Thursday, June 28, 2012

NSTP Journal

The Chinese Legend: The Story of the Bamboo


Once upon a time, in the heart of the Western Kingdom, lay a beautiful garden. And there in the cool of the day the Master of the Garden went to walk. Of all the occupants of the garden, the most beautiful and beloved was a gracious and noble bamboo. Year after year, Bamboo grew yet more noble and gracious, and conscious of his Master’s love and watchful delight, but modest and gentle as well. And often when the wind came to revel in the garden, Bamboo would cast aside his grave stateliness to dance and play right merrily, tossing and swaying and leaping and bowing in joyous abandon, leading the great dance of the Garden which most delighted the Master’s heart.

Now one day, the Master himself drew near to contemplate his Bamboo with eyes of curious expectancy, and Bamboo, in a passion of adoration, bowed his great head to the ground in loving greeting. The Master spoke, “Bamboo, Bamboo, I can use you.”

Bamboo flung his head to the sky in utter delight; the day of days had come, the day for which he had been made, the day to which he had been growing hour by hour, the day in which he would find his completion and his destiny; his voice came low: “Master, I am ready. Use me as you will.”

“Bamboo,” – the Master’s voice was grave – “I would gladly take you and cut you down.”

A trembling of great horror shook Bamboo: “Cut… me… down! Me… whom you, Master, has made the most beautiful in all your garden… to cut me down! Ah, not that, not that. Use me for your joy, O Master, but cut me not down.”

“Beloved Bamboo,” – the Master’s voice grew graver still – “if I cut you not down I cannot use you.”

The garden grew still. Wind held his breath. Bamboo slowly bent his proud and glorious head. There came a whisper:“Master, if you cannot use me but cut me down… then… do your will and cut.”

“Bamboo, beloved Bamboo, I would… cut your leaves and branches from you also.”
“Master, Master, spare me. Cut me down and lay my beauty in the dust; but wouldst you take from me my leaves and branches also?”

“Bamboo, alas, if I cut them not away, I cannot use you.”

The Sun hid his face. A listening butterfly glided fearfully away. And Bamboo shivered in terrible expectancy, whispering low: “Master, cut away.”

“Bamboo, Bamboo, I would yet… split you in two and cut out your heart, for if I cut not so, I cannot use you.”

“Master, Master… then cut and cleave.”

So the Master of the Garden took Bamboo out and cut him down and hacked off his branches and stripped off his leaves and divided him in two and cut out his heart. And lifting him gently, carried him to where there was a spring of fresh, sparkling water in the midst of his dry fields. Then putting one end of the broken Bamboo in the spring and the other end into the water channel in his field the master laid down gently his beloved Bamboo. And the spring sang welcome and the clear sparkling waters raced joyously down the channel of Bamboo’s torn body into the waiting field. Then the rice was planted, and the days went by, and the shoots grew and the harvest came.

In that day, Bamboo, once so glorious in his stately beauty, was yet more glorious in his brokenness and humility. For in his beauty, he was life abundant, but in his brokenness he became a channel of abundant life to his Master’s world.


--
The things I need to do in order to master myself is to know first who I am and what is my purpose here on earth. Like the bamboo, he was willing to let his master cut him down because he knew it was his destiny. I must reflect on myself and accept the facts for who I am. I may not be what I wanted myself to be, but I have to whole-heartedly accept myself so that I may master myself.


Read More

Saturday, June 23, 2012

A Fun-filled Saturday: Nstp (Day 1) - Ketkai - Marco

NSTP (Day 1)

Today we had our first NSTP Session. I forgot that we had an assignment (which was to research about RA 9163) which was a real bummer. We had a pre-test about our assignment and with all the luck I have, I made out a 5/10 score. Sir Arian (our teacher) discussed on the overview of NSTP. NSTP stands for National Service Training Program and he told us about the sections and articles under and related to the NSTP Law. After our discussion, we were divided into groups (our Houses) and had a sharing about our self and our strengths and weaknesses. It was done to determine our self, if we had self-mastery or self-disclosure. We pledged an oath too to be involved in the social transformation of our society and to be an earthkeeper.

After our NSTP class, me and my friends rushed to ketkai for a photoshoot. ;)))) (We were typically upset because my friend, Lance, was such a slow poke that we waited for almost an hour) Oh and yeah, Michelle even cried because of that. Contrary to that, he provided our lunch in exchange. We had our photoshoot, which was seemingly fun, and headed out to KFC for  a wonderful meal.

I specifically ordered strawberry krushers (which totally bolted by head with a freeze) and chicken burger.
I was satisfied with it while Jansen and Dexter were obviously regretting to have ordered the same meal as mine. (the rest ordered chicken). After that awesome meal, we went around and around and even saw a flash mob in the center of limketkai. (they danced Call Me Maybe) Whenever we needed to go the ground floor, Ryan and I would rush to the elevator and beat each other on who gets to press the buttons of the elevator. We visited places when the time came for us to part. They all went back to Gaisano to play and I stayed and roamed around Ketkai waiting for the time for our swim practice.

When I went to Marco, I arrived only to see JP and Princess. I talked to JP but he was seemingly quiet and unusual today. The awkward atmosphere was definitely intense and I could hardly breath (loljk, exagg lang).
Then Kyla came and the atmosphere was even weirder. Sebastian came along with Spencer. But guess who came next. COACH ROY! All of us were freaking out and some of us even wanted to escape. We disliked being trained under coach Roy because of his strict workouts. So, Kyla, Jireh and I escaped pretending that we would attend Michelle Neri's birthday because timingly it was held at Marco.

We were laughing so hard and racking our brains out for that idea. With luck again, Jireh was friends with Chai-Chai, Michelle's cousin, so we went to see her and pretended that we couldn't swim because we were invited to their party. Chai2 was beautiful in her blue long gown and the setting of ate Mikai's birthday was awesome. It was a hollywood themed party and everyone was requested to wear a long gown ( how awesome is that?) We really wondered how much all the expenses cost. Anyhow, we talked and talked till we decided it was time for us to go home.

We went home and I arrived at home safely and I thank God for that.
And here I am to write this blog post and I think that's all I can say for tonight.

Till my next post,
ClaireYoungMin.
Read More

Friday, June 22, 2012

Holy Spirit Mass

HOLY SPIRIT MASS - New year means new events. And for these events to be a success, one must have the virtue of asking the Lord's guidance especially in everything that we do. Since our school is a Catholic school, we had a Eucharistic celebration for the bountiful success and blessings that are yet to come. When I was at school, T. Real (our adviser) went to our room and confiscated our cellphones.

We went to the church by group and arrived at the church only to see both campuses jam packed inside. Luckily, we were assigned in the front pews of the church so we had the exclusive seats to us seniors. But, along with that privilege, we were obliged to really participate in the mass.

Here are some of our pictures:









Read More
Powered by Blogger.

© Swifter Than the Wind, AllRightsReserved.

Designed by ScreenWritersArena