Just keep smiling

Life will be full of small battles and little triumphs. Everyone faces them and sometimes you feel alone. However, instead of focusing on your own weaknesses and failures, look outward to those who may also be suffering in silence. Continue to offer a helping hand to those around you, whether you feel it or not, and you're bound to be left with someone holding your hand in the end. So open your eyes, my dear, and hold out your hand.

Hope in God

"You are my strength when I am weak, you are the treasure that I seek, you are my all in all."

Such a simple lyric that has been constantly passing through my head today. So easy to hum, but tough when our own desires are put in the balance. How easy it is to run to the path of complacency, the path of this world, that alludes us with an easy fix. "Instant happiness this way," it says. While the road to Our Lord seems like one that is heavy. Yet, why is this so? I ponder this within myself many times and find that, for me, it is my own stubborness and impatience. Why can't I have the answers now? Why isn't the road covered with roses? Why the thorns? Yet must we be so blind to not see that our very own Master chose the road with thorns - for us? Don't we realize He wants us to be happy? Yeah, confusing, but we are not called to always understand. Why are we asking to have a road of roses, according to our standards, when He had one of thorns? Do we think we should have a path any different than that of our Master's? Do we think of ourselves as higher than our God? Why do we place our standards on God, when He knows everything! Way more than our little selves. We cannot begin to fathom His greatness, what is it in us that then wants to place our small standards upon such a great God? Why do we try to do this? Is it pride? Is pride, rebellion, or stubbornness the root of that heaviness? Is it a lack of trust that maybe God doesn't know what He is doing? Doesn't exactly know what I need?

Before we even begin to answer these questions, we must first look inside ourselves. Where do we place our hope? Where do we place our trust? In the passing pleasures of this world? In a world that can be seen constantly chasing after the next high? As one of Stacie Orrico's songs goes, "There's gotta be more to life." And there is.

If we feel pulled in two directions, we need to step back. We must look beyond the feelings and emotions (vessels that at times can be used to blind us if we fall asleep), and inside to our inner desires. What will fulfill my soul's longing? It can't possibly be the things of this world. All I have to do is look to things I had chased before thinking those would make me "whole" and see that obviously they haven't because well, here I am, stil left pondering. So what is more constant? What is more fulfilling? God. He is the only one. We just need to let go. Let go of our fleeting desires for instant happiness and strive for eternal joy. Happiness is a passing thing of this world, one brought about by those passing moments in life and defined by good feelings, but joy - joy is a decision, a form of being, an action. We can chose to be joyful in all things, even in those times when we may not feel so good, how? By placing our hope in God. If we have our hope in God, in His goodness, in His decisions in our lives, than we can be joyful in even those moments where we are troubled or just feel down. Yes, even in sadness we can have joy. Why? Because we can be excited to know that He has control and knows what He is doing. We must not let our human minds deceive us, or rather, let the evil one deceive us, by telling us that the past is going to be the best thing we can ever imagine. No. There is a future and God is in charge. Get excited! God is in charge and has a great plan for you! Just trust. Hope in God. And feel that joy again knowing that the future ahead is better than any past.

Alright, so how do we chose this every day? How do we refocus our hope in God? Well, I don't have a long, convoluted answer. It's actually quite simple, but involves our acceptance. We refocus our hope in God by first accepting that He loves us, no matter what. This is something we need to actively accept. Only then can we tackle the second part, this may be the hardest of all because it involves letting go of our own "plans" of happiness, and that is, to realize and accept that God truly wants what is best for us. He wants what is best for us! Just think of this for a second. God wants what is best for me? Me? That's amazing! We need to remind ourselves of this reality, this fact, this truth. We must not let ourselves be blinded but rather just let the passing feelings and emotions go by, because they will, that's what they do, and remember that our hope in God means our salvation, our joy, and yes, our happiness. There is so much more ahead if we are with God, and today shall pass like yesterday, while tomorrow will be yet another chance to say yes to God, and yes to a future of fulfillment and hope.

Hope in God. He loves you. He loves me. Drop the weight and let go.

An old post brought back to life

An old post that I'd like to share once again for anyone who crosses my blog (ca. 2006):

Random pondering:

You know, sometimes I stop and think about the things of this world. Crazy how things are these days, and sometimes how they are not. Life's tough, that's for sure, but the funny thing about it is that when things seems to be getting real bad, something, though you can choose to ignore it (even when you feel like you are not choosing to ignore it) seems to be whispering in your ear that maybe you aren't seeing the entire picture. Like there is a curtain over something better that you just can't see, maybe just not ready to see. And so your left in a stupor, a wonder. What am I missing? What is there before me, right in front of me, that I am not permitted, or rather, not permitting myself to see. Yet it's there, and the agony that can come from wanting to see the beauty that can come from behind that curtain is sometimes hard to get through. Yet you do, because deep down inside, there is a reason, a hope, the realization that there will be another day, that today will end and when it does, you will realize that you have lived and are yet one more day closer to that mystery behind that curtain. Yet, then I think, what is behind that curtain? You may be surprised to see just another day. And really, that's what it is. Another day, and that is the beauty, the mystery, the sometimes heavy feeling of it. Yet, why should it be so? It's another day. An entirely new day. Another start. Another chance. Try to make the best of it, no matter how hard it may seem at times, how blurry things may get, you may be surprised to find yourself hit by the little surprises of love that can come your way if you just focus on what is good. Yes, they are there. It's a day, a door you can pass in which you can find yourself or lose yourself through the complexity that is life. Yet that's how life is. When you least expect it, when you are busy doing other things, life happens. That's the beauty, the mystery, and sometimes the root of the agony that can come from waiting for something we already have. It's just a matter of taking the blindfold off of your eyes, seeing what gifts have been given to you already, and knowing how to use them wisely. Tough thing to do, yeah, but it got me thinking today. Funny how life is.

"When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me." ~Erma Bombeck

Gattaca: just around the corner or already here?

So we had a very brief conversation in my lab at work concerning the potential for a Gattaca future. It was brought on by a recent study looking at the potential of finding the genetic determinants of atrial fibrillation (AF; a type of cardiac condition). In this one study, they were trying to replicate the finding of a previous group which found 2 SNP's (single-nucleotide polymorphisms, ie: genetic markers in one's DNA) that highly correlated with individuals diagnosed with AF. However, in this particular study, they not only confirmed those 2 SNPs, but also found 4 other ones. They concluded by saying that such a finding is so reliable that it has the potential of preventing AF in an individual, through proper medical treatment, who may be at risk genetically in getting AF.

Moral of the story, my PI said that such a finding can be critical in preventative medicine and that the main breakthrough would be to be able to genetically map a newborn baby. Mapping their genes would allow parents to know the risk their child has of getting a variety of disorders. Having this information, they can then raise/treat that child accordingly (ie: have a low sugar diet if the child is at risk for type II diabetes) so as to reduce the potential of them getting the certain disorder they are at risk for. Keeping this in mind, one of my lab members posed the question: What is to stop people then from mapping their children and saying, "Well, I don't want to raise a child with the potential of getting that disorder. It's too much to think about. It think we'll just give them up for adoption." My PI took it one step further saying, "What is to stop them from mapping their fetuses?" The answer to this last question is without a doubt a scary one since, as may be common sense to some, the parents may not choose to adopt but to abort. Sadly, this notion is not a new one and in the world of IVF, there is selection and mapping already occurring. I tried to bring this up so as to open the eyes of my lab members to the notion of eugenics, but the topic was quickly changed. How frustrating. Nonetheless, I took the liberty to send the following article to my lab member (who happens to be the administrator of my lab) in regards to her question about parents wishing to give their children up for adoption. I briefly mentioned to her that I had read this article similar to the topis we mentioned in lab, so she got a heads up and it's not completely out of the blue.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123439771603075099.html

God help us and bless us all, especially our children.

How can there not be a God?

It blows my mind sometimes to think that people honestly believe that there is no God, especially those in the sciences. How can they say such a thing? I mean, just look around you? Can't you tell that someone had to create such marvelous things? I mean, we, in the little knowledge that we have acquired over the centuries, are just able to explain how some things are, but never has there been the discovery of how to create things or why they are here.

I had a really great conversation with some friends yesterday and the consensus that was reached on these final points is that scientists stopped asking the why. They've just dived into the how, but completely overlook the 'why.' By ignoring that something, or rather someone, does not exist doesn't mean that someone does not exist. How is it any different with science? Being unable to explain the cause of such great phenomena in the world, such as the color of flowers, the songs of birds, the creativity and complex nature of man, the beginning of the Big Bang (of all things, if we want to go into the evolution argument) and ignoring the fact that something had to set it all in motion, doesn't mean that that something, the root of all things, does not exist. If anything, science should prove that something exists, had to exist, that is above all that we comprehend and can understand, that was able to set all these things marvelous things of the world into motion until our own creation.

One of the guys who was in our group spoke with me for a while longer about how science does recognize that there is something bigger, even though it is just putting the idea aside, and that it is ultimately beginning with the physicists. He told me that the order of most agnostic to least agnostic/believers goes essentially in this order: sociologists>psychologists>scientists (biologists, chemists, etc.)>physicists. Essentially, if sociologists can't explain something, they'll say to go to the psychologists, because they will know. If psychologists say they can't explain something, they'll say go to the scientists, the chemists and biologists, science can explain it. Lastly, if biologists and chemists can't find the answer, they'll say go to the physicists because they know more of the 'small world' and all those laws, etc. But then, when we get to the physicists, they have no one to turn to for answers and will find themselves saying that there is no way they can explain what they know, ie: the laws, the forces at different levels of magnification (macro versus micro versus atomic) and that in essence there is something about the universe that they cannot possibly try to explain (no law, no reason) and thus there must be something else to turn to, something greater, something bigger than ourselves. Who can that be?

To do a more simpler analogy, I heard that it was once said that it would be impossible to convince someone looking at a marvelous painting in a museum that in fact there is no such thing as an artist who created that painting. Sounds silly, right? Of course it would be impossible to convince someone of such a thing. The painting is right in front of them, someone had to paint it. There must be an artist. Duh! Right? Well, what is this world we are in? Isn't it more complex than a painting? Isn't it more colorful, more vivid, more apparent that it was created, than looking at a simple painting in a museum?

Similar analogy (also one I heard at a conference). You were on a CaribbeanCruise and suddenly there is a large storm. The boat begins to sink and people begin to pile onto lifeboats. A group of you, say 4, get onto one boat and get separated from the group. You float all night into the next day and about midday you wake up to find that you are on the shore of a deserted island. The island is fairly small and after the group has been on it for a while, they've walked from one side of the island to the other, takes about all day, only to find that there are no people, but there are some interesting findings. One guy comes up to the group to show that he found an arrowhead. "Wow!" you say, "There must have been some old tribes here." Thinking all would agree they look at you funny and say, "How can you know that?" You don't respond, but then one group member says, "It's just a rock that has been eroded after time. It must have fallen from a rock long ago, landed in the ocean, and been shaped by the waves to look like an arrow. We can't know for sure that someone made it or that there was human life here on this island. It doesn't prove anything." "Ok," the group says, and you just go along with it.

Another group member comes and takes the group to part of the shoreline nearby. There the group sees a beautifully fashioned canoe, tattered but clearly visible, with a ragged rope tied to one end. "Wow!" you say, "Now this surely means there must have been people living on this island. It's a canoe!" You think the group would surely agree with you on this, but no, they say, "How do you know?" Again, the same mad responds saying, "I think it is just a piece of log that fell from a tree, and like this rock which looks like an arrow, it must have been tossed by the sea and beat until it made the form of a canoe over time. I mean, this island could have been left alond for thousands of years, so time would have been enough to form this log into something that seems like a canoe." The group begin to nod their heads yes and again agree with this man. It must have just been shaped with time and it just looks like a canoe, but it is still no proof that man lived on this island. There is no explanation for the rope, this point is just ignored. You don't say anything and just go with the group.

Lastly, the third individual also made a discovery. She found on the seashore on the other end of the island the letters, "S" "O" "S" laid neatly on the beach about 50 feet from the shore. Now, at this point you think to yourself, surely the group will agree with me that at least there were people on this island at some point. So you say, "Wow! S O S, well at least we can say that some people were on this island at some point to write those letters. I guess we can hope that this island is known, so that people can find us." Surprisingly, you get confused looks and the group collectively say, "You can't say that!" You don't respond, but again the same man says, "You must be confused, this also is just what has been shaped over time. You can't say that anyone with any form of intelligence like us could have written these things down. It is simply the formation of stones in the beach which over time were swept onto the shore to make the appearance of what we understand to be letters. You can't say for certain that someone intentionally meant to write down the letters S O S in the sand. It is just a matter of time and how time has shaped these things to look as they are today." At this point you give up and don't know what else to say to this rather ignorant group, at least that is what you think. Then again, why is it that only you can see the seemingly obvious answer to the things discovered, that is, that someone 'created' these things, and yet they can't? Are you the one that is ignorant and crazy? Did time just shape these rather simple things into being?

Okay, so after reading this little anecdote, you may be thinking, well duh! This story is just ridiculous. But why is it so ridiculous? It is ridiculous to say that an arrowhead was shaped by itself over time, but it is not ridiculous to say that at one point fish began to grow legs and walk on land until they became mammals. It is ridiculous to say that a canoe would shape itself over time, but it is not ridiculous to say the Big Bang just happened with nothing to set it in motion. Lastly, it is ridiculous to say that three letter, SOS, formed themselves on a beach over time, but it is not ridiculous to say that DNA had no master creator behind it to ensure that man becomes a man, animal become animal, that our bodies can mend wounds physically, by itself, if we get hurt without anyone doing anything or that we can learn, memorize, and discover things as we encounter them in life, with no explanation as to how the brain works exactly and how it is so different from other creatures (no, we cannot be compared with an ape which a person, mind you, not a fellow ape, teaches, yes teaches, another great gift we have, how to communicate with the simplest of language in knowing how to push buttons or copy and match sign language signals). WHY ARE WE SO DIFFERENT FROM EVERY OTHER CREATURE ON EARTH? Aren't we special? Something happened that seperated us from the fishes swimming in the seas, the birds flying in the air, the apes living on trees. What happened? Why? We can't ignore these questions. Not for long. I just hope for that one day when people may be able to use the brain God gave them to finally stop their blatant ignorance, their idiotic stubborness in refusing to say, "Yes, there is a God." "Yes, we can't explain the beginning of our beginning." "Yes, someone had to set everything in motion, even the Big Bang, that not even science can replicate or explain." "Yes, I am special, I am different, I am important and was created for something grand." Why is this so difficult to say? Why are we being battered from saying we are unique when we are? The proof is right in front of us, every single day, every single rising of the sun, change of the season, birth of new life. Why?

New Start

Everyday is a new day, and so it begins today