Monday, May 1, 2006

The First of May

May 1 has been surprisingly peaceful. Everybody must’ve expected a coup attempt to resurface somewhere, but there was none—except for the peaceful rallies. No Canal-water Ejecting Hose Treatment was required to disperse the angry mob from the streets.

While some of my schoolmates—yes, I study in UP, the home of the country’s Fiercest Activists (who happen to speak excellent, eloquent Filipino)—called for the President’s resignation or demanded for greater state subsidy for the University, I was tucked neatly in my bed, watching movies in my PC and finishing my post-lab reports.

In other words, I was idle.

It is during the times when I don’t do anything that I am most susceptible to the traps of the Devil. With nothing to preoccupy me, I’d find myself sinning against the Lord through my laziness, my thoughts, and, to a deeper extent, my corrupt choice not to meditate on His Word.

I suppose it is the same with all of us. Sometimes, it is better when we’re busy with school or work—that way, our minds do not become idle lands on which the enemy may encamp—than when we do nothing else but bum around.

May 1, I realized, isn’t just the commemoration of this country’s work force. It should also serve as a reminder for Christians to labor for the cause of Christ, and not to dilly-dally.