“Kaibigan, kamusta ka?”

That is how we, Filipinos, greet one another in our native language especially with people whom we haven’t seen for a long time. I must admit it’s been awhile since my last blog post here, but I have a valid reason why this post never made it to my consistent #everyFridayblogpost for 3 consecutive Fridays now. Today, as of writing, it’s actually a Saturday and around 12 midnight to be exact. 😀

So hear ye, hear ye, my beloved readers. Thou shall not cover thy ears for my words will but gently pierce.

Alright, alright. Enough with the never-ending intros, Tin. lol Nope, I am not messing around with you but this is my way of setting up the mood for this article – personal, casual, light, and a journal.

So, let’s start, shall we?

If there is but one thing we all have a hard time managing in this ever-present and modern world aside from time, it is this – priorities. If there is also one of us here who never had a dilemma how to manage priorities, do shoot me an email. I’d really love to learn how you did it.

I have always been a “doer.” When I plan, I set goals. When I set goals, I make sure I am working on achieving these goals. These goals vary from short-term such as paying the bills on Thursday, etc., to long-term goals i.e. career planning, business ventures, and a whole lot of things in between. In other words, I am a multitasker.

Currently, I have so many things going on even though the past weeks were already the busiest. This includes adjusting to our new home since hubby and I recently transferred. If you can imagine all the packing and unpacking that went on and still going on, I’m sure you’ll understand. 😉 I got the hang of it, though. I believe this is the toil of man, to never fully rest until we all reach the end of our timelines in this world.

For the past two weeks, I spent it with my families – the last week of May with my biological family (Ginete family) and the 1st week of June with my in-laws (Rome family). Those weeks were hectic to the point that my Dad, who spent 78 years of his existence in the province, admitted that the city life is so fast-paced time just flies when they’re here. I can’t contest this, it’s quintessentially true. 🙂

This is, in fact, the very reason why I’d love to go back home in the province and stay there for good. This is pretty ironic to someone like me who loves doing a lot of things. I love the laidback atmosphere in the province not because I am lazy. It’s because I enjoy solitude as it calms and eases my mind.

Right now, my mind is a huge mess. I often wondered how I can manage to come up with an article while trying to balance everything. I am always prone to falling into this bad habit of workaholism. I have to constantly remind myself I won’t be able to achieve much when my body and my mind fail me.

Breathe. Take some time off. Pause.

The laidback lifestyle in the province gives us that opportunity. As a writer, there can be so many things in your head and writing them off seems like a never “good enough” solution. But praise God for the comfort of our sound-proof room now, even the drilling noise from a nearby construction site is lessened to just a whisper. *wink* I am grateful to God and my family for this great opportunity to live in a new home. 🙂

A deeper contemplation is what every writer needs. It is from the deepest recesses of our souls that the beauty of words is revealed. That is why I love midnights. I love staying awake in the wee hours of the morning. Everything is quiet. All I hear are my thoughts – loud and clear. It helps me to discern, to block distractions, and to fish those thoughts out one by one until they’re all carefully laid out.

Just like priorities.

You need to handpick them one by one so you can align them accordingly. Balance is achieved once you know what are the priorities that are particularly urgent and what are not.

So how did I manage the past week’s schedule? Maintaining balance is the key. But first, come up with what should be on top of your list and stick to it.

Here’s how mine looks:

1. God
2. Husband
3. Family
4. Career
5. Ministry

Image copyright: blogos.org

A word of caution here, though. Don’t confuse God and Ministry as something interchangeable. God being the top priority means your personal relationship with Him a.k.a. devotion and prayer time. The ministry is God’s calling for you how to serve His people. In my case, it is this blog.

So this, my friends, is the reason why I was hibernating from WordPress. I need to serve our families’ needs first. But I am just grateful how God orchestrated all the events that took place so beautifully and perfectly because I honored what matters to Him first.

Here’s how the events played out:

• Nothing too fancy and as simple as air conditioning units installed right after my parents arrived (they won’t survive the summer heat in the metro).
• Hubby and I also gave them a wedding anniversary gift in the form of Mom’s cataract surgery for a pretty discounted price (hubby’s work privileges). They are now both cataract-free and with 20/20 vision.
• We were also able to spend a meaningful time with my father-in-law who’s a seafarer. Their ship passed by and stayed in the Philippines exactly the week when my sister-in-law will graduate in college.

Actually, a whole lot more of surprises took place and I can only attest that indeed, with God, nothing is impossible especially to those who believe. 🙂

Here are some of the photos with the fam bam:

(with the Ginete Family)

(with the Rome Family)

I prioritized our families over my career and yet God made a way for me to stay true to my commitment. As much as the workaholic in me would like to check emails and draft articles while on vacation, the place where my Dad-in-law’s ship was docked had no signal for mobile internet.

So, I prayed to God that if this is how He wishes things to be, may He prepare me once I get back and find out I was laid off from my job. 😀 Yes, I missed meeting the 2-article minimum for every week because I was able to write none for the entire week.

But as you all know, God is good all the time. I came back after the vacation and my employment contract is still intact and no memo came through the email. 😀 I am also grateful for my job now because I had the time to run errands for my family and attend to their needs especially with my aging parents.

Dad had one of his worst gout attacks while they’re here and seeing him crippled because of pain was too painful to watch too. It’s a good thing the practical side of me focused on what needs to be done and never focus on my emotions.

Ah yes, this is how empaths are. I believe most empaths are writers. Writers love seclusion every now and then and so are empaths. Being in a crowd often means absorbing so many emotions and it can completely bear us down. Writing helps unload those emotions when they become too heavy.

So, my family came third. God and my husband remained on the top 2. Right now, I am back to my daily grind writing articles for an ad agency. Another opportunity for a long-term project also came along plus an invitation to write articles for a faith-based website catering to an international audience. There are actually more pending collaborations with Christian writers up on the list from across the globe. These are opportunities that I am grateful for and I know God has a purpose behind them all. I believe 2018 is the year for fellowship with Christian writers from any part of the world.

Oh, and I believe this article falls in the long-form journalism category. 😀 The article runs through approximately 1,607 words. lol This can go on and on but sleep beckons, I must succumb. Hubby and I binge-watch movies yesterday since it’s a holiday. 😉

Regarding long-form writing, I was able to research a great deal about it last night out of curiosity. If you will ask me how I encountered the word, it just popped up out of the blue. I’m sure I’ve heard it somewhere and my brain recollected it just last night. I believe this is a “tugging” about a personal project I felt I needed to work on sometime in the future. Only God knows when but I already have hints.

This, I believe, can wait. The ministry requires more waiting time because it follows God’s timeline and not mine. Thus, it is the last in my priorities. God will take control of it first, I am just on the receiving end to act out when He instructed.

Personally, some events are stalled when it comes to ministry work because God is still in the process of orchestrating everything until it is completely perfect to be revealed and executed – the birth of testimonies. Just like how this blog came alive.

To end this article, when you manage your priorities, your 2nd, 3rd, or 4th priorities may differ from mine but please keep the top spot reserved consistently for only One – God. The following verse will answer your question “why.” 🙂

“But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.” – Matthew 6:33

How do you manage your priorities? I would like to hear your experiences too. ❤

Always putting God at the top,