The Beauty of What I Love

Garden of Grace

by Thomas Kinkade

But what things were gain to me,
these I have counted loss for Christ.
Yet indeed I also count all things loss
for the excellence of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord...
Not that I have already attained,
or am already perfected,
but I press on,
that I may lay hold of that
for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.
...one thing I do,
forgetting those things which are behind
and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,
I press toward the goal for the prize
of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

- Philippians 3:7-8, 12-14

Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.

- Rumi

I arrived in Bacolod City yesterday noon after spending sixteen days in Metro Manila.


Although I was born in Manila, when my husband and I decided to settle in Bacolod City and to make it our home in 1979, one year after we got married, this lovely city has indeed been home to me for the past thirty-one years of my life.

However, the Manila home where I grew up, and where I experienced the love and security provided by my parents, will somehow always be home to me. It will always be a place of many beautiful and warm memories. There is a tranquility in this home that I will never experience anywhere else.

In 2006, a year after she graduated from university my daughter Obedient One chose to work and live in Manila.

After twenty five years of being away from the city of my roots, I found myself returning to Manila often, initially to help my daughter begin life on her own as a fledgling young adult. In the months that followed, however, I would often spend time with my daughter, a few days every month, just to encourage her along, and to provide guidance and companionship as she gets used to living on her own in a big metropolis.

This was what my husband and I decided then. We knew how easy it was to be lost and bewildered in a huge city like Manila, considering that the city where we raised our children is still more rural than urban, laid back, and offers a slower pace of life.

Eventually, all this going back and forth between two homes in two cities has created a gradual change in my heart.

Things were different when my husband was still alive. Each time I would visit my daughter, there was no doubt in my heart - home was where my husband and I lived together.

But these past eighteen months since my husband passed away, there has been a significant shift in my perspective.

It's more like living in a tent now. Each time the cloud moves, I simply pull up the pegs, fold up the tent, and move on.

There is no longer a sense of permanence for me. My suitcase is always half-packed. I have a backpack containing the things I consider my earthly treasures: my travel Bible, my journals, my favorite Schneider pens, the books I am currently reading, my laptop, my iPod, my camera - this is now always beside my bed...ready to be picked up when it is time to travel again.

I now have made many new friends or reconnected with old ones in Manila. There are ministry opportunities there as well. My father's garden is still a welcome place for me to tend and look after. When my daughter comes home from work at the end of the day, we have an enjoyable time, chatting, or praying together...or just doing our own thing.

Once back in Bacolod City, I look forward to being with my family again, my friends from church, the rest of the Family Foundations ministry team.

My home which Worshiper and his wife Chosen One share with me now... First Born and God-given and their son Forerunner who live next door... my two dogs ... my garden ... my books ... my prayer room... are always eagerly waiting for my return.




First Born picked me up from the airport, and upon reaching home, I found God-Given in her kitchen preparing food. Chosen One was in her kitchen, also preparing lunch.

When everything was ready, my two sons, their wives, my grandson, and I sat down to enjoy a sumptuous meal together. There was laughter and joy around the table.

Home is where the heart is...


But, home is also the place where I can take time, where I have enough room and freedom to let my hair down, to look in the spiritual mirror, and deal with some of the issues confronting me.


I read in the news that yesterday was the hottest day recorded in Metro Manila for nearly forty years...a sweltering 38 degrees Centigrade.

After lunch, just a few hours after I arrived, there was a very heavy downpour.

We had expected the rains to come earlier this month but they did not. In the past years, May would be the in-between month. Between the hot and dry months of March and April, and the rainy season that begins in June, this month would usually give us a breather from all that summer heat.

The heavy downpour was a harbinger of better days ahead. There was a cool evening breeze, and it brought comfort, a much needed respite from the sweltering heat.

It was also a good opportunity to think about some of the things that God revealed while I was in Manila.

My spiritual pride, my impatience, unkind thoughts... I hated to admit it but these were some of the things that I noticed growing in my heart the past few days.

I brushed these realizations aside, promising to deal with them once I got back to Bacolod.


Early this morning, I went to my garden to begin some badly needed weeding and pruning. The grass was also overgrown and needed to be trimmed.

But I didn't want to hurry with the job before me. I wanted to do it slowly, thoroughly, and deliberately.

As I removed weeds, trimmed the grass, and cut back all the unwanted growth that I saw... I began conversing with my Father.

The drought had caused some of the frail plants to dry up. But yesterday's rains had softened the earth, and I could tell that my garden was rejoicing and refreshed. Many new leaves had begun to sprout.


I have always looked at my heart as a garden.

Forgive me, Father...I don't like the things that I have seen in my heart these past days.

Let Me tend the garden of your heart, My child, I heard God say to me.


This morning, my garden became a place of communion with the Gardener of my heart.

I know that it is a process, and there are still more things waiting to be done. But as I trimmed the grass, removed the weeds, cut off the dead branches, and pruned the bushes, I asked God to do the same things in my heart.


Soften the ground of my heart dear God,

let the rain of Your spirit fall,

break up the fallow ground...

cut back the overgrowth...


Forgive me, please, please forgive me for my spiritual pride, Father.

Cleanse my heart of the things that crowd You out...

Create an inner space where new things can happen,..

Let Your rains fall and stimulate new growth inside of me.

Cultivate the soil of my heart...

Plant new seeds of humility and compassion...

May it be a beautiful garden that You will love to visit.



My hands were covered with dirt, and my brow was wet with sweat. My body ached and longed for rest.

In just a few hours of hard work, my garden was already transformed.

Yet more work still needs to be done within the next few days, especially now that the rains have come. The same is true of my heart.




This morning's conversation with God not only gave me a feeling of being cleansed and renewed, it also exposed the dark hiding places where the Enemy had planted weeds that took up so much space.

My heart was "defragmented" so to speak, and much space was cleared up for God to plant new things in it.

Thank You for the rain of Your Spirit, Lord.
Help me reach forward
Help me to press on
Decrease while You alone increase...
Make my heart an altar
Where I offer and let go
Of anything that brings glory to myself
but not to You...
Make my heart a secret garden
for You, and You alone.


The Rains Have Come

A picture of my garden taken during the heavy downpour yesterday afternoon.