Oda II

(Inspired by Horace and Eclesiastes)

¿De que se sacia los deseos del Corazón?
Con nada debajo del sol.
He aqui, he buscado la alegría en las riquezas,
las amistades, el amor terrenal....
pero encontre afán, dolor y miseria.

Mi alma hambrienta, inquiria:

¿Qué es la vida?
Fugaz.

Una pequeña fracción de lo que es eterno.
Un misterio, un significado escondido
en la eternidades que puso Dios
dentro de nuestro corazones.

(to be continued when I find more answers....)

random question

Is it practise or practice?

end of term

I finished classes yesterday.

The winter term is ridiculously short: 4 months.

That means, if I am not taking Summer School, I don't study for another 4 months.

I don't have to take Summer because the timetables are crazy (7pm-10pm??) and I have enough credits to get me through.

I rather go to a missionary trips or find a job.

Zephaniah 3:15-17

Sing, O Daughter of Zion;
shout aloud, O Israel!
Be glad and rejoice with all your heart,
O Daughter of Jerusalem!
The LORD has taken away your punishment,
He has turned back your enemy.
The LORD, the King of Israel, is with you;
never again will you fear any harm.
On that day they will say to Jerusalem,
"Do not fear, O Zion;
do not let your hands hang limp.
The LORD your God is with you,
He is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing."

1Corinthians 13:13

Love, faith and hope are the only things that keeps me running this race and fighting this battle.

I am so thankful I have the Lord.

It is well with my soul.

La vida es Sueño

¿Qué es la vida? Un frenesí.
¿Qué es la vida? Una ilusión,
una sombra, una ficción,
y el mayor bien es pequeño:
que toda la vida es sueño,
y los sueños, sueños son.

La vida es Sueño
(Pedro Calderon de la Barca)

π

Happy π day!

Faith.

No one shall be forgotten who was great in this world; but everyone was great in his own way, and everyone in proportion to the greatness of what he loved. For he who loved himself became great in himself, and he who loved others became great through his devotion, but he who loved God became greater than all.

One became great through expecting the possible, another by expecting the eternal; but he who expected the impossible became greater than all.

There was one who was great in his strength, and one who was great in his wisdom, and one who was great in hope, and one who was great in love; but greater than all was Abraham,

great is that power whose strength is powerlessness,

great is that wisdom whose secret is folly,

great is that hope whose outward form is insanity,

great is that love which is hatred of self.

---Fear and Trembling

Soren Kierkegaard

Cantico

Despierta, alma mía, despierta
que larga es la noche soñolienta.
Fugaz es el tiempo
Si tarda la obra.

Ven de mañana a
saborear delicias,
trabajar tu viña.
Gozar de Mi amor.

Ven, amada ven.
No suspires con lo de ayer.
La noche es corta.
El alba se aproxima.

(written after taking a shower)

Coplas por la muerte de su padre

Nuestras vidas son los ríos
que van a dar en la mar,
que es el morir;
allí van los señoríos
derechos a se acabar
y consumir;
allí los ríos caudales,
allí los otros medianos
y más chicos,
y llegados, son iguales.

-Jorge Manrique (Siglo XIV)

Psalms 102:1-2

Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto thee.

Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble; incline thine ear unto me: in the day when I call answer me speedily.

-------

Who said this would be easy? I find myself struggling in this spiritual battle everyday. But I overcome all my weaknesses with the Lord. His victory is also my victory.

I will strive for Him till the end!

Colossians 1:12-17

Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:

Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins:

Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

Apropos of the Wet Snow

Dreams came to me with a particular sweetness and intensity after a little debauch, they came with repentance and tears, with curses and raptures. There were moments of such positive ecstasy, such happiness, that not even the slightest mockery could be felt in me, by God. There was faith, hope, love.

This was the point, that I blindly believed then that through some miracle, some external circumstance, all this would suddenly extend, expand; suddenly a horizon of appropriate activity would present itself, beneficient, beautiful, and above all, quite ready-made (precisely what, I never knew, but above all -quite ready made,) and thus I would suddenly step forth under God's heaven all but on a whine horse and wreathed in laurels.

-Notes from Underground
Fyodor Dostoevsky

Proverbs 8:30

Then I was by Him,
as one brought up with Him:
and I was daily His delight,
rejoicing always before Him.

Either/or

Do not interrupt the flight of your soul; do not distress what is best in you; do not enfeeble your spirit with half wishes and half thoughts.

Ask yourself and keep on asking until you find the answer, for one may have known something many times, acknowledged it; one may have willed something many times, attempted it” and yet, only the deep inner motion, only the heart's indescribable emotion, only that will convince you that what you have acknowledged belongs to you, that no power can take it from you” for only the truth that builds up is truth for you.

-Soren Kierkegaard.

(2 Corinthians 3:18)

But we all, with unveiled face,
beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord,
are being transformed into
the same image
from glory to glory,
just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

Eclesiastes 3:15

Aquello que fue, ya es;
y lo que ha de ser, fue ya;
y Dios restaura lo que pasó.

Salmos 63:8

Está mi alma apegada a Ti; Tu diestra me ha sostenido.

Daddy's advice of the day

(spoken in Jiujiang dialect)

Daughter, don't be afraid of taking challenges.
Don't mind suffering.
Everything will pay off at the end.

Poems

I was going through my old IB files (heck, I was bored) and I found some poems, written by me...that were ahem, actually good.

I haven't written poems for a long time. Maybe because I am not that sentimental anymore or just too lazy. Before, I would write and write, play with words, structure and sounds. I would write poems to my friends to encourage them.

I should retake this. I miss the old 'poetic' me.

Here is one of my spanish poems. This was written while we were studying Pablo Neruda. It's not one of my best, but I like it:

Vi volar tus sueños con la brisa del mar.
Infinita, como las estrellas, es la hermosura de tu paladar
En la llanura de tu cuerpo, azota y da aliento el viento del verano.
Navega mi alma en tu mar de dulzura
Tempestad, majestad, eternidad en tres besos.
Oye, el zumbido del viento que traspasa nuestros corazones,
como una melodía en el silencio…