More Lessons from the Year that Was

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The year 2010 has been a dizzying year for us. The first quarter saw us pinned in the middle of some imbroglios beyond our doing, and which I now understand, just tested not only our character but our mettle as well to fight for our right. This was the time I stretched to its limit the icky-looking mound under my cranium, writing legal complaints, pleadings and counter-argument as if I were a lawyer. (I could have been. I intended to be one after I breezed through highschool.) I brooded over the lies of the other camp and delved into pscho-analytical escapades, studying our opponents’ motives, and strategies, legal counter-assaults and repercussions. My brains almost cracked, but I was surprised by the vast of insights I could extract from my analytical sprees, never mind if I oftentimes found myself having recurrent head-aches afterwards. The psyche indeed releases tremendous power; it just makes me cringe how it can be used for evil purposes.

The succeeding quarters had been equally fraught with edge-of-seat events, like scenes in a power-packed thriller movie appearing before my critical spectator’s eye—only that I was a player, though initially reluctant. But once I learned the script, I had to do something to steer my role towards a redeeming ending –that is to tell nothing but the truth and expose the enemies’ ludicrous, superfluous and preposterous reasoning that only warped minds with hardened conscience could spew.
What lessons have I gleaned from the year that was? I picked six, plus one major insight:

1. No one is above the law.
2. To expose the devil’s lies, tell the truth. How he hates it when the deeds of darkness are exposed to the light.
3. Trust no one. No one. Not even those who claim to be your brethren, whether in spirit or in flesh and blood.
4. You can live in peace even in the midst of conflicts.
5. Once you have squarely faced your fears, they will recoil like a defanged serpent, powerless to strike you again
6. Truth cannot be buried for long as light can’t be hidden. It has its own way of breaking through barricaded walls no matter how tough, and spreading its sweet aroma in open air. It has a life of its own no mortal can ever quench or suppress.

Most importantly here’s one realization we have arrived at: Where God leads us, he feeds, protects and sustains us. He is a master of the JIT principle! By experience, he scoops his children Just-In-Time, especially when they are already empty-handed, hard-pressed and physically unable to pick themselves up from any situation—even from quagmire. Indeed the words in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 ring true.
We could not have been more grateful for what we experienced last year.

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