Decades ago, I maintained a couple of servants in the house. One was to clean the house everyday, and so the house was sparkling like "wine" when I came in the evening from work. I have one to take care of my two kids, and their needs, and one was the laundry woman. The cleaner served as the cook too.

The cleaner and the "nanny" were stay in, but the laundry woman went home every night. Other than those I mentioned, I have a tutor for my two kids, a retired principal, a neighbor and so the kids reported to her house every afternoon from school.

Looking back, I realized I paid a lot of money on the services of those people. My relationships with them varied. In the early days, I was not very understanding to their needs. As the years passed, they became our friends. My husband who stayed home, three years after we were married, was their confidante. If they needed money, it was through my husband they aired their needs. At that time my husband was the treasurer of the family, and so it was more a convenience than anything else.

When bankruptcy beat the Company I worked for, everything changed. From being the master, I become the servant. Transferring from one job to another to find a good salary take in, I decided to go abroad. At that time I was already in my 50's and the jobs for that age bracket was/ and still is/ too scarce in the Philippines, where too many newly graduates are scouting for jobs every year.

As a servant abroad, I realized I should have been more caring to my servants before. I should have been more tolerant and understanding. Looking back, I wished I should have been a better master. I realized too, that in some ways, my hiring those helpers, I have helped them somehow in their time of needs.

I thank the Lord, that being a servant in a far away land is far different from being a servant in the Philippines. First the take in money is high (thanks to currency exchange). Other than that, there are a lot of privileges that I have availed of, as compared to my servants before.

To top it all, I was able to serve the Faith I hold dearly in my heart. The Faith that fuels my day to day living. Without this Faith, I know my life is with out meaning.

And the wonder of it all, this Faith was hidden from me when I was the master. Suddenly it made a face after I become the servant.

How God works in mysterious ways, I don't know.


Thanks be to God.

To all the servants of this world, this blog, I dedicate.

We are THE MEMBERS - CHURCH OF GOD INTERNATIONAL - BROTHER ELISEO SORIANO AS THE PRESIDING MINISTER AND BROTHER DANIEL RAZON AS THE VICE PRESIDING MINISTER.

Here are some of our websites:

http://mcgi.org
http://elisoriano.com
http://danielrazon.com
http://untvweb.com
http://kaanib.net
http://kamanggagawa.org
http://esoriano.wordpress.com
http://livestream.com/elisoriano
http://twitter.com/broelisoriano
http://twitter.com/danielrazon