It’s sometimes overwhelming the blessings from God are. I can only wish I can give back as much.

Today is Epiphany, a festival commemorating the manifestation of Jesus Christ to the gentiles in the persons of the Magi. It is also popularly known as the festival of the three kings but that’s something the church is moving away from. Long ago, it used to be observed on January 6 but these days it’s observed on the first Sunday of the year. It doesn’t matter, today is both.

Epiphany also means an experience of sudden and striking realization, originally through the divine, but these days not necessarily just the divine. This holiday (holy day) season, I had a personal epiphany, sort of. It may not be new to most but it is to me. So yeah, it’s quite significant.

I realized that it is quite easy to be Christian or Christ-like when everyone is nice to you and everything is fine and dandy. The challenge is when people are not-so-nice, maybe even downright mean, to you and when things are not to your liking. What would Christ do? Can I do the same?

Finally back to work from the quite long vacation. We went to visit my parents and it was awesome! We went to Camiguin, we went swimming (twice at the beach and once at the pool), we played a whole lot of Modern Warfare (and its mobile equivalent, Modern Combat), we went to the range, we ate and ate and ate (we were responsible for the demise of at least 2 whole pigs), we had durian shakes, and of course, what’s vacation without sleep, lots of sleep? The downside to having such a fun vacation is when it ends. Well, I guess it does make the next time so much exciting to look forward to.

The year past had been a difficult one. The home front is always a challenge, there was a huge transition at work leaving me with much less responsibility, I severely damaged my car entirely through my fault, a major purchase didn’t push through (for better or worse, it’s still disappointing), and long story short, I wasn’t able to accomplish much. So I won’t even bother to review my last year’s resolutions and will just put my previous resolutions up again for this year:

• Declutter, or attempt to, the house. I’ll need two shelves for starters.
• Take cooking or dance classes maybe with Michelle.
• Take advanced photography classes.
• Go surfing in La Union or some other surfing destination. I’ve been to Zambales and I want to try another place. (I was actually able to surf CME, twice, and Zambales again)
• Go hiking and camping in one trip.
• Be closer to family. Fix my marriage for starters. Attend family events. Talk with the members of the family.
• Be closer to God. Attend mass regularly, reflect and pray regularly.