It is very exhilarating to hear an insightful response to a personal testimony/sharing in the BCBP breakfast. Crisp and to the point. You leave the breakfast feeling much better than when you entered the venue. Wonderful sharing. Great response. A good feeling. This is the stuff that good Brotherhood breakfasts are made of. Some brothers are gifted with the ability to use wonderful analogies to bring home the point of the sharing. Not long-winded but concise responses.
One such brother in the BCBP Alabang Chapter is Bro. Boy Tayag who has the gift of being able to deliver a good crisp response to a sharing. Allow me to share with excerpts of two recent breakfast responses delivered by Bro. Boy which I thought were very good.
Bro. Boy used a pigeon’s walk to describe our relationship with God. The pigeon, which if anyone has been keen to observe, walks in a very funny way. I have not noticed it myself but he assured me of the veracity of his analogy. Next time I see a pigeon I will certainly check. I quote here the words of Bro. Boy in his response.
“Have you ever noticed how a pigeon walks and wondered why it walks so funny? The reason is that a pigeon cannot see where it is going. A pigeon’s eyes cannot focus as it moves, so the bird actually has to bring its head to a complete stop between steps in order to refocus. As a result, it proceeds clumsily, head forward, stop, head back, stop. And forward it goes in the same pattern.
Our spiritual walk with the Lord seems to have the same pattern as the pigeon. Many times, we have a hard time seeing where we are going while we are on the go. There are many activities competing for our attention and we therefore tend to forget Him. We need to stop between steps to pause and refocus on God. Our walk with the Lord needs to establish a pattern of stops to enable us to see more clearly our direction before moving on. This pattern of stop and go will enable God to direct us from our natural human level to God’s heavenly heights, where we will have a broader view of life, a deeper understanding, and greater strength in life that will enable us to serve God who will provide us His guidance at all times.”
In a way, saints have taken to the way of the pigeon because they have learned the habit of stopping to pray, meditating and discerning the will of God before moving forward. The stop is equivalent to the development of the interior life that needs to rest in God before it can move on. So it must be for all of us. We need to stop and listen to God’s interior voice because it is in the silence of our hearts that we are able to hear the booming voice of our Lord.
Another time, Bro. Boy used the imagery of photography to describe the purpose of sufferings and trials in our lives. And I quote:
“We all experience trials and sufferings in our lives at one time or another. The darkest hour in our lives can be likened to photography. It needs a dark room to develop. It is only after the chemicals have done their work in the dark that it is safe to expose the negatives to light and produce the final print. The light which would have destroyed the film can now bring out its beauty. Similarly, God takes us through darkroom experiences to develop our spiritual life. As we pass through trials, sorrows, frustration, and sufferings, the image of Christ is produced in us. Only after this will we be ready to be displayed in the light.
The Heavenly Father shades the light from our pathway. He wants to take us through such experiences because He wants to provide us with the benefits of darkness and develop in us godliness. Today, some of us may now be in God’s dark room. Let us not despair because God is developing the beauty of Christ-likeness in us. Let us not seek to get back into the light too soon, or become impatient. Let us wait for His perfect timing so that we will not spoil the imprint of His love in the film of our lives.”
This is a wonderful analogy of the reality, or rather the necessity, of having to go through sufferings and problems in our Christian lives for it is only through such darkroom experiences that we are able to have the imprint of the face of Jesus Christ in our lives. In truth, when we dare to venture to walk with God, toil and sufferings, even failure, most likely await us during the journey. Lest we lose focus and be derailed by these dark experiences, we need to stop like the pigeon, refocus our spiritual vision and regain our direction as we move on in the service of Christ’s army of believers.
I thank brothers like Bro. Boy Tayag who are always ready to share their giftedness with the rest of us. Indeed, the Brotherhood is rich and overflowing with talent and skills which all in all make for a vibrant and wonderful community. I thank God for blessing BCBP with a rich and committed pool of members who are ever ready to share their gifts with us. To God be the glory. [9-07-09]
