muffetvillegas

The Awesome God

2011-12-19T23:58:00.000-08:00

Moonlight Mass Romance

The moonlight is enough to trigger their primitive instincts to reproduce. They may not have brains or eyes to see, but their whole beings become active and attuned to the pale blue light that make them romantic. The next thing that happens is a spectacle that many would love to see. Soon, the wide expanse of the silvery sea is covered with vast slicks of new life. Sperms and eggs are slowly pushed from the corals' mouths. How the right sperm ends up with the right egg is more complicated to solve.
The way corals reproduce is an amazing mystery even to this age of high technology.The pale blue light coming from the moon triggers a mass romance, causing acres of corals to spawn in perfect harmony after an October full moon.
Scientists say that corals possess this ancient protein known as cryptochromes, a gene in the coral's DNA that can detect moonlight. This gene is also present in other mammals, some insects and even humans. Studies show that it has an important role in our body clock , in terms of doing the right thing at the right time.

Last week, before the summer ends,I had another chance to get a glimpse of these primitive animals in their sanctuary. This is an added attraction to Antulang Beach Resort, where my husband and I spent our weekend together with writers and artists.
Most of us enjoyed activities like cruising, kayaking, snorkeling, horseback riding and painting on the spot. Distinguished writers like Krip Yuson, and multiple Palanca awardee writer Ian Casocot and writing fellows from Manila were also present. Lito Aro, Susan canoy and myself, met Simo, the " manananggot" a very interesting subject to paint.
Juanito Lee, Japi Villegas Lee,Annabelle Lee Adriano and husband Edu Adriano together with their daughter, the youngest budding poet and writer Suyen were perfect hosts.

Just below the rocks and the cliff are the white sand and clear green waters. A few hundred meters away, between the world famous diving site of Apo island and Antulang is an awesome collection of underwater treasures. A bed of multicolored corals where rainbow colored fishes frolic and hide. Our snorkeling guide, Marcelo Palon or Loi Loi, the butler took Susan and me to the corals.
The corals' wide array of colors lying on the ocean's bed are all found in God's painting palette. They grow so slowly, weaving intricate designs that goes beyond man's imagination. A wide cluster of them look like thousands of fingers reaching out for humans who are invading their privacy. Others look like thin fiery fans waving goodbyes. They are in all kinds of shapes and colors. Their intriguing hues range from cool colors like blues to the warmest colors like fiery orange.
Spending time with nature and knowing how living things are coping with life strengthens my faith that God is in control of everything. He knows exactly my body clock. Our time is written on His hand. He thought about us, and made us wonderfully, including these corals.

Goodbye as the hardest words

2011-12-19T23:52:00.000-08:00

Saying Goodbye
Running a race and watching others fall one by one can be scary. Because this race is not about reaching the finish line but by running still... and running more...days, weeks and years. This is about buying time, and if possible, missing the finish line.
Life can be so wonderful, we don't want it to end. Loved ones and friends are treasures that we can't simply leave behind. But sad to say we are all made of dust, and to dust we shall return.

Science had made new discoveries. From cloning to finding a new planet which is earth like in size. They have challenged death itself, by prolonging people's lives through machines. But it remains as a challenge to conquer death itself, except to those who believe in the atoning death of Christ.

I have not really faced the reality of physical death until I had breast cancer. I thought life on earth is forever and it will never end. But visiting hospitals and sitting among others who have cancers too, it was like sitting on a death row.

I learned few days ago that my friend died after battling with cancer for a few months. Many have been praying and interceding for her as we have stayed connected with her husband while she was confined in one of the hospitals in Manila. But despite of pleadings and tears, she had to go. She was a christian believer and she loved serving the Lord. Rene is back to her real home now, although we will be missing her a lot.

Physical death is a sad part of human existence. Yet it is part of life. Many people avoid this topic, although this is one of the two things that are certain in life. Death and taxes.

As I face my own mortality, saying goodbye to those whom I love is the hardest word to say. It is like leaving a home you have grown to love. So many familiar faces and so much memories to leave behind.

But we can't live here forever, can we? We are all squatters in this world. Just like the grass in the fields, we are here today and gone tomorrow. No matter how much we drink anti-aging drugs and applying anti- aging lotions on our skin, we all face but one destiny.

But death for believers in Christ is not saying goodbye. It is about seeing you later, because we believe in life after death. It is the beginning of another journey where there is no more pain, and no more needles.

For us who believe in the atoning death of Christ on the cross, life is like a small dot and after that is an endless line called eternity, where there is no illness, nor death to separate us from our first love, who is God.

A Memory

2011-12-19T23:41:00.000-08:00

The Gift of Time
“The cicadas are singing intensely because they have only few weeks to live. They have to make most of their time.” My mother said to me as she thoughtfully looks out of her window.
My mother’s name is Rosita. Her soft snowy white hair is covering a portion of her intelligent face, which sometimes becomes puffy with all the medicines she’s taking. It is late afternoon and the cicadas are singing among the trees in my mother’s garden. The sound is deafening but they bring so many beautiful childhood memories for both of us. I come to visit her often in her modest home close to mine, which is surrounded with mangoes, coconuts, and other fruit bearing trees which she and my father planted when he was alive.
Today, she is sick, and my brother Carlos and I care for her.
She came back three months ago after spending four years under my sister’s care in California. Her health is failing now at the age of 81, but she insists to do her gardening despite of her kidney problems. This wonderful woman taught me how to paint at the age of three, and showed me many important things in life that I will always treasure.
Our mornings during childhood were always beautiful because she woke all of her four children with butterfly kisses. She retired many years ago after teaching grade school for more than thirty years. Her beautiful mind is now fading. She forgets everything you said in a few minutes and she asks the same question over and over again.
She remembers the past so vividly that I can paint her childhood in my mind. And today, she teaches me about this beautiful insect that can be found also in other countries like Australia and North America.
The cicadas sleep for about 17 years under the ground and live for only about four weeks above the ground and in the trees. They emerge for the first week, sing and mate for two weeks, and the last week is spent for laying eggs and dying.
Most of the cicadas don’t last that long, since the birds love them too, yet in those few weeks of life, these patient creatures have accomplished their purpose.
In my curiosity, I also found out that since the mothers won’t be there to take care of their young called nymphs, God made these “Nymphs” sleep through adulthood , more or less 13 to 17 years under the ground until they emerge again and live for less than a month. Yet their short existence never seemed to bother them. They sing songs and serenade their mates with the highest pitch possible.
Their life is too short for them to complain. The sounds are produced by the male adults as a mating call and also to distract the birds from eating them. The males will sing to the top of their tymbals, or a pair of ribbed membranes at the base of the abdomen and produce an intense noise beyond 120 dB , which can reach the pain threshold of the human ear at a close range. Other small species of cicadas produce higher pitch songs that it is beyond the range of our hearing.
What is more amazing is that the producer of this noise is protected by its own sound. The cicadas organs for hearing called the tympana, automatically closes so that it won’t be deafened by its own noise.
Experts are still researching on the mechanisms involved regarding the singing apparatus of the cicadas.
Our God made an amazing universe, that our human mind cannot fully comprehend. He reminds us once again that time is a gift. How long we live is not as important as how much we have lived.
“…you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”-James 4:14

TIME

2011-05-16T07:54:00.001-07:00

By Muffet Dolar Villegas

Time, The Great Equalizer

“Lost yesterday,somewhere between sunrise and sunset, two golden hours, each set with sixty diamond minutes. No reward is offered for they are gone forever.” Horace Mann wrote.
Time is the greatest equalizer. Everyone has 24 hours, no more and no less. Time lost is gone forever.
Hibiscus or gumamelas or Antulang are beautiful and fleeting. Those which bloom today are gone tomorrow. I collect these flowers with different hues and watch them bloom in just a single day. So to preserve them, I take pictures and paint them forever on canvas or acid free paper.
One of the greatest lessons I learned in life with cancer is that time is a beautiful gift. Most people I met, who have been through this ordeal, seems to have an extraordinary zest for life.
I can’t forget my friend and classmate inside the chemotherapy room, Gingging, who would come inside the room, brimming with smile, thin, bald but beautiful. She wore nothing on her head. She was proud that she was bald and lovely. Her enthusiasm was contagious. She would ask the nurses to find a vein somewhere else , to give her room to move her arm and hand.
She taught me that if I want to draw or paint while having chemotherapy (so she can watch and learn,) I can ask them to free my hand and find for veins somewhere else to use for intravenous. It worked for the first few sessions, but later the good sturdy veins ran out as more sessions continued.
Sometimes at the end of a session, she would become weak, and closed her eyes, most of us do, feeling the intensity of the different chemicals flowing inside our veins.
Most of us wanted our time to go slow, but at the same time we wanted the treatment to be over.
Finally it was, and now we take one day at a time. The precious hair came back, but some of us continue to count the days and wait for that day when remission is over and life ends as it was expected.
Shall we live longer to wait for death?
Shall we not welcome each day with joy in our hearts, not regret, but enthusiasm? In psalms 118 it says, This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.”
Each day is short, so let us love everyday, or take time for someone.
I was touched with what Kojak wrote about his father last week, When his dying dad offered his blue eyes for someone to use. It was a beautiful heart with beautiful blue eyes. I love your column. I get encouraged everytime I read them.

2011-05-10T19:41:00.001-07:00

2011-05-10T19:39:00.000-07:00

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Stay Plugged In

2010-09-11T01:47:00.000-07:00

Stay Plugged In

I found the story of the cinder and the lamp in one of our old devotionals that is very interesting as I face more challenges in life.

Henry Ward Beecher wrote, “A cold cinder and a burning lamp started out one day to see what they could find. The cinder came back and wrote in its journal that the world was dark. It did not find a place wherever it went in which there was light. Everywhere was darkness. The lamp when it came back, wrote in its journal, ‘wherever I went it was light. I did not find any darkness in my journey. The whole world was light.’ What was the difference? The lamp carried light with it and illumined everything about it. The dead cinder carried no light, and found none.”

Every day is a journey. Sometimes we wake up in a sunny day and in other times the sky is gray. Good days are when the doctor says you are on remission and bad days are when you are back to the same white walls. How can you rejoice if you are dying or you can’t hold your job? How can you smile if you lost a baby or someone you love was figured in an accident? Believe it or not, our emotions may depend on our circumstances.The pain we carry around spreads like a contagious disease.

It is easier to be a cinder rather than a lamp. It is easy to find faults of people and situations and inflict pain rather than praise, to grumble rather than to give thanks.

If you are a boss, you find relief by releasing your anger and frustrations to your employees and make them feel like you. Misery loves company.

Parents can make their children feel inadequate, always short of their expectations, pushing them to their limits to make up for their own failures they had made in the past.

If you have parents, there is always someone to be blamed why you have shortcomings. It has to be their responsibility not yours.

It takes a higher challenge to be a lamp. Can you rise above the circumstance or beyond the ordinary self? Can you see the flowers beyond the rain? Do you find diamonds in the mud? Have you given up hope to a seemingly hopeless situation?

To be a lamp is to be plugged in all the time to the ultimate source of light and love. His lamp never goes out even in the strongest of storms. His love is constant no matter who you are. Your sense and purpose is not determined by others but how God fits you in an intricate design He has made.

The moment you unplug yourselves from that connection, you die inside. A day becomes a long stretch of barren land, with no tree in sight. You are alone.

Every single day has its own purpose and rewards. Stay plugged in.

Priorities

2010-09-11T01:41:00.000-07:00

Which is More Important?

2010-07-24T20:00:00.000-07:00

Priorities
It was difficult to tell whether he was aware that he would die in a few months or not. His doctor said that the extent of metastases to his other organs was massive. But his calmness and hopefulness baffled his family. They wanted to tell him about the truth. His last wishes meant a lot to them. But the consequence might be more fatal than death itself. Depression might pull him down and the precious few months will turn into nothingness.
How do you talk about death? How do you break the news and allow it to sink and never be afraid? Who would dare to break the news? Are you brave enough?
This is a common dilemma to those who have encountered the big C. Others die without even knowing that they had cancer. Others simply didn’t want to know, or even cared.
It is easy to ask someone what clothes is she going to wear when she attends a birthday party. But choosing a dress that leave the last impression to her family and friends forever is another story. Most answers might be “That’s the least of my worry.” But what if she does? What if she wanted something special to make a meaningful exit? What if she had set aside many things that she had wanted to do in life thinking that there will always be time for that? What if she had waited for the right moment to tell her husband how much he had made her life complete? What if she had reserved some praises for her children, words like, “I thank God that He gave me wonderful children who made me very happy and proud?”
There is nothing wrong with hoping and praying and bargaining with God for more years… but sometimes His answer is Yes and sometimes No. We all live in a borrowed time. We live by His grace.
Five years ago, I was confronted with my own mortality when I had invasive breast cancer. Surgeries and chemotherapies followed. There were good days and dark moments. My oncologist gave me a hint that preparing a video of myself would be helpful to my family to preserve memories.
I reflected upon it thinking that to be prepared at all times wont alter God’s appointed time. I always believed that God’s plan is perfect. His purpose is always good. Death can be a taboo to humanity, but for those who hope in the salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, death is just a beginning of an eternity.
I started my compilation, and painted more big canvasses to leave something like a legacy to my family. I created blogs and websites for my paintings and other artists who like to include their works. I documented my paintings and poems in keynote presentation to keep those who would attend my vigil from getting bored. My daughter Magenta is also my closest friend. We have talked about future plans that maybe weird to those who consider death as morbid. I need someone in my family who is brave and has an open mind about issues like that. To prepare is not about losing faith, but respecting God’s own plan.
I began to teach passionately, telling my students how blessed they are and how wonderful to be alive, and today is special, not to be wasted, but cherished, for it will never come back. I wanted to impart knowledge without holding back.
I didn’t even notice that my youngest son wanted more of my company in watching TV than seeing me in front of my easel or teaching. To him, what matters most is the family’s togetherness, counting days to have a trip to the mall, spend time with relatives, visit the farm, eat spaghetti together or simply being complete as a family.
Facing the reality of life and death as a matter of natural cycle is not easy. But it makes a lot of difference when we make the most of our time while it lasts. When I forget my priorities, my family reminds me that I can be replaced easily as a teacher, but not as a wife and mother.

Antulang redux - KRIPOTKIN By Alfred A. Yuson | The Philippine Star Lifestyle Features Arts and Culture

2010-06-10T21:02:00.000-07:00

Antulang redux - KRIPOTKIN By Alfred A. Yuson | The Philippine Star Lifestyle Features Arts and Culture

Faith in God helps artist fight cancer

2010-06-10T18:23:00.000-07:00

Faith in God helps artist fight cancer

Where is God?

2010-06-08T21:14:00.000-07:00

A Journey through Cancer
By Muffet Dolar Villegas
July 19,2009
When God is Silent
I met many hurting people through this journey. Husbands who lost their wives with cancer, children who lost their fathers who had lung cancer, widowed wives, grieving parents whose children died of leukemia.
A husband who just lost his beloved wife, kept on repeating to himself, “She’s gone…my wife is not coming back. She’s dead. I can’t see her forever.” And yet when he walks to familiar streets and turns to many corners, he sees her. The memory seems to live forever. Everything and everyone reminds him of her. The emotional pain is unbearable. The distance is unfathomable. The why is endless. To him, nothing is ever going to be the same again.
Where is God, is He listening?
When God is silent, we grope for answers. Sometimes we get angry, in other times we just crumble and we want to die too.
A man whose wife has been bedridden for months could not let her go. Her pain was numbed by morphine after morphine. Her body weak and most of the times she was not lucid. She did not want to die, not because she didn’t want the pain to end but she did not want her loved ones to grieve. So she hung on. Her tired body craved for rest, but she had to cling to dear life.
He looked at her. Sadness gripped his heart as he stared at Her emaciated body which was only a shadow of her few months ago. She was dying. He knew. But he wanted her to fight. If there is a glimmer of hope in her heart he knew she would be well again. God will heal. He will. But … the next morning, she drew her last breath. He was devastated.
He turned to God. He begged Him, and He seemed to be silent. Where are you, God?
It is hard to trust when there seems to be nothing beyond the horizon. When the silver lining has turned to gray. Where Is God?
When God is silent, He listens to our heartbeats. He listens intently with His heart. He holds us so close, that when the moment comes, He wants us to be still and know that He is God. Life ‘s end is just a beginning of another journey.
Can we trust God that when He is silent, He still holds us in the palm of His hand, in sickness and in sorrow, in life and in death?

Your Muscles

2010-05-30T02:50:00.000-07:00

A Journey
By Muffet Dolar Villegas
May 25,2008

MOVE THOSE MUSCLES

As the dawn breaks, a handful of early risers hike along our boulevard to catch the sea breeze and do regular exercise. The tired balut vendors at night are slowly replaced by wide eyed, brisk walking regulars who barely missed their daily routine. At noontime, the boulevard is an oasis where people seek refuge from the heat.
A mixture of different culture from the east and the west thrive in this side of Dumaguete city where food is as varied as the people who linger and finally stay.
Families love to watch the sea and the moonlight at dusk while eating tempura, peanuts, pizza or chicken barbecue. Others prefer fine dining in restaurants with international cuisines fronting the shores.
The boulevard never sleeps. During late evenings, some lonely souls are waiting for someone to come along. This has become part of the scenery even on hot humid nights and cool stormy weather. For what purpose, its between them and God.
As the century old acacia trees form canopy laces against the reddish gold horizon, the boulevard comes alive with people from all walks of life, all ages, moving, walking, jogging back and forth.
Exercise is a healthy habit. New research shows that exercise can help protect girls from breast cancer especially when they start exercising as early as 12 to 22 years old. Middle aged women are also advised to get physically active to lower the risk of the disease.
Lauran Neergaard, wrote that those who start exercising at an early age really pays off.
Researchers found that women who are physically active as teens and young adults are less likely to develop premenopausal breast cancer than those who lead sedentary or inactive lifestyle, according to the report released recently in the Journal of National Cancer Institute in the United States.
Dr. Graham Colditz of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis said that sustained physical activity from a young age through adult years is the best way to get a maximum benefit.
Colditz cautioned that “This is not the extreme athlete.” The report said that three hours and fifteen minutes of running or any vigorous exercise a week can lower the risk of breast cancer and for those who are less athletic, 13 hours a week of walking,”
There are factors that we cannot change like our genes and our environment. Lifestyle is a choice. Exersice takes a lot of willpower. And the hardest part is to start.
Come and move those muscles. Let’s take a walk at the boulevard or bike along the rugged mountains going to Lake Balinsasayao, the twin lakes, or swim in the blue green waters with powdery white sand in other parts of the islands.
Forget those piles of documents you have to read or edit, or stories you need to write. Your computer can sit all day long and won’t miss you a bit as you take a day off in paradise. God made this beautiful world especially for you. The best day is now.

MOTHERS

2008-10-08T22:36:00.000-07:00

By Muffet Dolar Villegas
May 11,2008
Mothers are God’s Love in Action

Why did God create mothers? I think God created mothers because she is God’s love in action.
A mother is always there when the whole world turns against you. Her shoulders are broad for you to lean on when you are sad. Her eyes see beyond what others see. You are the most beautiful creature in her sight. She listens to you with her heart. She dies to her wants and her rights so that you may have abundant, happy life, and yet she finds joy in doing it. A mother cries because God gave her tears to shed when life is hard. She doesn’t give up. She was born with conflicting emotions. Not to lose herself or to give you the best of life.
Every night and day she thought about you. She worries about your food, shelter, comfort and those whom you love. She wants to shield you from the storm, and chases the shadows away that threaten to dampen your day.
A mother knows that she’s not perfect, yet she struggles to be one. Her home is where her children find comfort and love. Her love is unconditional even if her children reject her. Her tomorrow depends on what she plants today.
Her touch can spell magic. It has healing powers. She disciplines, teaches. feeds her children but always with a loving touch. Her children emulate her, and she is the beacon in her home.
When she grows old, she is so blessed if she spends her last remaining days with her loved ones and not in the care of strangers. She’s not certain of tomorrow but she must go on loving.
No one was born into this world without a mother. If you are not a mother, you must have a mother. Mother’s day was proclaimed in the 1890 by Julia Ward Howe.
Mother’s day is celebrated in different days and months in different countries worldwide. The most popular mothers day celebration here in the Philippines is every second Sunday of May, which is today.
Your mother is God’s wonderful gift. She is only here today, and gone tomorrow.

LOVE UNLIMITED

2008-10-08T22:35:00.000-07:00

A Journey through Cancer
By Muffet Dolar Villegas
May 4,2008
Overflowing Love

Today, I want to count my blessings. I’m not sure if you will agree with me. Cancer is not only about pain or dying. Cancer also means finding life’s meaning and experiencing God’s blessings. We rejoice in small things like free air, sun, rain, flowers, beetles, ants, birds, friends, smiling faces, and most of all, kind people. The best things in life are actually free. We appreciate the days that we are out of hospitals that we can walk and dance and climb stairs, cook, do our laundry, or do other things that some people see as mundane and ordinary. It may not be a terminal illness that you go through or maybe worse than that, yet in the deepest of valleys, God seems to lend a special ear for prayers and He sends the best of His people to care for us.
Beside me, I watch an ant in my garden, climbing a wall carrying a grain of rice bigger than its size and falling many times and for the nth time it reaches the top. I can identify with this poor fellow. Sometimes this journey is tough, but life is worth fighting for.
I was discharged yesterday from Silliman University Medical Center after a medical procedure inside the operating room. My uterus has thickened and needed immediate attention. I have postponed this admission for many reasons. One is its barely three months ago that I have been through a surgical procedure and I thought my brain will be fried with anesthesia, not to mention what they say about chemo brain. Another is work commitment and of course the expenses and inconvenience for my husband. But in all these, once more, blessings came after blessings.
My bible study group, a small gathering of women I share God’s word every Tuesday with Nerisse, brought me my third birthday cake this April. SUMC people are kind and compassionate and true to their callings to serve. I thank my doctors and nurses for being patient and kind, even if I gave them a hard time finding a sturdy vein for IV insertion. Dr. Corazon Uy and Dr. Carmelita Vera Cruz didn’t charge anything for their services. Dr. Walden Ursus was kind to put up with my paranoia.
How do we measure God’s love and faithfulness? In times like these when we need Him the most is the best time His blessings flow. God’s hand is not short that He can’t reach us. His line is never busy. He works 24/7. His power is never out, and He is never early nor too late.
A Journey
By Muffet Dolar Villegas
May 11,2008

COMPLIMENT

2008-10-08T22:32:00.000-07:00

A Journey Through Cancer
By Muffet Dolar Villegas
April 27,2008
A KISS THROUGH A VEIL

“A compliment is like a kiss through a veil”
-Victor Hugo
“I like your hair,” That was the usual compliment I received when I was wearing wigs during the bald period of cancer treatment. I got a hang of it and I tried wearing different kinds of wigs everyday until I got people confused with what kind of hair I really had. It was fun receiving compliments at the same time I forgot the negative feeling of losing my precious hair. It has been two years now that my hair came back.
How do you feel when you receive a compliment? Compliment is as powerful as cash. Paying people a compliment appears to trigger the same reward center in the brain as paying them cash, according to Japanese researchers last Wednesday.

“We found out that these seemingly different kinds of rewards-a good reputation versus money are biologically coded by the same neural structure, the striatum,” according to Dr. Norihiro Sadato of the Japanese National Institute for Psychological Sciences in Okazaki, Japan.
His team studied 19 healthy people using brain imaging technique known as Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging or FMRI. One set of people were made to play a gambling game which one of the cards will yield a payout. And the other set of people were told that strangers will evaluate them based on information and a video they have made.
Their reactions were monitored including those who thought the strangers paid them a compliment.
These two kinds of rewards triggered activity in the area of the brain which is reward related.
Compliments are powerful and amazing. We can change people’s feelings from bad to better and from better to best. We have the power to make them smile and see the world differently. Kind words can strengthen relationships.
We can’t help feeling happy as we give people honest and sincere compliments. Even if others feel uncomfortable in receiving compliments, giving them a sincere praise can make a difference.
If we are not used to accepting compliments, we can start by saying a simple “Thank you.”
Today, countless individuals are walking down the streets of life with a problem or a heavy heart. They cannot see the flowers or hear the birds. They have been battered by storms and ugly words. Their doors are locked by bitterness and hate. The world is full of strangers. But we have a chance to unlock it and spread colors like the rainbow.
Everyone deserves a compliment. If we have nothing to give like money or time, a compliment or a smile can change the world. Our God equipped us to be encouragers. Give that gift today.

TRUST

2008-10-08T22:30:00.000-07:00

A Journey through Cancer
By Muffet Dolar Villegas
April 20,2008
TRUST

I always thought that when we go to hospitals, we are safe and we are in the hands of trusted professionals. Even if I spend a lot of time in hospitals, I have not experienced anything that I should complain about.
But I was sad about the latest scandal involving a patient who was victimized by unscrupulous individuals and abuse of freedom of the press. He was caught on a video while an intricate medical procedure was being done to him inside a hospital and was shown in the internet for anyone to see without his consent, and eventually in any form of possible medium. It could have been less embarrassing if it was treated professionally by others.. To top it all, the media had a heyday showing it again and again on television.
We have this maddening habit of sensationalism or yellow journalism. We can go on and on talking and stressing issues until they become stressors. (who says that our freedom of the press under the present administration is limited?) Anyone can write or videotape anything about anybody under the sun, defamation, degradation, breaking people’s lives and reputations, reducing people as mere caricatures of themselves. We complain that we don’t have the freedom of the press and yet we can reduce our presidents and leaders into anything we like them to be and yet we are still here. Others feel that it is not right for other countries or nationalities to criticize our leaders or our fellowmen, but it is right if we are doing it.
Whom are we kidding? Whom are we laughing about? Are we anything different from these people who became helpless victims of their trusted individuals and institutions? Don’t they have emotions, families, sleepless nights, nightmares to deal with? They too are humans. They hurt the same way we hurt. Torture can come in many forms. Psychological and emotional battering is sometimes worse than the physical nightmare.
The question is, whom can we trust now? Some medical procedures done in the hospitals are intimidating to patients, yet they are necessary to detect early cancers. Standard colonoscopy which is commonly used here in the Philippines is a procedure wherein a camera is inserted through the rectum, allowing the doctor to see and remove any growths. Patients are usually sedated.

But thanks to researchers, a newly developed virtual colonoscopy, also known as CT colonography is less intimidating. Patients are asked to hold their breath for 10 to 20 seconds while computed tomography(CT) images of the colon are being taken.
Physicians hope that this kind of colorectal screening can encourage people of average risk to be screened at 50 or those who have greater risk to have cancer even earlier than 50 years old. “Colorectal cancer remains a leading cause of cancer- related death because patients are reluctant to be screened,” said Elizabeth MacFarland, M.D., associate professor of radiology at the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology at Washington University.
Unlike the standard colonoscopy, which shows only the inside of the colon, Virtual colonoscopy depicts the surrounding areas too.
Colon cancer can be prevented through proper screening among men and women.
Early detection may save your life.
To be fair, there are many medical practitioners and medical institutions in our country that are highly respectable and credible even if they are not perfect. Let us not lose our trust because of one bad incident. Lessons can be learned. But sometimes others choose the hard way.

CANCER SUPPORT GROUP

2008-10-08T22:23:00.000-07:00

A Journey through Cancer
By Muffet Dolar Villegas
APRIL 12,2008

FLAME OF HOPE

Every long journey begins with a single step.
A timely move of creating a cancer support group for Negros Oriental Cancer warriors or victors has been launched yesterday, Saturday April 12, 2008 at the Provincial Health Administration Building at 8 am.
Cancer survivors and those who are still undergoing treatment for cancer from different towns, cities of the province joined the formal launching which opened with a fun run earlier and motorcade from the Provincial Health Office Compound going to Silliman Avenue and proceeded to the M.F. Perdices , Colon, Real and finally returned to the previous location.
The province of Negros Oriental, headed by Gov. Emilio Macias 11.M.D., the Department of Health , Region V11, Bantay Banay Network and Bike for Life Negros Oriental joined together in launching the Negros Oriental Cancer Support Group at the Provincial Health Office Compound.
Dr. Betty Calderon- Talaver, an Oncologist from Cebu whose roots came from Negros Oriental, talked about the topic, “There is More to Life after the Diagnosis”. She stressed the importance of the will to live for every cancer victim. She emphasized that support from their medical doctors, family and the community is equally important for survival.
Filomena Sy, another breast cancer survivor who is the Vice President for Cebu Cancer Fight, a support group for cancer in Cebu said that the government can help more by giving affordable medicines for cancer patients to help them in financial aspects. It was also mentioned that other countries like India, medicines are cheaper to help the poor fight diseases. There is a plea for the government to allocate funds for medicines, instead of giving more importance to other projects.
Various cancer survivors like Mitos Tugade Nepomoceno, Celeste Cata-al, Mary Angeles Pinero M.D. and Hazel Ricablanca gave their encouraging testimonies in their journey through the battle of cancer.
The newly formed group has elected a new set of officers. They are Chelsea Cacaldo M.D., President; Judith Vailoces, Vice Pres., Ma. Celeste Cata-al, Secretary; Maria Salud Kho, M.D.,Treasurer; Muffet Villegas, as PRO; and Wevina Fuentes M.D. as Auditor.
Chairmen on Committees are Ely Villapando,M.D.,Medical Director, Ma. Salud Kho M.D for Finance; with co- chair Mary Angeles Pinero M.D.; Membership and Follow up Jeanette Villarubia; Caregiving, Phoebe Tan; Nutrition, Rosevilla Russel; Prayer, Counseling and Healing, Rev. Andrew Villegas and Mary Angeles Pinero M.D.
Eday and Jeanette Villarubia made everything possible through their efforts to make every participant well taken cared of during the event.
The support group which consists of cancer survivors, their families and medical practitioners are looking forward to organize more activities that can help cancer patients. This important move can bring awareness, prevention, guidance and financial help to those concerned.
Everyday, I find meaning and purpose for cancer that was allowed in my life. All of us in that beautifully created spacious room situated at the third floor of the provincial health building was finding our own place as the Master Planner unfolds His plan before us.

WHY ARE ROSES RED?

2008-08-19T22:04:00.000-07:00

A Journey through Cancer
By Muffet Dolar Villegas
April 4,2008

Why are the Roses Red?

God has made everything beautiful in its time.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NIV)

Have you ever been asked by a child, “Why are the roses red?” Or, “Why is the sky blue?”
Under the clear blue April skies are gardens and hills teeming with vibrant hues. Hibiscus in different colors are in full bloom all year round but appear brighter and more generous during summer.
The radiant yellow, red, pink and orange colors of heleconias which abound our city and nearby towns are treasured by tourists.
This morning, I painted the lilies in the pond in front of Greyhound 101 FM radio where I work. The pale yellows, light pink, magenta and purple petals bloom profusely as they greet the morning light.

We are surrounded by colors everyday, especially during summer. But do we know where does color come from?
Most objects get their colors from the light shining on them. They absorb some wavelengths of light and reflect others or in simple terms, the colors that we see are the mixture of what they like to absorb and what they discard.
Light is needed to see an object, except when the object has light itself. Without the light, the object is black. Why is the object black? Because it absorbs the light and it gives nothing back.
According to internet sources, “the real magic of color happens within us. We perceive different wavelengths of light as corresponding to different colors, and when you add together all the colors that an object reflect in the correct proportions, you get the color we see for that object.”
Therefore, without us, who are observers, those reflected wavelengths of light are no more than mere reflections. The source said that a great deal of our color perception is psychological. The wavelengths reflected or absorbed with our own interpretations are the colors we see in a tree with lush green leaves and other things.
I use colors in my palette often and I marvel at the One who is the author of light, flowers, trees, oceans and everything around us. God made all these beautiful things, but their beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.
Colors are not colors without us. Everyday you wake up, think of an array of colors you love to see and you will see them in their most vibrant hues.

ROLLERCOASTER RIDE!

2008-08-19T22:02:00.000-07:00

A Journey through cancer
By Muffet Dolar Villegas
March 30,2008
God and Me in a Rollercoaster Ride

It has been three years of riding in a roller coaster world of cancer with God. If others are eager to know their lotto numbers result, cancer warriors are dying to know their number in the cancer marker range. I’m not good in numbers and always had difficulty in math and statistics, but now, numbers became very important to me. Our life seems to be measured by numbers.
I just received my latest breast cancer marker result and its within normal range of 5 inside the laboratory of Cebu cancer Institute. I was happy like a child, telling my husband that we had to celebrate and thank God for answered prayers.
But the next day, other results of scans were not good, like my uterus needs more follow up scans within few days time. There will be more challenges to face in the coming months. I like to be depressed and cry, which I did for a short time, but I know God is healing me. Nothing can change that.
The life of a cancer warrior is like riding in a roller coaster. Days and weeks can fly so fast that you can’t keep track of them, in other times they crawl, especially during various medical treatment and you want the days to be over. In darkest nights you feel like you are falling, just falling endlessly. You try to hang on, grasp anything or hold on to anything but your hands are merely grasping in the air. You laugh today and cry tomorrow. There were tears mingled with laughters.
In the hallways and clinics and treatment rooms, a mixture of emotions were written in many faces. Colorful bandanas wrapped my friends’ bald heads. Absent eyelashes seemed to make us shy, not really wanting to meet scrutinizing eyes. But deep within us, our hearts are crying out for hope and love, and faith that moves mountains.
There are many things I want to do, that if life is really that short, may I know which is most precious to please my God?
I always love to play over my radio program that song by Gorge Strait entitled, “I saw God today”. Actually, God’s fingerprints are all over us and around us. We see Him in flowers and all the beautiful things He made. You can touch Him through that little baby you are holding. Life is a gift. You want to know if God is real? His greatest miracle is you.
Life of a cancer warrior maybe tough, but the real excitement is living each day filled with His miracles and graces. You can see God everyday. He is everywhere. You can see Him in each flower that blooms, in every moonrise, sunrise and sunsets. He leaves His fingerprints in every thing.

Tagged!!!

2008-06-05T00:23:00.000-07:00

A Journey through Cancer
By Muffet Dolar Villegas
March 23,2008
They Found the Ringleader!

We don’t want cancer to come back. This is the unanimous cry of all those who have been diagnosed with breast cancer and all other cancers. I have known people who have survived breast cancer for more than twenty years. Yet most of these survivors are plagued by the thought, “What if one day the Big C comes back?” What if it comes back with a vengeance? The fear of it is normal, but fear can paralyze us and takes away all the joy of living the remaining days, months or years.
The breast cancer gene “ring leader” has been found! According to the latest study and research on breast cancer which was published last March 12 this year by WebMD Medical news.
“The Breast cancer gene in question, called SATB1, bosses other breast cancer genes and hushes anticancer genes.” Said Melinda Hill, in her article “Breast Cancer Gene Ringleader Found.”

The prime suspect gene SATB1 triggers other cancer genes to spread throughout the body. This can lead to new developments in breast cancer treatment, Hill explained.

This particular gene may not only be active in advanced breast cancer but also in early stage breast tumors before it spreads from the breast to other lymph nodes. However, these findings came from laboratory experiment on test tubes and mice, and further studies should be done more on people.

Meanwhile, in another source, Reuters Health reports also said that SATB1 is crucial to the development of the immune system but can also reprograms the expression of more than 1000 genes to fuel cancer growth.

According to scientists, breast cancer cells need this kind of gene to become metastatic, a stage when the cancer cells invades other pars of the body.

So what is SATB1? This gene, is actually a protein which is a genome organizer, a component needed to develop our warrior T-cells, to fight infection.
This peculiar gene is expressed in breast cancer cells, and when it does, it coordinates the invasion process.
The researchers of this study which appeared last March 13,2008 edition of Nature
Included Hye –Jung han, PhD, and Terumi Kohwi-Shigematsu PhP, of the the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory at the University of California Berkeley.
While more people are diagnosed with all kinds of cancer, scientists, researchers are also doing their jobs to lengthen or save more lives.

Store It..

2008-06-05T00:22:00.000-07:00

A journey with Cancer
by Muffet Dolar Villegas
March 16,2008
Memory Bank

I sat there, transfixed, as the performers souls joined with mine, inside the spacious, cool, state of the art Luce Auditorium. If music is the language of the soul, at that moment, our souls, were listening intently to the most wonderful communication in the universe that God made. Music.
Once more, the three generation of music and bonding, Japi, Annabelle and Suyen or Ana Joaquina in long version, played their favorite pieces in piano as they joined the semestral recital organized by the Silliman University College of Performing Arts at the Luce Auditorium last March 13, Thursday at 5 p.m. The eleven year old Ana Joaquina Adriano, who started learning the piano at the age of five, played The Entertainer by Joplin, the mother. Annabelle Lee Adriano played Etune in E. Op.10,no.3 by Chopin and the grandmother Joaquina Villegas Lee performed Claire de Lune by Debussy. My heart skipped a bit. These three people are dear to my heart, because I see that age is not a problem with spending time with each other even if it takes time to go to their lessons with Tim Montes, music professor in Silliman University.
This is life. Its not only the daily grind of mundane things that make life but the joy of watching your friends, family, and relatives in their cherished moments. This is worth a million treasures stored away inside a memory bank which lives inside us forever.
Pretty little girls in their blue outfit opened the event with dances. One little girl caught the crowd’s hearts as she moved away from the group and did her own unique interpretation of the dance, following her heart filled with glee, completely enjoying the moment. It was the most beautiful and natural dance I ever saw.
The ballet performance was done by Gabrielle Limbaga, Aisha Yashin, Hikaru Nagasawa, Garnet Cello, Anya Katarina Pantejo, Anna Natalie Kolnes, Sarah Marie Kolnes Francesca Marie Flores and Sabrina Barot.
In music, Kahlil Andoni Denura, performed My Pony by Olson, Keira Nolyn Nocete, with Firefly and chim chim Cher-ee fr “Mary Poppins” by Faber and Sherman Faber, Millie Anne Estolloso, violin and piano with morning tune no.5 and Party song by J Sailen Bowman, Nino Adrian Losaria, sang the Little lamb, by J. Styne, Liana Thea violin with Perpetual Motion by S. Suzuki, Stephen Gerard Denura, piano with Danny Dolphin and Camptown Races by Olson arr by Faber, Marc Villavicencio, piano with Old Macdonald and Yankee Doodle, Yeashua Quizo, violin, Allegro by S. Suzuki, Reggae Kayl Ege piano The spinning Song by M. Aaron, Xian Aiby Generoso voice, Castle On a Cloud,by C.M. Schonberg, Isobel Flores, violin,Morning Tune No. 5 by J Sailen, Glenna Christina Duch, violin and piano with Sonatina in C Op 8 by I Pleyel and Rondino by A.Diabeli.
Other performers were Aurora Ab Latif, violin, with Morning Tune No.6 by J Sailen , Lissa patricia Duch, violin piano and voice with Morning tune no.5 by J Sailen, Tarantella by M Aaron, and Climb every mountain by Rodgers Hammerstein. While Arriane Adrian performed Allegro by S. Suzuki in Violin and sang Reflection by Matthew Wilder, Joyce Elizabeth Anderson, violin with Grasshopper tune, Amyrrah Estolloso, violin and piano with Chorus from Judas Maccabeus and Spring Improntu by G.F. Handel and Aaron respectively.
Other performers were Amidalla Gabrielle Quisumbing, Marriane Villavicencio,Sarah Jane Kolnes, Joushua Sisona, Anna Natalie Kolnes, Jesse Llyd Villanueva, Brian Majarocon, Alanise Rhei Nacar, Sabrina Barot, John francis Reyes, Samuel Cantos, Eric jennies Duhaylungsod, Jonald Alabastro, Lianette Flores, Marvin Urbano Tia, Benjamin Limbaga, Ma. Cassandra Ortaliz, Andrew Marc Alvarez, Jae-So and Jae –Hwan Jang, Hwang In Soon, Gae won, Simoun Glen Alvarez, Bryan Vincent King, Mykaela Luz Maxino, Megan Lozada, Hee won Lee, Jason Sisona, Alexis Faye Pal, Carmel June Saga, Seo Yeong (Rachelle) Jo, francheska Louise Salcedo, Jon riam Quizo, Katrina Mira, Gian Paolo Sisona, Onna Rhea Quizo, Lheolyne Mandingal, Seong Ha-lee, Reahna Ruamar, Soe Jeong, and Carolyn Goltiano. I looked forward for this recital to bring my senses the much needed rest and pure relaxation.

Gracegrowers

2008-06-05T00:20:00.000-07:00

A Journey through Cancer
By Muffet Dolar Villegas

“Gracegrowers”

Two prisoners looked out of the window. One saw the bars and the other saw the stars.

I love pearls. They come in different array of colors like white, pink, blue or the rare ones which are the black pearls. They are magical and feminine, and the only gems which come from a living organism which is an oyster.
But these lovely gems started as “irritants”. These irritants are mostly sand that gets inside the oyster shells. To protect itself, the oyster tries to cover these foreign bodies with layers of pearly substance known as “nacre” which gives the pearl a unique appearance and iridescent glow. As time goes by, these so called irritants become pearls.
In life , we meet people or trials that may irritate us, yet somehow they produce life enduring values like patience, love, long-suffering humility or faith.
I borrowed the term “gracegrowers” from someone who also borrowed this term from another. Gracegrowers refer to people or circumstances that are hard to understand or love yet they mold us positively or negatively depending on what we are made of.
I’m sure you have met this person sometime, somehow, or you may have encountered trials or problems beyond compare. Whether we like it or not they are part of our daily existence. They may be fleeting occurences or someone you have to live with for the rest of your lives.
Have you breathed these words,” This person brings out the worst in me.” or “ I wish this ordeal ends.”
Sometimes, these irritants are vital in our growth. God seems to allow them in or lives for some purpose. We only learn to be more patient with people who stretch our patience. We learn to love unconditionally to those who are hard to love. Trials produce fortitude, courage, endurance and faith. Gracegrowers may produce pearls someday.
They say that success is not the real test of character, but give a man failure and you will know who he is.

SAY IT PLEASE

2008-05-12T00:36:00.000-07:00

Feb.24,2008
A Journey through Cancer
By Muffet Dolar Villegas

Words

If we live for 70 years we have actually spent quite a lot of time talking. They say that women are capable of more or less 25 thousand words a day, and men are about half of that. Maybe that’s the reason why men fall asleep while women are still half way of the conversation.
The most eloquent words I have heard being said about someone are when I attend a funeral. But it is sad that the recipient of these heartwarming words is now lying deaf and cold.
Cancer taught me that life is too short to hold back appreciation to people who deserve it.
All of us need words that nourish our hearts and actions that speak our good intentions. Words are free. We don’t have to worry about our bank accounts if we say kind or encouraging words to others. It doesn’t cost anything to make a person feel important. We will not miss an inch in height if we tell a person that she or he did a good job. Our salaries will not be deducted if we praise our coworkers. Our house helpers need sincere praise as much as we are. We won’t appear less attractive if we boost others’ self confidence. We don’t become less a parent if we tell our children that they are great.
My mother, like most mothers was always full of praise for her children. But inspite of that, I grew up believing that I was an ugly duckling. Other children used to tease me and call me “Tikling” a Philippine heron which is tall, thin and has very long legs. I was tall for an average Filipino and too thin. Half of my life, I always heard these words, “You should eat well, you’re too thin.”
I would stand last in line all the time in school, and sit at the last row not wanting to be seen. I knew how it was to be different and unattractive, so at a young age I created my own world of painting beautiful, perfect women which turned into gory images of headless mermaids during my adolescent years. Everyday, I would write stories and illustrate comic strips where my heroes and villains were my classmates and teachers.
The world can be cruel and unkind, but we can make a difference in our own little ways. Our solitude can drive us to enlarge our imagination. Other people’s indifference can make us understand our own kind.
Did God make a mistake? Certainly not. We are perfect for His purpose. Even if we feel like an outcast, unimportant, we are very special in His sight. We can yield or fight or blame our parents for not having good genes, but our self worth is not measured by our looks, nor our past and insecurities, but by how we are in God’s sight. He sees a masterpiece in the making not the unfinished work of art.
Words are weapons that make or break us. Be grateful if one learns to appreciate your gifts, but don’t think that you are less of a person if no one does. Continue to affirm the positive qualities of others who need it because as you encourage others, you too are encouraged.
Our nation will be a better place to live if people learn to use words to affirm good positive traits of each other on a daily basis. It creates a positive atmosphere, where progressive ideas grow.

PROBLEM OF THE HEART

2008-05-12T00:27:00.001-07:00

Feb.17,2008
A Journey Through Cancer
By Muffet Dolar Villegas
The heart of the problem
is the problem of the heart.

I have seen a lot of hearts lately this February. From red throw pillows to boxes of chocolate, greeting cards and red roses with heart shaped objects around them to express love and affection. Hearts are everywhere. It reminds me to search my own heart. There are things that I didn’t like to see. A big SELF is written in big bold letters.
Do you sometimes search your heart? If you are alone, sipping a cup of tea or coffee, a newspaper in your hand, do you take time to see what is going on inside your heart, even as you scan these pages?
The heart is only about the size of a fist. It weighs between 250 to 350 grams or less than a pound. But its size and weight belie its amazing strength and endurance. It beats ceaselessly at an average rate of 72 to 80 per minute if you are a female and 64 to 72 beats per minute if you are a male. A fetus heart beats even faster, 140 to 160 per minute. Its shape is like a popular valentines image.
The heart with its team mates of miles of blood vessels throughout the body, works tirelessly to take in nutrients and oxygen and excrete wastes night and day.
Its job is so crucial that God enclosed the heart in a double walled sac called pericardium. This is made of tough dense connective tissue layer which protects the heart, anchors it to surrounding vital structures and it also prevents overfilling of the heart with blood.
If the heart skips a beat, we realize how much we depend on this organ every second of our existence.
The heart is the center of debates and arguments for many centuries. The ancient Greeks believe that it is the throne of intelligence. Most of us think that it is the source of emotions. Yet the heart is more complicated than these.
As much as the heart is the center of life which pulsates within us, it also plays a vital role in what kind of life we live. Events and circumstances which are happening in the world today are much influenced by the condition of the heart. We can fill it with goodness which can protect the weak or with evil intent to harm, deceive or sow chaos.
Most of the world’s problems today come from the condition of the heart. They say that a nation’s destiny is determined by its leaders. But can the leader change people’s hearts? Aren’t we responsible for our own state of hearts?
David wrote in Psalms 139:23-24Search me O God and know my heart;test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
If there is an instrument that can measure the colors of the heart, what colors do you think would depict jealousy, discontentment, greed, selfishness, pride, kindness, humility, mercy, understanding or love?
God made our hearts so wonderfully. Only He can change what He has made. Again it’s a choice. He is too gentle and polite to force entry. But He is always willing if you like.

Thorns

2008-05-11T23:43:00.000-07:00

Thorns and Roses

Don’t complain about thorns among roses;

Be grateful for roses among thorns.

--Joanie Yoder

I’m painting a bunch of pink roses for my amiable student nurses who took care of me during and after surgery when I noticed I forgot to include the thorns. They don’t look real if I missed the thorns.
Can we just have the roses without the thorns, please? Yet even on Valentines day, we receive roses complete with thorns. We often overlook the thorns and admire the flowers, and the loving thought behind those flowers are more important to us than the gift itself.
But in life we wish that it is a bed of roses. That it is made of soft petals, velvety touch in bright or pastel colors. Unfortunately, life’s journey can be full of thistles, sometimes. We often pray to spare us from the storm, to hide us from the lashing waves. After the onslaught, we wonder how we survived. God’s grace is sufficient and He is never early nor too late.
We get hurt, and most often the scars never go away. They remind us to be humble, that we are not made of gold but our Maker fashioned us from clay. We are far from perfect, yet we are a work in progress. The master Potter sees the finished masterpiece not the crude unfinished lump of clay. He doesn’t give up, until we become a sturdy, shiny vessel whom He can use for His purpose.
My friend from across the globe who has a husband with cancer wrote to me recently, that she had just received bad news about his condition. But she doesn’t lose hope that he will be well someday. She wants to be strong for him, and stay with him through thick and thin. Sharon is an admirable godly woman whose faith can move mountains. She gets up daily and do the best she can and for the things that are too hard to accomplish, she leaves it to God.
We are like teabags. We only know what we are made of if we are put inside a cup of boiling water. It’s hot, but the temperature brings out our real colors. Someone wrote that the real character of the person can be measured not in success but how he handles failures.
When storms hit us, we can either throw in the towel and quit or stand up and finish the race. No one is a born loser. Not until we choose to be one. Everyone has his own gift from God. It may take time to nurture it but the hardest part is FINDING those gifts which have been there within us for many years, and BELIEVING that we can actually use them.
Roses are beautiful but the thorns are part of the package. The most successful person is the one who knows how to live both in good and bad times.
Flowers grow after the rain, and trials produce perseverance. Gratefulness is a virtue that never runs out.

ARE YOU AFRAID?

2008-05-07T02:23:00.000-07:00

January 27,2008
A Journey

A Journey through Cancer
By Muffet Dolar Villegas
FEAR
I sought the Lord and He answered me;
He delivered me from all my fears.
Psalm 34:4
(Dateline) CEBU
My name was called out and I was given a piece of paper bearing my medical result. Chills ran through my spine as I looked at the five little red dots which seemed to leap out of the pages of the white paper. “God, no… this is almost as many as I had three years ago.” I concentrated on the dots and I can’t hold back the tears. Solid nodules…enlarged lymph nodes… so they’re back. These dots conjured images of the operating room, the chemo room, hairless months, and I could almost smell the chemo drugs again. It was like a dejavu. Three years ago, this was the day and this month of January, when I knew I had breast cancer.
My husband was reading through my result and he put his arms around me protectively and whispered,“Everything will be alright. God will never leave us alone. These are not final results yet. He can reverse anything.”
I turned to God and groaned. Lord, I know the radiologist said it looks bad, but I didn’t know this will be so bad. Yes, this is me, Lord. The one who wrote about courage, hope, faith, and trust in you. The one you taught how to be strong for three years, but look, I am scared as a mouse today.
When I gave the paper to the secretary of my oncologist, she said, “I’m sorry ma’m, but this is not your result. This paper has another name on it, not yours.”
I was shocked and relieved, but felt sad for the owner of that paper. When my real result was given, it showed only one red dot, with rough edges, which is not a good sign either, and it has to be removed right away. But by this time, fear was replaced by peace. I only have to read the inscription in my bracelet given by a missionary and friend, Janelle Stihl last week which quotes Psalm 27:1 “ The Lord is my light and my salvation- whom shall I fear?”.
Fear can paralyze us and block us away from our intimacy with God. Once we are locked away by fear, we are no longer a threat.
How do we fight fear? Nip it in the bud. We can claim God’s faithfulness in the past and present and praise Him for it. Worship kills depression. It sends all the little torturers of the mind and flesh scampering away and hide back in the darkness.
I looked back at all those times when God was faithful. This will be my third surgery in three years time since cancer. I almost died on the second time when all veins but one collapsed for loss of blood. He took care of me through hairless months of chemotherapy. He took charge of our finances and He took care of my husband and children. He reached out to me through people like you. You took time to read my thoughts in this column, and wrote me inspiring emails.
For these past nights, and even during the day, fear peeps inside and draw the curtains away. It smiles wickedly and asks me, “What if your God is too busy for you?”
I shot back and say, “No, he is not busy, he has even time for you.”
I will know the result whether the nodule is malignant or benign after the surgery on Tuesday. My result is in His hands. Its hard to see beyond His will but He has shown me mercy and care for the past three difficult but best years of my life. May His will be done, not mine.

THE HANDS WITH A HEART

2008-05-07T02:20:00.000-07:00

January 20,2008

A Journey through Cancer
By Muffet Dolar Villegas
Heart of Gold

Beloved,let us love one another,
for love is of God.-1 John 4:7

I can enumerate endless events which happened lately, but I want to highlight on an inspiring couple.
When we pass through life like a zooming jet, we only leave a faint impression of a fading, disappearing smoke. But once in a while, we are reminded to stop and breath, stop and listen, stop and know. Like a delicious soup prepared before us in a cold stormy night, we pause, take in the aroma and close our eyes, then sip and just linger a little bit. I have this precious quiet moment now.
I have so many things to share with you that ideas burst in my head and I don’t know where to start. There were days that I stare blankly at an empty screen for hours, but today is different.
Actually, I’m sick again today, and I am taking a delicious time to rest and ponder on God’s awesome blessings. My kind doctor, Ami Madamba, my children’s pediatrician and a good friend advised me to have a vaccine for protection from any forms of bacteria. I have been an easy target of infection these days, but when our bodies are weak, our spirit seems to go to higher places. This time also serves as my reflection time.
There will be exciting school activities with our Korean students visitors next week, like press conferences which I will handle, and my medical examinations where feelings can be very persuasive like doubts, courage, fear and hope.
But I know that when time comes, God knows how to make just the right mixture, and everything will turn out best.

God added into my list of friends a wonderful couple from England, Noel and Tess Clarke who emailed me and expressed their desire to share their time and abilities to help children with cancer here in Dumaguete city. I was emotional while reading through the email, and the earnest desire to help brought me much hope and courage for others in this journey. I know there are many out there who work quietly, tirelessly to make this world a better place to live. Noel and Tess have devoted their lives in helping other people cope with some debilitating illnesses in England for many years. Noel said that he was encouraged to email me when he read my November article about cancer month. In that issue, I wrote about some of the activities which other medical doctors initiated to help their patients, which was headed by Dr. Geena Macalua, Dr. Jing Rosario and Dr. Sheila Flores of the Silliman University Medical Center.
Tess, is a Filipina, who is also an artist and has a big heart for children. She donated some art materials to my oncologist Dr. Macalua to be used for free art therapy lessons to help cancer warriors.
I write about these people who have willing hearts and hands to help, because I want to encourage others without hope, those who are told that life ends soon and those who feel like they are singled out from all the rest to suffer alone. I would like to let them know that God reaches out His hands, and uses people who make themselves available for the task.
And for those who would like to help cancer warriors, you may approach Dr. Jing Rosario or Dr. Geena Macalua of the the Silliman Medical Center.
Time and distance do not seem to matter to people who have the heart for people. The most beautiful hands are not the smooth ones, but those which bear the mark of their hearts.

A CLOUDY DAY

2008-05-07T02:18:00.000-07:00

A Journey
January 13,2008
A Journey Through Cancer
By Muffet Dolar Villegas
The Battle Goes On

It is a cloudy day at the beach, and the pictures I take show no excitement, the colors are drab. The sea reflects the gray skies. But as the sun comes out and the rays find its right places, shadows emerge and the ordinary bangka (canoe) transforms into a beautiful lighted vessel against the backdrop of blue green waters and gleaming sand.
My two little friends, Miggy and Abby frolic in the beach looking for hermit crabs. Miggy is my prayer warrior and Abby is my little model for painting. Their laughter combined with the sound of the waves is life in a nutshell.
The shadows of life is important to superimpose the essence of living. It is not easy to linger in the the shadows, but it makes us appreciate the sunshine. There are ferns that thrives in the shadows and there are plants that explodes in colors only in summer. Both are friends. In one time or another , all of us have passed the shadows and enjoyed the sunshine even more because we knew how it was without it.
In painting, we need the shadows to highlight our focal point. The focus of the subject brings all the emotions that captures the painter and the viewer. The soul of the painting vibrates when we strike the balance of light and dark. All the other objects must play in the shadows to give drama to the main character.
I am three years now since I was diagnosed with breast cancer that was immediately followed by radical mastectomy and chemotherapy. The battle goes on.
Life has changed then. It has become more meaningful, just like today.
Time flies so fast, and without God and your prayers, I won’t be able to survive those valleys of shadows.
The most beautiful part of this journey is touching God through you. The reason behind a person’s strengths, hope, faith, triumphs in life is because someone, somewhere, prayed. I will go through my routine medical tests on the last week of this month, and thank you for the prayers.
When God allows us to walk in the shadow of death, His presence comforts us in spite of fear and pain. His love is magnified when we need it most.
Philip Brookes once said, “Do not pray for easy times. Pray to be stronger men! Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks.”
If you have time, please visit my blog to see some of my paintings which I am able to document. www.muffetvillegascancerart.blogspot.com

2008 IS STILL A BABY

2008-05-07T02:14:00.000-07:00

January 9,2008

A Journey through cancer
By Muffet Dolar Villegas

Reflections

Year 2008 is still a baby. She’s only a few days old. Her eyes are expectantly looking around her small cubicle, a few weeks more and she can see the world clearly.
She explores her new found strength, her sounds are coos and aahhhsss. She came out with a heavy big bang, depending on where she was born. Everyone welcomed her with laughter, cheers, good wishes and fireworks. People prepared the most delicious food to usher her in.
Around her, news about the currency getting stronger or weaker does not register well. There is a new rise in world oil prices and commodities maybe affected. She doesn’t care. She’s still young, and there’s so much time to dream and live.
Then one day, she begins to explore the world, and the war which made her predecessors sad is still raging mad. Late at night, tired people come to empty homes with broken hearts. Children are either begging in the streets or they live in broken homes disguised as mansions. People are still dying of loneliness or cancer.
The pursuit for happiness is still as elusive as a dream.
After a long journey and endless visits, she comes home sad and exhausted. “The work is too large and the time is too short. I can never be better than the years before me. I can’t even start.” She sighed mournfully.
But as she’s about to give up, she sees a child coming out of a door. Like her, he has hope in his eyes, his feet has wings. She was like him before she started out her journey. He turns around and sees her.
“Come,” he says, “I will show you the rainbows.” And he takes her by the hand and brings her to the same place she had been. But there are no rainbows.
The child detects the frustration in her face and he smiles. “ Look closely. All you see are their tired and unhappy faces. All you hear are their complaints. But look deeper, and you can see a small glimmer in their hearts. Those are the rainbows.”
The year 2008 may not bring a promise of hope and happiness, because she cannot. Each one of us owns that promise. It’s a flicker of faith that lies deep inside our hearts. It cannot die, as long as we hold on and believe.
God did not promise us a world without troubles, but He assures us that He is the spring that we can draw upon our strength and hope.
These sparkling embers can become radiant rays if we all unite in love, understanding, humility, and selflessness to make 2008 much better than the last year.

MEET MERRY

2008-05-07T02:12:00.000-07:00

A Journey Through Cancer
Dec.23,2007

A Journey Through Cancer
By Muffet Dolar Villegas
Meet Merry through Joy
In our pursuit to have a merry Christmas, we get caught into the usual grind of endless activities, shopping rush and parties. Most of us forget the reason for the season, and worse, we end up tired, exhausted and without joy. Are you really merry this Christmas? Are you sure that you will have a happy New year?
The problem with Merry and Happy is that they depend so much on our environment and feelings. But Joy comes like a gentle breeze which brings assurance of an unconditional love and acceptance from God. It defies circumstances and situations. It does not end when life ends, but it goes on and on beyond death.
Christmas is almost over, and there are many things that we want to do within the timeframe which God allows. But we get into the rush of Christmas, and before we know its happening, its all over.
Maybe to some of us Christmas is only a happy holiday, or a time when we can receive beautiful gifts or thirteen month pay and even bonuses. It’s a month to sing Christmas carols to bring joy to many houses but ironically, we stretch their patience when we deprive them of the much needed time to rest and sleep when all they had to do after office hours is to get up and entertain five to ten sets of carolers every night. We can also be selfish in thinking that others have to cater to our needs instead of us giving out a helping hand. But really, what is Christmas all about?
When we are reminded of the real meaning of Christmas during programs, we turn a cold cheek and tell ourselves, here we go again, I knew that story since I was a child. It’s all about a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, was born in a manger, with Joseph and Mary who were denied in every home they went because there was no room left for them to stay.
But we like the part where the three wise men gave Jesus wonderful gifts, because at least that justifies our gift giving.
So let us not miss the most precious gift of Salvation that is offered to all mankind, which is the focal point of every Christmas celebration. In John 3:16, it says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” You may go back and read it again. No, this time, slowly, and understand each word. If we take time and really think about this wonderful truth, is there any reason for us not to be joyful? Do you have joy right now as you read? Or your mind goes back to the thirteenth month pay with nothing left because of deductions?
You may receive a BMW car this Christmas from your brother, father or a spouse, but the thing is, like other material things they are perishable, and when you get used to the feeling of being happy, it wanes and becomes empty. The BMW becomes nice again if someone noticed it as brand new. A diamond ring may last forever here on earth but you can never take it with you when you die. All the precious and not so expensive things that we give to those whom we care about are just a tiny fraction of what is given to us for free which is Salvation, through the babe in a manger.
This kind of joy that Jesus gives does not depend on circumstances. This is the joy which brings inner peace amidst poverty, loneliness in sickness and pain or even at the point of death. We can only have a Merry Christmas and a Happy new year despite of anything that we go through if we have that kind of joy in our hearts.

A TOUCH CAN HEAL

2008-05-07T02:00:00.000-07:00

My Journey
Nov.18,2007

My Journey with Cancer
By Muffet Dolar Villegas
The Healing Touch

I receive a hug very often. Even if they say that patients under chemotherapy should not mingle with a lot of people or stay away from a crowd because we might catch a virus due to very low immune system during the treatment, yet I am happy when someone hugs me.
Is there any connection with touch and healing? In the holy scriptures, Jesus healed many through a command, but some he reached out and touched them, like the leper. He was crying “unclean! Unclean!” so that people will go away from him, but Jesus touched him, and he was healed. Jesus touch meant a lot. It spelled acceptance and love from someone who is the source of hope and love.
Harold Sala wrote in his book Just for Today that a family counselor said that most unwanted pregnancies could have been prevented if a father only hugged his teenage daughter everyday. A hug is a manifestation of love. It can be a fatherly love, motherly, sisterly, brotherly, or plain friendly love.

People respond to a touch. The pain seems to go away when touched by a loving hand or a kind embrace.
Some of us are not so demonstrative when showing that we care. We are molded by the way we were brought up. If we grew up with not so demonstrative parents, we also act the same way as we were treated, but of course with some exceptions.
Our culture also says a lot about our behaviour. Some cultures encourage people to demonstrate a friendly embrace, while others are not permitted even to hold a hand because it connotes another meaning.
But even a pat at the back means something for someone who needs encouragement. A simple handshake says one is pleased to meet you. A hug means it is good to see you or mano po with children kissing the hands of the elderly in a Flipino culture is a sign of deep respect.
I received a lot of hugs lately from women who asked me to speak about the spiritual side of this journey. My family is always demonstrative of their love for me but now I get twice the amount of hugs from them everyday.
A touch like faith in God, can heal.

NOVEMBER IS CANCER MONTH

2008-05-07T01:54:00.000-07:00

My journey
Nov.11,2007

My Journey with Cancer
Muffet Dolar Villegas
CANCER MONTH

November is a cancer awareness month. The Silliman University Medical Center Foundation commemorates this event with various activities for this month. It started during the midweek service which was held last week at the SUMC which was attended by medical practitioners and cancer patients who still undergo treatment, survivors , and supportive family members. Some of those who were present have encountered cancer through their loved ones who passed away battling the disease. The theme was Living with Cancer.
“Most of us are living with cancer in one way or another,” Said Dr. Geena Macalaua, one of my oncologists who has been actively involved in caring for her patients, not only as a physician, but who goes out of her way in organizing activities that can help her patients.
She stressed that we are part of it as caregivers, those who are in medical professions, relatives and friends of the patients and those who are having been diagnosed with the disease themselves.
Fighting cancer is part our battle to survive in the twenty first century. We have adopted a kind of lifestyle that has dramatically changed from our predecessor centuries ago.
What is a day like to you? Do you wake up early in the morning, grab a cup of coffee, and beat the traffic? Since we are living here in Dumaguete city, the traffic is not as time consuming as you live in other cities like Manila, where you spend half of your lifetime on the road as you commute to work everyday. At noontime, we squeezed in some hurried lunch, at some fast food counter and go back to work. After eating dinner at home, we spend more time to earn more money through other means until we drop dead. Let’s all face it. A regular monthly salary in our country cannot even feed the earner, how much more if you have children and they all go to school?
We spend less time in exercise, because walking an extra mile will cut our time from generating another income, sitting in front of the computer to generate extra money, or baking cakes or prepare ice candies to sell tomorrow for another precious bucks at least for transportation fares.
Our children lead the same lifestyle. We force them to wake up early in the morning, grab the same food we eat, which is often saturated with fat and preservatives( the fastest way to prepare for working moms, which our kids love too.) but sometimes, due to pressure, they can hardly eat, so we pack their lunches for school, eat a hurried lunch then go back to class and eat and drink more junkfoods in between.
We don’t want them to be absent or to be late. They have to accomplish well, regardless if their stomachs are empty. Study, study, then work and work, until one day we discover a lump somewhere or something wrong with our blood chemistry.
How much pressure and abuse can our bodies take before it screams for a STOP? How long can little children take activities after activities and stress before we discover its too late?
Cancer strikes not only the middle aged ones but children and young adults too. It waits for the right combination of stress, nutritional deficiencies that weaken the immune system before it shows up. Latest study from John Hopkins says that every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer cells cannot be detected by standard tests until they have multiplied into a few billions. It revealed that cancer cell occur between 6 to more than ten times in a person’s lifetime.
I stopped nagging at my son everytime he can’t get up early for school since I was diagnosed with cancer. I saw many children with cancer during my treatment at the hospitals and I was confronted with priorities in life. I’m not saying that we should not urge them to the best in school, but I would rather see my son alive than lose him to cancer. Others may call it paranoia, but I live with the reality.
We are caught in the web of many celebrations. We measure our accomplishment with many events and activities. We push our limits or we drive others to it. Our crazy world tells us that you are a loser if you can’t reach its standard. The mass media is telling us how to be cool by the world’s standards. But the bottom line is our health, and the quality of life we lead. Life is a gift from God, just like salvation. But like a gift, you are free to accept or reject it.

A new Year

2008-01-03T19:06:00.000-08:00

Begin a New Year

2008-01-03T19:01:00.000-08:00

You Are Special

2007-08-15T01:28:00.000-07:00

TODAY’S BEST
MARCH 18
TODAY’S BEST
By Muffet Dolar Villegas

You are Special

Some of us believe that we are ordinary or insignificant. Others wait for a long time to be able to sing like Celine Dion or paint like Leonardo da Vinci before they start. It is common to hear someone say, “…if I only have that kind of talent” …If I was only born rich, or if my parents had money to send me to college, or if I was not born blind..”
The truth is, no one is insignificant. Each one is special in the eyes of the Creator. Everyone has a gift. Maybe it takes time to know that we have it, but it is there, waiting to be discovered or nurtured.
I taught art for quite sometime, handling workshop with children and adults. Most adult learners have many fears and inhibitions. Some are afraid to even try holding the brush, while children are bolder and excited to hold it in anyway they want so they can create shapes and colors.
One interesting student I had was in her forties, who said that she had always wanted to draw, but fearful that it might not come out right. I encouraged her to try and was amazed how good she was. It seemed that she had been painting in her mind for years, but never got the courage to lay it down on paper. The truth is, art defies age. Grandma Moses, started painting at 80 years old, after washing diapers. Her biography showed rich collection of her paintings. She was one of the most prolific and gifted artists the world ever had.
Helen Keller who was born blind and deaf, was able to conquer her disability and helped others with the same predicament to find life’s fulfillment and purpose.
Stevie Wonder was blind, but his blindness did not stop him to become a great composer.
When I start complaining and making excuses not to paint, I am rebuked everytime I see the calendar given to me by Dr. Thelma Florendo,( one of my heroes) featuring the artworks of painters who have no hands yet they paint with their mouths and feet.
Psalms 139:13-14 says, “…you made all the delicate , inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!”
These thoughts are too wonderful to think about. We were wonderfully made. You are important, and you already have what it takes to do what you are suppose to accomplish.

The Dog and the Paints

2007-08-15T01:26:00.000-07:00

Metropost
March 4,2006

TODAY’S BEST
Muffet Dolar Villegas
The Dog and the Paints

We all want to be happy. H.C. Matten wrote that the way to happiness is simple. “Keep your heart free from hate, your mind from worry. Live simply, expect little, give much. Fill your life with love. Scatter sunshine. Forget self. Think of others. Do as you would done by…”
It seems easy to follow these rules to a happy heart, but when we are confronted with situations, they seem bigger than we can handle.
Years ago, when we bought a house in a new neighborhood, a set of my oil paints was stolen by someone who painted his dogs with my grumbacher paints (which to me ,costs a fortune), my heart was a wreck. They are just paints, but they mean more than that.
The teenage boy knew that I knew and he was proud of it. I was beating a deadline for a solo painting exhibit and I had scrimped and saved for those paints.
My loss and his guts to show off my paints all over his dog provided a fertile ground to nurture my anger to become like a monster.
It was hard to paint, for every stroke reminded me of my paints and the dog. Later on I realized, that it wasn’t the lack of paints which disabled me to create landscapes and gardens. The problem was not the paints or the dog, but it was my heart.
They say that when we hate our enemies we give them the power over us. We allow them to steal our sleep, peace, health and joy. We are fulfilling their motive to hurt us. We give them a way to make us exactly like them. Bitter and dark.
Hatred is like an acid. It corrodes the vessel that holds it. The longer it stays, the weaker the vessel becomes. The only way is to release it and let it go…don’t give it a shelter even for one night in your heart.

I regained back my peace by not having my paints returned to me, but when I changed my heart.

Forgiveness, a continuing process

2007-08-15T01:25:00.000-07:00

Today’s Best Jan.28

Today’s Best
By Muffet Dolar Villegas

Forgiveness… a continuing process

Corrie Ten Boom, a woman who suffered during the German occupation of Holland, spoke of forgiveness one day in a church in Munich. Together with her father, brother, sister Betsie, they were sent to concentration camp because they helped the Jews to escape. Her father died after ten days and she watched in agony while her sister was brutally beaten and abused by the SS guards until her last breath.
As she finished speaking, a man stood. She remembered him well. He was one of of the SS guards in that concentration camp. As he stretched his hand to shake hers, the memories of her sister flooded her mind. It seemed eternity before she stretched out her hand. As she did so, the warmth of God’s love enveloped her.
Forgiveness is not easy. Especially those who have been through so much agony. Sometimes we talk about forgiveness but its not easy to apply it. But Corrie Ten Boom walked the talk.
When we forgive, we release ourselves from a prison cell. Floyd Mc Clung said that “Forgiveness is not a feeling. Neither is it simply trying to forget the bad things done to us. It is the act of the will and heart. It is giving the person something they do not have the right to have-pardon.”
He also said that forgiveness acknowledges that we have been wronged but it goes beyond that and extends mercy.
Some people say, I can forgive but I can’t forget. Forgiveness is not done once, it is a continuing process. Hurt comes whenever we remember the deed. But if we are willing to forgive, we continually reaffirm that we have forgiven that person. Healing takes time, and as human beings, it is sometimes impossible.
But by asking God’s grace, God can replace that hurt into love… and love starts with humility. We can only love a person as we know that we too are loved and forgiven many times despite of who we are.

2007-08-15T01:24:00.001-07:00

Todays Best
January 21

Today’s Best
By Muffet Dolar Villegas

Humility… Anyone?

I was scanning for news in the internet few weeks ago when I came across this article about Al Pacino. I used to watch his gangster movies when I was younger, and even some of his films now still fascinates me. He is known as the” Godfather” Legend Al Pacino.
But late November last year, he surprised the staff of the London’s lavish Ritz hotel when he came down the lobby and talked to them in the middle of the night for an hour. He thanked the reception staff and the doorman for taking good care of him. He chatted and had pictures taken with them.
Apparently he could not sleep but he never complained about anything nor made any demands to change or improve his room.
This is a little bit unusual for celebrities. Most celebrities have a peculiar idea that they are somebody who deserves attention and first class treatment.
This reminds me of another story, A proud man obviously expected an elaborate treatment and when he did not receive it, he asked angrily, “Do you know who I am?” The staff turned to another and said, he does not know his name, do you know him? Then laughter followed.
Humility can be elusive like a dream. We lose it once we know that we have it. A little boy once asked,“ Mommy, can I be proud that I am humble?”

2007-08-15T01:22:00.000-07:00

November 19, 2006

Today’s Best
By Muffet Dolar Villegas
Compassion is Love in Action

For hours now, his old bent figure stooped down to pick up more starfish and threw them back to the sea. A young man passed by and said, “There are hundreds of them to be rescued from the heat of the sun out here. How can you make a difference?”

The old man lifted one starfish in his gnarled hand and said,” It makes a lot of difference to this one.”

Do we really make a lot of difference in the world today? Don’t we feel overwhelmed by people and circumstances?

Often, we hear people say, how can we eradicate crimes in this city? How can we spread peace and understanding since we are so few with a small voice? How can we contribute something good to our society? How can we start change in our government? How can we make a difference?

The questions are endless but the answers are like rain in the desert. But everything has to start with one single step. When we do something good, others call us “do-gooders” which has usually a negative meaning. Sometimes we also feel that doing good is something to be ashamed of.

But last week, I saw a lovely scene at Perdices street. A young man offered an older woman to assist her in crossing the street. I used to see a lot of these when I was growing up, but nowadays, it’s a rare thing. The young lad took that opportunity to allow us to see a diminishing Filipino culture which is a cherished value. I find it “cool.”

Yes, it is “cool” to be helpful, respectful, compassionate, considerate, hardworking…etc.
These values should not only belong to the past. This is the time when we needed it most.

A beautiful hand is not the hand that is smooth and unblemished but a rough, sun beaten hand. A handsome face is not what we see on television screen. But a face that shows compassion and sympathy.

Compassion is love in action

Stop and Listen

2007-08-15T01:19:00.000-07:00

TODAY’S BEST OCT 22
Today’s Best
By Muffet Dolar Villegas
Stop and Listen
A couple of years ago, I sat on one of the benches where I had a good view of the ocean. I made watercolor sketches of many winding paths, small bridges with people and some sea lions playing and sunbathing near the rocks at La Jolla Cove in California.
Tourists and locals would pass by and take a look see at my work, enjoying the delicate splashes of watercolors here and there which formed images.
On the first day,a pretty woman in her late thirties got fascinated and sat beside me. She asked politely if she can talk while I sketched. I told her that was not a problem with me. She had this trusting blue eyes and a shoulder length blond hair.She could be a movie star. I sat listening and sketching. When I finished my artwork, I learned her life story. She offered to buy my 8 by 12 inches of a watercolor seascape with few rocks and sea lions.
She thanked me profusely for a nice conversation. I wondered why she said that. I seldom talked. I just listened. But she said she felt good talking about her problem, and apologized for talking much. She lived alone and had no one to talk to most of the time because everyone was busy like her. She had a good job, a nice house overlooking the ocean, a nice car which she changed quite often. But she was lonely.
I met several like her everytime I sat and sketched at the park. It became my favorite past time to listen to people, while they watched me work. Listening can be an art itself.
It was a nice way to forget my own loneliness, being away from home for three months. That was a wonderful visit with my sister’s family and my mother. They did everything possible to make my vacation happy. But there was no place like home. It was a wonderful place to live, but when you are away from your family, the nights became longer and darker.
I love roses. And my sister’s roses were as big as cabbages. But with all these beautiful places, gardens, oceans, and museums and galleries, my heart was longing for home.
When I came back, I appreciated talking to people anywhere. What a privilege and a gift to be able to have time to talk, mingle, and just talk about the weather.They say that listening is a form of conversation. One may live in a jungle full of people, but there is a deep void of loneliness inside each heart. People from all walks of life have a story to tell.
Our country may not be perfect. But loneliness is a strange word to most of us.

Let Them Live...

2007-08-15T01:17:00.001-07:00

Today’s Best
September 24
Published at Metropost
TODAY’S BEST
BY MUFFET DOLAR VILLEGAS
LET THEM LIVE…
In Norman Vincent Peale’s book called The Incredible Century, it quoted an article written after the First World War which said “…The allies mobilized more than 42 million men, and 5 million of them were killed, including 116,516 Americans. There were 21 million wounded combatants in all...war expenditures differ widely but the best guess for the Allied effort is $30 trillion…and still , the figures do not tell the saddest story of all-the obliteration of a whole generation of young men on the Western Front.”
That war, like all wars, took the lives of many. They fought for a reason, for patriotism, for ideologies. But the scars will remain hidden inside the human heart, regardless of reason. The memory etched in those who survived were more painful than the agonizing pain suffered by those who passed on.
Joyce Kilmer, a young talented soldier who wrote the poem “Trees” was among those who were killed during that war. He was young and full of dreams.
“I think that I shall never see …A poem lovely as a tree…” Those were beautiful familiar lines that we all know.
After that, many more wars came. Big and small. Countless children were orphaned. Haunting cries came at night from those who were left behind.
How valuable is life? How many were killed in the prime of their youth? How many would have been a successful teacher, businessman, artist, or poet or simply a joy to behold?
That thirteen year old girl who was raped and killed recently, her life was snuffed off like a frail candle. For that baby who needed help to save her life, and was refused to avail of some benefits because she had down syndrome, who can measure the happiness of her mother to see her live? For the many, countless faces whose lives were terminated by those who never value it, what has become of their children, their parents whose scars would remain maybe for a lifetime?

Even for those who cannot benefit the society are we to judge that they are not worthy to live?
I admire those who have allowed a miracle to happen to save the life of baby Kate. I can see the fingerprints of God, as many were moved to help her live. Sometimes we are allowed to know someone, for a reason. I admire Olga, and the likes of her who has the courage and the heart to start a campaign to save baby Kate’s life. As always it takes someone to say YES GOD. And the windows of heaven opens.
Come on, there is a war in this city. A war that resides inside the human psyche. To do what is right or wrong. Let others live. Give them a chance. We have the same God. The God of many chances.

Killing with Kindness

2007-08-15T01:09:00.000-07:00

Today’s Best
Published at Metropost
July 29,2007
Today”s Best
By Muffet Dolar Villegas
Killing with Kindness

Once, in her growing up years, my daughter asked me, “How can I get even with my enemy?” I told her, “ You may get even with your enemy in so many ways, but he or she remains your enemy. But if you don’t want an enemy, you may kill your enemy with kind deeds.” The next day she told me with a smile on her face. “Mommy, I did it. I helped her and we became friends.”
Abraham Lincoln said, “Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?”
Life is full of spices. We make friends and we also create enemies. Sometimes we can explain the first, but we get confused by the latter as to how it happened. Whether we like it or not there are people who don’t like us. They may not like our style, our voice, our hair, our habits or our mannerisms. They may not even like our tone, our colors, our lifestyles or our guts. Even our hairstyle get onto their nerves or the way we walk or the way we talk. Other people’s opinion is out of our control, but sometimes we can also learn from them.
I heard someone say, “I can’t explain it, but there is something in that person that simply irritates me.” Ofentimes, our biases or prejudices come from a long time ago experience. Others may have been influenced by our friends or from people close to us.
Others make friends so easily but others take a long time to open their hearts for someone.
But sometimes, the indifference of a person comes from frustration or some deep hurt which others have inflicted upon them. When one hates you, hating back is not an answer. Compassion is the right reaction. A vengeful heart is unhappy, but a compassionate, understanding and loving heart is the source of joy.
It was told that a wounded soldier, lay in pain in the middle of the gunfire, the enemy who was also a young lad took the risk of helping the wounded young man. In the middle of the battlefield, all the fighting stopped, as they witnessed one act of kindness which history may have forgotten, but it was etched in the young man’s heart, who received that kindness.
Famous author Ettiene De Grellet said, “ I expect to pass this way but once, any good thing therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now. Let me not deter or neglect it for I shall not pass this way again.”
Kindness is an oil that mends a rusty or broken heart. It takes kindness to see a person’s beautiful self, and to win friends and destroy enemies.
Human nature is both complex and wonderful. Each one of us has the good and the dark side. But the beauty in life is that we always have a choice.
Jesus said in Matthew 9:13,”I desire kindness, not sacrifice.”

2007-03-04T23:09:00.000-08:00

"Flowers Afer the Rain"
By : Muffet Villegas

Yesterday,
I cannot see the trees
Out of my window
Only shadows,

The thick white curtain,
The rain came pouring,

Shadows, then darkness...
I found a candle...
the wind came
and snuff...snuff...

Today,
I cannot see the earth,
Flowers blanketed the hills,
incandescent before the sunbeam.

Coming Together

2007-03-02T01:13:00.000-08:00

When sorrow came,
joy leaves the open door
he wished her near
yet she hid her face...

When joy came back,
sorrow said,
"I have no place here"
then bowed his head.

But one day, joy said,
If you leave again,
I will never be joy,
for i only exist
because of you.

2007-03-02T01:00:00.000-08:00

Chasing Shadows
When moonbeams came chasing
shadows in the wind,

I stood by watching the glittering light
fascinated, yet perplexed...

knowing that the greatest part of life
was hidden in the rugged valleys,
weak yet strong,

Like eagles they renew their strength,
soaring, in their perfect time...

2007-03-02T00:48:00.000-08:00

Glorious Day

His footfalls echoes while I sleep,
leaving dewdrops on my roses,
like diamonds sparkling, calling
in mute voices...
Then He paints the skies , quietly...
anticipating that I will see,
His glory in a new day.

Art and life for me

2007-03-01T19:18:00.000-08:00

Eversince I was diagnosed with breast cancer, art took a new heightened meaning. As an artist who knew that life can end anytime, everything becomes vivid and fleeting. The colors in my palette are synonymous with my garden. Passion raced with time. I look at everything with new eyes, and this is my greatest challenge. How to transform emotions into colors and let them convey the joy, pain, hope, courage and faith in my brushstrokes.
How do you define art? Life and art are the same. Life is a blank canvas, lifeless until the vessel where the heart beats pours his emotions to make it colorful.
The vessel is a clay which the master potter molds, sometimes with too much pressure for the clay to become exceedingly beautiful.
Lines can end where our hope dies. Faith grows, as we explore the new beginnings, whether they are mountains or valleys or endless seas.
Life becomes so priceless when we see the end of the rope.
Art is precious like life, for it is the window of the soul.