5/11/2025 Reflections

Things I have been learning about Yahweh:

The last part of the Wisdom of Solomon 8:9 says “knowing [wisdom] would give me good counsel and encouragement in cares and sorrows” –> This was just a good reminder to read that wisdom does not try to make sorrow and worries go away, that would not be very accepting of reality which wisdom does. What wisdom does do is that it provides encouragement in the midst of sorrows and worries, which are things that will inevitably happen in this world.
Pope Francis also passed away yesterday as I am writing this part of my post. I came across a clip of him comforting a young boy who asked him if his late father was not in Heaven because he was atheist. I love Pope Francis’ answer to the little boy, in which I shared that as human fathers, God would not abandon his children if they did something bad. There was also something about baptism with the boy and the boy’s father that I cannot fully recall. But in any case, as I have been unlearning the harmful theology of original sin and total depravation, it does not make sense that God would value punishment over restoration – He has ALWAYS been a God of restoration first and foremost.
In the Wisdom of Solomon 11:24-26, it says this: “For you love all the things that exist. And you detest nothing of the things You made. For You would not even make anything You hated. How could anything continue to exist unless You willed it? Or how could anything be preserved Unless it was called into existence by You? You spare all things, because they are Yours. O Master who love human beings.” -> This passage really stood out to me because it really showcases the love of God, and how much heart of a Father he has. He does not detest us, He did not come because He hated us. For God so LOVED the world, doesn’t it say? He spares us meaning that he is relentless in drawing and restoring us back into love.
The Wisdom of Solomon 16:13 says “For You have authority over life and death, And bring men down to the gates of Hades And lead them back again.”: This is another part of scripture that shows that Jesus can and has gone back to Hades to redeem people (granted, ita lso says that Jesus is the one who brought them there, too) – just another interesting fact showing that even Hades is not the final destination for some souls.

Things I have been learning about others:

I saw this tiktok video recently talking about GenZ/Gen Alpha slang, which was kind of eye opening because it really aged me since I do not use those words necessarily. I think because I was once involved in a church where the generations really intermingled, I picked up on the meanings of a lot of it but don’t use it myself. It is really an eye opener about how people from our parents’/grandparents’ generation really don’t understand even slang from my generation (millennials) and what they feel like.

Things I have been learning about the world:

This weekend, Jacob and I finally got to try out brunch at Luna, a really good restaurant service fresh Mexican food. I learned from our waitress that every year, Mexico’s Mothers’ Day is on May 10. This means that this year, Mexico’s and America’s mother’s day are back-to-back, really giving those families a full day of celebrating their mothers!

Things I have been learning about myself:

I recently had a health flare up lately and learned that stress combined with too many beauty products may result in a very bad allergic reaction ! Dermatologist’s orders are to only use water and a medicinal cream on my face for now, and then only moisturizer and sunscreen for sensitive skin for the next 2 months. It has kind of been nice not going through a whole skin routine (I used to have a different skin care routine for the morning and for the evening. And also weekly things to do), and strangely enough, my skin has actually been looking better. It is making me rethink things about my skin routine.
For the Tuesday fellowship group that I am a part of, we recently finished a book on contemplation. I mostly liked it, and it was a reminder to me about how I really liked contemplative-like genres to read as personal devotionals. So I decided to finally snag another John O’Donohue book, Anam Cara, and will be slowly sharing the quotes that have stood out to me here !

“If we become addicted to the external, our interiority will haunt us. We will become hungry with a hunger no image, person, or deed can still. To be wholesome, we must remain truthful to our vulnerable complexity. In order to keep our balance, we need to hold the interior and exterior, visible and invisible, known and unknown, temporal and eternal, ancient and new, together. No one else can undertake this task for you. You are the one and only threshold of an inner world. This wholesome is holiness. To be holy is to be natural, to befriend the worlds that come to balance in you. Behind the facade of image and distraction, each person is an artist in thsi primal and inescapable sense. Each one of us is doomed and privileged to be an inner artist who carries and shapes a unique world.” ~ John O’Donohue, Anam Cara: In short, this quote reminds me of how good therapy is meant to help us hold the polarities within ourselves. We are not black-and-white creatures, and mental and emotional distress can assuredly arise from thinking as such. Our design is flawless, so if we try to suppress any part of our interior self, it will definitely show up on the outside in ways that we will not immediately recognize off the bat. I also really love how O’Donohue says that wholesomeness is holiness. I think in the original Greek, ‘salvation’ also means wholeness. Salvation, holiness, and one of the biggest human purposes is not to achieve perfection (whatever that is supposed to mean nowadays), but to acknowledge all parts of us. Easier said than done, I know.

“Human presence is a creative and turbulent sacrament, a visible sign of invisible grace. Nowhere else is ther such intimate and frightening access to the mysterium. Friendship is the sweet grace that liberates us to approach, recognize, and inhabit this adventure.”: I love this description of human presence being a visible sign of grace and that the mystery this is. I think friendship towards one’s self and to others is also a beautiful way of acknowledging this part of us.

“Friendship is a creative and subversive force. It claims that intimacy is the secret law of life and universe. The human journey is a continuous act of transfiguration”: what this quote reminds me of is that love is actually not enough to sustain relationships – friendship is needed as well.

“The body is your home, your only home in the universe. The body is in the soul; this recognition confers a sacred and mystical dignity on the body. The senses are divine thresholds. A spirituality of the senses is a spirituality of transfiguration”: I really appreciate this quote because I myself have seen to forgotten that living embodied is one of the most sacred and stress-reducing ways to live. God came in a body and chose to do so and also wanted to do so, and that says a lot about the divinity of our bodies.

“When you cease to fear your solitude, a new creativity awakens in you. Your forgotten or neglected inner wealth begins to reveal itself. You come home to yourself and learn to rest within. Thoughts are our inner senses. Infused with silence and solitude, they bring out the mystery of the inner landscape”: There is a reason why silence and solitude is one of the more “effective” disciplines in terms of our spiritual lives. I remember a period in my life where when I would finally give myself enough silence and solitude, I was more open to God’s guiding me through my inner guide, and it really gave me the time and space to grieve things I needed to as well. I was really proud of myself for giving myself that space, and I wonder why I don’t anymore – I really should. Maybe returning to Taiwan can help with this this summer, we’ll see !

“Love is absolutely vital for a human life. For love alone can awaken what is divine within you. In love, you grow and come home to your self”: not really much commentary on my part, I really just agree with this that at the end of all of this, we really want to be giving and receiving love.

“You need to be generous to yourself in order to receive the love that surrounds you.” : I feel like this is a big step-up in terms of self-love and compassion. Not only do we need to know how to give love to ourselves to pass that on to others, but we receive love from others better when we can receive love from ourselves. This is such a good reminder for me, and it makes me wonder how I can be working on this for myself as well.

“Most fundamentalism, greed, violence, and oppression can be traced back to the separation of idea and affection”: I immediately think of fundamentalist Christianity here, how a core tenet of it is that we are born separate from God when that never has been true.