What did you learn last Holy Week?

While it is not the norm to draw up a list of “Lessons learned during Holy Week,” I’ve always assumed that most people who went on vacation or religious reflection for five days would surely come home with a few realizations, perhaps even new goals if not some amount of repentance and seedlings of renewal.

If you live most of the year living and believing God, I don’t think it will be a cosmic issue if you come back with non-religious goals or even business plans. To be honest I did very little “religious activity” last week and instead, spent so much energy doing mostly manual labor at our mini-farm in Lipa.

The great thing about going back to a whole week of manual labor is it is the best form of detox I can imagine. Not only did I burn excess fat, purge toxins from my body, I actually did so much “spring cleaning” that even the physical surroundings of the place vastly improved.

So in terms of take home material, lesson #1 is that no gym or club can beat the double benefit of doing honest to goodness “house cleaning.” Most people have taken away the real value and physical effort required in cleaning up your house, your car, even your office. Sadly most of them don’t realize that this simple undertaking is a quick fix in terms of exhaustion and instant achievement.

Lesson 2 is throwing out the unwanted, unused, unserviceable and giving away your excess which gives you the satisfaction of release from your “materialism,” unfounded attachments, and greed. In order to achieve this you really have to be brutal and determined to let go of the junk and the extras that you will never ever use or have been standing in the same space for years. Chances are they are past shelf life or now going through material fatigue or out of fashion!

In return you could earn some money that you can use as part of your start up for a new project or even new equipment. When we sold so much scrap metal, I made enough money to buy a high end home gym equipment or a “karaoke system” I have long secretly desired. Funny thing is I realized that all I needed was an elastic rubber band for exercise alongside a few cheap dumbbells and a training ball and a 1960s bicycle. When you learn to let go of stuff, you start having second thoughts about acquiring new stuff!

With a whole week of meditation on betrayals, accusations and crucifixions being highlighted in media, my wife and I started talking about what we have, who were counting on us, and the fact that everything was hinged on how healthy we stayed and how long we lived that way.

I believe that God will bless us with long life, but the 3rd lesson was to work things out so that “living” would not be dependent solely on our physical ability to earn a living. Lesson #4 was to take better care of our bodies!

Putting these two together, we must never take what we have for granted.

“I’m fine” is a very dangerous statement that many people use in spite of the fact that they are on maintenance medicine; they are 15 to 20 pounds overweight and living a hectic life that produces marginal results for every extra hour or day they add at work. The sad part is that I have buried enough people in the past month who never enjoyed their retirement or real family time!

Just yesterday, I spoke to a couple whose family owns a hundred hectares plus but have no skills or desire to till the land or put it to good use. Funny thing is that they never thought of selling the property so they can use the money to do something they like or want to do. At the end of the day, their great asset was not a blessing but a curse.

That is what usually happens when we don’t realize that we are all caretakers left in charge of God’s property. Sooner or later the Boss figures out who among us are doing our best and who don’t. Remember the rule: from the unfaithful, that which he has will be taken and given to the trustworthy. It is a rule of life as much as it is a rule of God. If you don’t use it, you lose it! That is lesson #5.

Whether it’s property, small sum of money, skills, tools or opportunity to serve, they are all part of the package intended for use by owner or manager!

Lesson # 6 was a bit of the grid. During Easter Sunday I was reflecting on a “PIN” or Person In Need and wondering what would ever become of him given his age and financial circumstance. I worried about how long I would have to help him out. That’s when I was silently reminded about how Jesus fed 5,000 people not just once, not just twice but more. God certainly has a way of putting things in perspective.

On the 7th day, I had a business plan. I would go back to what worked for us in the past, make full use of our main asset which was the land and the environment, creatively redesign established concepts, stay within our needs and those dependent upon us, and integrate everyone’s skills, products and interest in order to meet the needs and expectations within the community and leave everything else to God. To paraphrase Hannibal of the A-Team: “I Love it when the Holy Week comes together.”

So, what did you learn and what are you gong to do about it?

* * *

Email: [email protected]