Table of plenty

In the Holy Mass I attended last Thursday in celebration of the Feast of Candelaria, this was sung as the priest blessed our candles:

“Come to the feast of heaven and earth

Come to the table of plenty

God will provide for all your needs

Come to the table of plenty.”

Apt song. God will always be our source of hope, our beacon and guide who shines the way for us, our light who leads us to the right road to happiness and plenty.

As  long as we stay close to God, there will always be the bright side of things, like the way candles  lighten up a dark room. And there will be plenty not a lack of what we need.

But why is it hard not to feel desperate especially with all the problems and needs we face daily? I think it’s because we look to our selves too much. Do we look around at more problematic situations than ours? Have we  noticed the little things that have done us good every day?

If we did, we would have realized that God uses small things and people we don’t know to dissolve even our most difficult moments.

For weeks now I have been juggling my budget to meet several obligations. Then there are the daily pressures at work and some desires of the heart I’d still want to achieve for myself.

In fact, much of the time before I sleep is spent  thinking about plans, what to do’s, what ifs. I don’t complain but I know that thinking too much about my needs is already a form of complaining to God as if I doubt His ability to provide for me.

Then an image flashed  in my mind. Three pairs of feet changed my worried disposition.

Last Tuesday, I was with my classmates   observing teachers at the Tugbongan National High School in the municipality of Consolacion. (I’m finishing my second college course, a diploma for Professional Education.)

In an English class, one boy and two girls faced the class and made a presentation. While my companions were busy taking photos of the classroom, the students, etc. , I was  more interested in the  three students in front. That’s the picture I took.

The first girl  wore  her complete uniform plus a foot mop covering her shoes. The second girl was wearing the correct skirt but not the righ tblouse. She wore  slippers. The lone boy wasn’t in uniform at all. He was  barefoot.

I thanked God for that moment. How could I worry so much about my needs when two of the three students still appeared happy and contented even with the obvious lack in what they were wearing.

I thanked God for public schools like Tugbongan National High School for providing  much needed education even to those with very little resources in the community.

I thanked God for the teacher, Ms Cuizon, who didn’t waver in her energy to teach that day even if her students weren’t dressed as required. She was more engrossed in listening to the presentations of  the slippered and barefoot students than their appearance.

Little things around us can make us more thankful than worried about life. And looking outward to what other people lack can help us be contented with what we have.

“Little is much when God is in it,” said  songwriter Kittie Louise Suffield.

When we pray hard and give more to people in need  whom God place in our path, He will take care of the rest.

God put me in a  classroom with those students so I could  shake off my worries, which I think are really useless.

It was a brief moment but this  led me to remember God’s love for me and my family.

Three public high school students reminded me of my own three children. They, too, struggled as students because I had to raise them alone. My budget was meager, and they didn’t enjoy the pleasures their classmates had. But compared to those three Tugbongan students, they were better off. Now all three have graduated from college, two are working. God saw us through our hardships. Who am I to complain?

When I got home, I pulled out a notebook and started a thank list vs. a complaint list.

For every complaint I’ve said and thought of, I put in the opposite column as many things I can be thankful for.

Why dont’ you  try it?  It’s relieving. You will see that there is a list of plenty for thank you’s that outnumber your list of complaints.

Remind yourself that when we feel desperate, this is our cue to lean more closely and fully on God. Come closer to Him. He will provide. Come to the table of plenty.