Dear God,
Here are my learnings, blessings, and discoveries recently:
Ever since the pandemic happened there were a lot of limitations and one of those limitations that I experienced is not being able to drink buko juice (coconut). One day, I said to myself, “Gusto ko ng buko juice. Ang tagal ko ng hindi nakakainom ng buko juice” (I want coconut juice. It’s been a long time since I was able to drink coconut juice) I know that it’s risky to buy one during this uncertain time wherein I’m afraid of getting the virus if I go outside of my home so I just let the thought of it rest and accepted that I can’t have one soon.
A few weeks later, I noticed that around 10:00am every day there’s a man who keeps on shouting in front of our home. I’m still asleep in bed at this time because I work until nighttime and wake up a bit late in the morning. My home is located in an area that’s beside the main road so I’m used to a lot of noise even when I’m still asleep. But this one is different. It’s like every day it seems like this person keeps on shouting right outside my window saying a word that I could not understand which makes me irritated and wakes me up from my sleep. I didn’t pay much attention to it until one day my mother said, “May nagbebenta na ng buko satin.” (Someone is already selling coconut here.) I asked, “Where?” “Right in front of our house. Don’t you hear it every morning that he shouts, Buko!” That’s when I realized that the man who shouted every 10:00am in front of our home was the buko vendor who drove a tricycle to go around the neighborhood to sell. Now I knew that the word he was shouting was “Bu—ko—-! Bu—-kooo!”
Soon, I reflected upon this experience and it made me smile knowing that God granted my simple request even if I didn’t pray for it. It’s like God is telling me, “Here’s the buko juice you were asking for sweetheart.” God knows all our needs. Even the smallest unnoticeable and tiniest requests. Thinking about the coconut tree as the tree of life made me appreciate it even more because it reminds me of the life-giver: God. The life-giver gave me not just buko juice to quench my thirst but the lesson of gratitude even in my smallest blessings every day.
God provides us all our needs and He hears and is interested to hear everything that we have to say. He’s interested to know every detail of our lives and he wants to be a part of our story. What do you want to ask Him today? Go on, ask, and be amazed. Blessings are everywhere you just have to open your eyes to the blesser and life-giver.
Now, whenever I hear the buko vendor I would smile in my sleep.
Originally written last March 17, 2021
Photo by Gerson Repreza on Unsplash