What's more to life?

"When, as the Jewish book of Ecclesiastes says, the golden bowl of life breaks, what will you have held in that bowl?"

Those words resonated with me as I read them during our trip to Bantayan Island early in the morning. I decided the night before that I would wake up early and witness the sunrise. I woke up before my friends did and immediately headed out to the beach as the sun came out the horizon.

If you've read the previous parts of this travel series to Bantayan Island, you'd know that this trip happened during Holy Week. It's a time for Christians to slow down, pause, and reflect on the struggles of life and see the worth in these struggles.

During this time, I was about to resign from my job but a lot of things were preventing me. I had so much going on with life and I thought if I just struggled more, I'd be able to make my life more peaceful and meaningful. But it was hard to see beyond my struggles and even harder to convince myself that this was what I wanted in life. It felt like I was giving my life away.

"What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?" -Matthew 16.26

I was giving my soul away for something I truly didn't want. That was my Holy Week reflection.

I was glad I woke up early because I witnessed one of the best sunrises I had. My phone back then was my old iPhone 6 and even though it was one of the oldest models at that time, its photos did not disappoint. The resolution could be better but the picture quality was still so good.

After the sun had fully risen, I went back to our resort and back to sleep. When my friends woke up, I could only show them the photos I took. No description would be enough.

I told one of my friends about what I was struggling with and she shared some of her own. And somehow, that made my struggles easier to bear. I can't remember the exact words she said but I remember feeling lighter after our talk. She shared her great experiences (she toured the US for months) and that although she's living a more 'mundane' life than what she previously had, she was satisfied and at peace. And maybe I held on to that for the next decisions I was going to make in my life.

We had breakfast before we headed out to the beach for the last swim since this was our last day on Bantayan Island. I'll share more about it in my next post. I hope you enjoyed the sunrise shots. Cheers!

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