Time, Change, and Life

It was like few days ago when I started as a college freshman in Ateneo. Looking back,life was so simple then. The only concern I had was my grade. I had to make it through every semester. The only things I would look forward to were examinations and enrollments.

After four years, I decided to stay and teach. I made that decision as a gratitude of a scholar. My whole 4 years of study was financed by the Ramon L. Siy Scholarship Foundation through our Scholarships office. The goodness that these people showed made me decide to stay for a while and teach. After 2 or 3 years of teaching, I thought, I will try greener pastures.

Writing this now make me smile. The past few days made me pause and think of those decisions. I didn't qualify the "while" in my plans then. Didn't think that the "while" could be 11 years, and counting. Yes, it has been eleven (11) years; 11 years of studying and preparing, of meeting new students, of going in and out of the Ateneo gates. Sometimes, I do wonder how I made it through :) but knowing that some people have been here for 20 years or so, makes it really great! 11 years came unnoticed. I can't remember getting tired of the campus. Perhaps, I have found a home with Ateneo. My second home. And my teachers, my co-teachers, my bosses, my students as my "housemates".

*sigh*... Life is not simple at all. It becomes complicated. And it's a challenge how to make this complicated and busy life simple.

Now, as I enter my 11th year of teaching, and as I end my term as a department chair, there's a feeling of excitement and sadness. I feel excited that, after 5 years, finally, I can relax a bit. The experience I had as department chair was not at all easy. Many times during my term, I wished I wasn't one. But the challenge continued. For every harship I faced came the lessons to learn. Lessons that I didn't learn as a student. Indeed, experience is the best teacher. However, I feel sad. Many of us doesn't like change especially if we have gotten use to this kind of life. But change must come. Without change, there's no growth. Change must happen for us to grow as a person and as a professional.

At times, there's fear. This feeling is here because I don't know what is to come next. Life is full of uncertainties. I have plans, ok. But, we still don't know how would this go.

Jer. 29: 11 says "I alone know the plans I have for you, plans to bring you prosperity and not disaster, plans to bring about the future you hope for"

In these changes that I have now, I surrender it to God. I pray for patience, for strengths as I make another step of my life. I pray that whatever is ahead, God will lead the way.


( I miss making blog entries. The work I have the past 2 weeks made me visit or write less. And I am happy that I have a new entry here. I apologize for any grammatical error. ;) Perhaps when skills in writing came down from heaven, my mother was sleeping :) just kidding)