

Fortunately, times have changed. For the good! For the bad! For newer opportunities and newer ways to keep in touch with life, with its actors, and especially with, long separated by the distance, friends!

It has been wonderful, these days, to see how a single contact with one of them, in addition to the friends from your childhood who keep you posted on the going on of all of them and their families, sprouted a new surge of remembrances and re-acquaintances.

I am from an Spanish speaking background, inserted at times in an English speaking one. This allowed me to widen the long lasting, or better said, everlasting, friendships and communion of the spirits.

I have never pretended to be 100 percent original in my thoughts and doings. There is such a vast treasure of them, intent on showing the way to better futures, intent on leading the ignorant, the lazy, the procrastinating, the unseeing, into positive actions on behalf of their own welfare, and future, and positive attitude toward life and its circumstances.

What I have decided to do, when moved and deeply touched by the meaningful depth of the received messages, is to channel them from one speaking language environment to the other.

It is a very rewarding spiritual experience. To translate and add comments of my own to the message in compliance with the request from the originators and senders to keep the chain of distribution expanding and far reaching. We cannot reinvent the iced water but we can keep on serving iced water and tea glasses all around. We cannot avoid receiving lemons but we can turn them into lemonades sugared with the sweetness of our faith and spiritual well being. There are many thirsty around!

A few days ago I received one of such messages. It brought not only a meaningful content but a spiritual high lifting musical background.

I enhanced the text presentation and changed into a video for your delight, meditation and resolve to keep walking being the light and the salt of this world, by the mercy and grace of our Lord and Savior.

Here is the message. Enjoy it!

IN THESE SO SPECIAL DAYS, WHEN I STOP AND WONDER.

In these so special days, when I stop and ponder,

I feel there are many who keep me company

even while being absent,

and others, whom I love,

live, like me,

immersed in the daily chores and routines

To all of those who have helped me

to become the person I became and presently am.

To my family, my friends, my burdens companions,

to all who wish me well

and keep me in their hearts and thoughts.

To those who rejoice when I rejoice

and those who feel my pains as theirs.

To those I find favor with and those who support me, always,

And those who hold me up when I despair or faint.

To those I love without them even hinting it or knowing it,

and those who love me without me knowing it.

To those I feel them closest even if miles away and farther.

To those I love without them even hinting it or knowing it,

and those who love me without me knowing it.

to those I feel them closest even if miles away and farther.

To the ones nearest without receiving from me

the deserved time and attention.

To those who give my life essence and meaning.

To all and every one of them I want to dedicate

these thoughts, desires and feelings.

Yes, to you all the ones I know

and you the unknown and needy.

I pray that life always smiles at you

and happiness to be your faithful walking companion,

and you all be forever happy

as everlasting peace lives cozily within you,

always.

And every new day be a rebirth and renewing time,

opportunity and experience.

And… if you believe in Christ

keep on steadfastly believing,

Because even if you are not aware of it,

He is and always will be with you

as your most faithful companion.

IMAGES ARE A THOUSAND TIMES WORTHIER THAN WORDS, BUT HOPE AND TRUST, AND ITS CONSEQUENT RESOLVE, IS WHAT MAKE MOUNTAINS MOVE.

As a complement to my thoughts,

I want to pay homage and render my respect

to all the people involved in the gigantic relief effort

that is being done in Haiti.

There cannot not be any other emotional responses

to what I am seeing mankind is doing,

without any boundary of social standing or beliefs,

in order to relief the pain and the suffering

of the desolate, and afflicted, Haitian people.

We are usually so immersed and mesmerized

by the egotistical involvement in our own self,

that it is not illogical to believe that violence,

and uncare for others,

is the basic rule for survival and self advancement

in this world.

But God has placed eternity in the hearts of men.

Not only in the form of conscience of what is right or wrong,

but also in the form of love, compassion,

and an inner need to support and care.


As the title of these comments already points out,

images are a thousand times worthier than words,

and I cannot but admire the photographers

who so vividly are raising the awareness of all,

in relation to the fundamental need to be human,

and behave as a human being should do.

As my homage to them,

I have compiled these pictures

that have been circulated worldwide,

and made a video out of them.

It is also my homage to those who,

unaware of being pictured, incessantly strive

to rescue and help the afflicted to survive,

and persevere in believing

that there will always be a new and better day,

a clearer horizon and a future for all.

The theme of it is that we are possessors

of unbeatable hope and trust

in the goodness of God

implanted on the spirits of men.

But also the reminder

that the consequent resolve

to do what it takes,

to ease the pain of the victims of nature,

or even other men,

is what makes mountains move.

And mountains move

when we firmly believe

that God is God

and he can make a way for us

when afflicted and in pain.

HAITI STILL NEEDS HELP, AND IT WILL NEED MUCH, MUCH MORE AS TIME GOES BY

I had had literally days glued to the media reports, due to past similar experiences when I received this email from Ellie Brown, today.

Dear Emilio:

International Medical Corps is a global, humanitarian, nonprofit organization, founded by volunteer doctors and nurses and dedicated to saving lives and relieving suffering through relief and development programs.

Our emergency response team is in Haiti responding in force and I would like to ask for your help to get the word out to the readers of Emilio & Gladys Padilla.

There are still thousands of patients seeking treatment of which approximately 80% are in need of surgery and are running out of time - especially with the tremendous aftershocks still devastating this country.

The team is treating crush injuries, trauma, substantial wound care, shock and other critical cases with the few available supplies - And they're in it for the long haul.

I would love your help spreading the word by blogging or tweeting about IMC's rescue efforts.

We've put up a blogger friendly widget here on our site:

http://www.imcworldwide.org/haiti

With the widget it's really easy to let your readers know that donating $10 to help the people of Haiti is as simple as sending a text message of the word "Haiti" to 85944.

If you have any questions just let me know and I will do my best to help you out. If you are able to post the widget or tweet, I would appreciate it if you could send me the link.

Thanks so much, Ellie.

Dear Ellie, it is for me to say it. Haiti has been in my spirit since the first news arrived. It is a very dear thing for me.

I am a hospital administrator with a nurse for a wife. I was trained in logistics and emergency relief.

We are retired now, but memories abound.

I was a guest instructor with the American Army in 1972, and was teaching in those days how to deal with a totally wrecked city, when I was hurriedly sent back to my country of birth, Nicaragua, because of their 1972 December 22nd., Earthquake.

I lived through all that you are living now, and ended up being part of the rebuilding of the main hospital into three smaller ones, having had the privilege of being their, all three, first administrator who set them up into operating stages.

I mention this because my heart is with you, people. I am retired but I would love to be shoulder to shoulder with you, at this present field of tribulations, even if older and retired, but still full of energy and experience.

May this humble effort in including your request in my blog and writing a little about, serve as an encouragement note for you people of generous and unselfish hearts.

WONDERING THOUGHTS…

Because of the terrible hardships imposed upon the Haitian people these days, and because we all, as individuals, families, communities and nations, while traveling through life inevitable have our, at times, unendurable burdens and pains… we need to find a meaning, a purpose, and a way to understand life and how to live it and confront its ups and downs.

There is an Spanish saying (no hay mal que dure cien años ni cuerpo que lo resista) that states that there are no pains, injustices, maladies or burdens lasting a hundred years and that there does not exist any body that can resists them.

In the neighborhood I live nowadays I have a little friend. It is a little charming dog that wanders all around the place, nonchalantly, and as he owns the places and gardens despite the neglect he suffers from the family that he lives with.

He makes me wonder that there are only two ways to face life,

the right and positive, and the wrong and negative.

And anyway if you get broken or neglected,

there is no other way out but to pick up the pieces

and out of lemons make lemonades

sugared with your optimism and resolve to keep on going.

Life it is what we make out of it.

The world is beautiful

if we know where to look into and how to look at it.

There are mountains in our horizons.

They can be dormant volcanoes but somehow they keep vigil over us

little human beings who aimlessly wander around.

There are also flowers and roses

who live in the most unexpected places.

We should learn from them how to bloom and flourish

despite the circumstances.

As I contemplate some little items I have collected

and placed in front of my desk in my studio,

they made me wonder about all this,

leading me to take pictures

and arrange them in a meaningful way.

Out of it came out this set of collaged pictures

that I want to share with you.

I pray and hope we all finally pay attention

to the only real solution to all our burdens and pains,

and listen to God´s call and promises,

if we first have in our minds and hearts the things of God´s

not of man´s kingdom.