Our Hideaway is a venue for the youth to express themselves and to share with our readers their mind, their heart and their soul.
A JOY SHARED IS A JOY DOUBLED
By Mark Agustin Barcebal
Near Sta Ana Church in Davao I saw a father holding his daughter’s hand, both happily walking towards the church. Suddenly, the girl stumbled and her father asked, ‘Ba’t ka bumitaw?’ The girl answered, ‘Nahulog kasi ang laruan ko.’ The man picked up his little daughter and they went inside the church.
Treasure in my friends
That scene made me realize the value of friendship. My friends have helped form the story of my life. In a thousand ways, they have turned my limitations into beautiful privileges and have enabled me to walk serenely and happily in the shadow cast by my deprivation. My friends are an oasis to me, encouraging me to go on. They are essential to my well-being. They are ‘my father, my mother, my brother, my sister,’ sometimes more than that.
What I have to give back
Mother Teresa once said, ‘The true and sure way to friendship is through humility, being open to each other, accepting each other just as we are, knowing each other.’ Friendship is a relationship built on trust, which improves happiness and abates misery by doubling our joy and dividing our grief. Kindness, loyalty, trust, listening to, affirming, caring for each other are the simplest terms for showing genuine friendship, leading to more enjoyable relationships. These are built through consistency and commitment backed up by sacrifice demonstrating a desire to meet the need of the other and not merely one’s own. It is my joy in life to find at every turning of the road the strong arms of a comrade to help me onward with my load. And since I have no wealth to give, love, trust and loyalty alone are what I can offer and my prayer is, ‘While I live, may God make me worthy of my friends.
My Divine Friend
The most I can do for my friends is simply to be their friend. If they know that I’m happy in loving them, they will want no other reward. Is not friendship divine in this? Above all else, my heart is full of praise for the Friend of friends, who loves me and gave Himself to save me, who gives me unconditional love, Jesus Christ. To Him be the Glory both now and forever. Amen.
Mark, from Banga, South Cotabato, is studying at Holy Cross of Davao College. You may email him at: affwen_826@yahoo.com