A year in words

How do you describe a year in words?

Thinking of an answer to that question can be hard as everyone around me is blowing their horns to welcome the New Year. For my part, I can not believe it that the year is actually changing into the same number as the year my class is supposed to graduate. When I go back to Baguio on the 4th, the class patch that I will be wearing actually has the same number as that of the of the calendar the rest of the world will be using. This is the year that I will graduate from the Academy.

Looking back at the year that will come to pass in the next few minutes, it was indeed challenging and I am just in awe and grateful that I have surpassed all the challenges that came my way. Let me take you in a journey of how the year has been and help you understand why I say what I say in this blog entry.

The year came in with a frustration. As soon as I stepped in Baguio to go back to PMA after the break, I was received by the sad news that something not good will happen to me. In the days that followed after my return to PMA, I had to deal with one of the greates challenge that I will face as a soldier... to understand humility, obedience and submission to authority. In this blog entry, I slowly tried to understand that the thing that I love most in PMA is taken away from me. It was a journey from one frustration to another as I try to struggle letting go of the things that I believe make me the person that I am. I felt that life is supposed to be lived according to the person that you are, realizing that it is not the case. It is not the person that we are but rather the person that we are supposed to be... the person that God has intended us to be. In my case it was to be a soldier. In this blog entry three months later, I realized the lesson behind the frustration and started to embrace this lesson. Looking back at it now I am just amazed at how the person that I am is being molded... being renewed.

From that initial frustration was a series of several others that came with it. I almost was not able to go on break when I became a first class and of course some privileges that I had to forego because of the punishment that I was serving brought about by the incident. It was not a welcome experience but went on as I had the intention to graduate. Although the lesson has been understood, to really appreciate it was a different story. As I said, it was a day to day renewal of some sort that took me into a roller coaster of emotions, all of which I had to process and contend with.

When the new semester came in, I just wanted to finish everything off so that my life would be simpler only to be met by another obstacle, the dreaded Physical Fitness Test. At first, I did not take it seriously. I went on with my life and made no mention about it. Deep inside, it was a form of denial. Denial by simply not accepting that it was a problem plus of course trying to save myself from the embarrassment of not passing a simply physical fitness test (as most people would say). Again, it was a journey of humility and submission as I was little by little being made to understand that I can do nothing apart from Christ. Finally, in this blog entry, I confronted the problem head on. I initially thought that it was simple but now, it was an experience that has taught me lessons that has changed the person that I am. As I look back at the times when I just cried to myself out of fear and not knowing what to do, I can now sense that those where the times when I finally understood that I am a person of strength only when I put my faith on the God that I know.

All in all, I could say that the year was a preparation for greater things. It was a journey of humbling myself and just allowing God to work in my life. The lesson that I very well understand now is my favorite verse in the Bible: "Be still and know that I am God."

Today is approximately two and a half months from my Graduation. I am hoping that life would be easier at the same time, I am fully submitting myself to everything that will come my way. I have learned that life is not a series of choices that we take, but rather it is a series of opportunities that we take advantage of whether good or bad. Our choices are guided by how much we are willing to submit our will to a Higher Being. This is my year in words. God Bless us all. Happy New Year everyone.

Note: The picture above was the "feast" we had during the New Year