Sat With Ren: September

I can't believe that we are already on the third day of 'ber month.' Here in the Philippines, we are said to have the longest Christmas celebration. Because as soon as September 1 comes, you could already feel the spirit of Christmas everywhere. You could already see some stores have already started selling different Christmas ornaments. People are already starting to put Christmas decorations. Different radio stations nationwide are already playing Christmas songs. There's this one famous Christmas song that as soon as the 'ber months' begin, automatically you could hear it playing. Here's the lyrics of the song by Mr. Jose Mari Chan: 

Let's sing Merry Christmas 

And a happy holiday 

This season may we never forget 

The love we have for Jesus 

Let him be the one to guide us 

As another new year starts 

And may the spirit of Christmas 

Be always in our hearts

You could already see different memes of him on social media even if it's only mid July. 

Doesn't it excite you as the Christmas season is approaching? Like no matter how dull the past eight months had been, when September 1 comes it's as if you could see the light at the end of the tunnel, that finally you have something to look forward to. And it doesn't matter even if you're being unproductive during these months because it feels like you have an excuse, that you're waiting for Christmas. I don't know about you, but that's how I feel towards it. 

Aside from the fact that September 1 is the official start of Christmas season here in the Philippines, it is also my birthday month. That's why this month is very special to me. In just four days I am going to be a year older. And I owe all the past and the coming years to come to Jesus Christ our Lord. He's the reason why I made it this far, and still doing so. 

As we grow older, birthdays become more meaningful. Unlike when we were all just kids where the only things that matter were balloons, cakes and gifts. If we had them, our birthday were already complete. But now, it isn't that simple anymore. There are some who don't want to celebrate their birthdays anymore. Others are dreading their birthday cause they're going to be a year older. I don't understand why some adults don't want to disclose their real age. Isn't that something to be proud of? Because some people their age, weren't fortunate enough to celebrate another year here on earth. 

As an adult, adding another year in our life feels like moving to another level. You know in a game there's level 1, level 2, and so on, yeah it kinda feels like that. I mean, despite everything that we've been through, those silent battles that no one knows, we should feel privileged to be given another year and celebrate that we've moved to another level. We sometimes feel that nothing much has changed and things remain constant as we grow older, but surprisingly when we look back we're going to realize how different everything is from what they once were. At times we wish to go back to those years when everything seems perfect. Sadly, we cannot. All we have left are memories during those days. And I think that's something to be glad about, that even once in our life we got to experience those kinds of moments. 

Each moment in our life is bound to happen. Either good or bad, it's a lesson or simply an experience. We have to go through it for us to be the person we were meant to be. Some experience made us strong, while some made us wise. The more we experience some unfortunate events, the more we should be grateful. That despite those some adversities, we are still here fighting to survive. And that's something to be celebrated. 

Birthday for me sort of feels like celebrating New Year—my own New Year, a new beginning. Like, what's in store for me this year? It makes me feel hopeful. Hopeful in a sense that this another level of mine provides me with another new opportunities. Entering into another year makes me look forward to better days. I know how God's timing is everything that's why every birthday of mine I am hoping that it will the year that He would finally answer my prayers. The past years had to happen to prepare me for the things that I've been constantly praying to Him. I know that those years won't go to waste. I believe that He's going to answer my prayer when it's about time. 

au revoir.😊