Spell Victory

by Abigail Eunice Sison

(Abby is now a 2nd year Anthropology student
She serves as Secretary of the UPD Navs.
She was once a spelling quiz bee champion.)

Did you know that the word “victory” can be pronounced the same and yet be spelled differently?

Last semester is one of the highlights of my year 2006. I was elected to be one of the five officers of UPD Navs, and we were to choose the position we consider we can best serve in. Imagine five seats each intended for a particular person. We’d have to choose one we’ll sit on and we can’t try them out till we find the perfect fit. Instead, we’d have to look at them, think it over, ask God where He wants us to be, and then decide.

My thoughts then were like “I think, based on the past chairs I’ve sat on I’d have to take this one because it looks similar. Plus I think God wants me to sit here” and “Now that the rest of you have chosen a seat, I think I’ll take this one that’s left.”

So we chose and we sat. Strangely enough, the new guy (me) was chosen to be Campus Ministry Coordinator (CMC), the most burdened (in my opinion) of all officers. And so I thought, “Hey this is cool.” For a time. Until I realized that I wasn’t doing anything anymore and we were not moving. It took us almost the entire semester to realize that we weren’t quite doing what we were supposed to do. The chairs seemed perfect for a while, until our butts started to ache. We moved around uncomfortably, wincing as we did our jobs. I thought, “Excuse me. Help. I think my butt doesn’t quite fit in this chair right. What do you think?”

That’s when Kuya Ram and Ate Abi came along and suggested that we switch seats. Silence. We looked at our seats. After sometime, I cried, finally admitting to myself and to the others that I can’t do it anymore. Others cried, too. Because as it turned out, they could actually see that my chair was already hurting me.

Though at first reluctant, we switched seats. We eventually found our places, and man was there relief! It makes me think of how God spells out victory and I realize that though they sound the same, God spells it out so differently from how the world taught us to spell it. Victory to most people was getting the positions we wanted, grinning though it hurt, and bearing it.

And yet God would consider that a loss because we allowed our desires to drown out His voice and prevent Him from really taking over. But I think, for Him victory came when we threw our hands in the air, fell on our backs, bawled our eyes out and said, “God! We can’t do this anymore! It’s Your call! Do what You want! Have it Your way!”

I learned that God is not afraid of allowing us to experience pain because it will allow us to know Him more. We do get cramps once in a while (a smile there), but we’re functioning pretty well now, sitting with the cushions God gave us to go with the chairs. I also see how God worked things out. Then I think to myself, I deserved the ache in the butt, but these –new friends, stronger relationships, deeper understanding of responsibility, trust and, well, love – I don’t deserve these. Yet here they are, and I’m thankful – truly, sincerely, and nothing but.