SURVIVING THE SANCTIFYING SWELTER OF ADVERSITY

By: Norberto Betita

I have wondered for so long the ironic contrast between the life of a tree and the life of a man of whom was given “dominion…over all the earth.” (Genesis 1:26). A native tree grows in the jungle of an untamed and uncultivated wilderness, subject to the hostility of the surrounding inauspicious atmosphere. While the man, the greatest and grandest of God’s creation created in the likeness of the Father and the Son, was provided with all that was necessary and was given “the Lord [as his] shepherd” never to be left wanting. The Lord, “leadeth [man] to lie down in green pastures…beside still waters…and into the paths of righteousness for his names sake.” (see Psalms 23).

They both grow old. The tree growing up tall into the sky with roots penetrating deep down the earth, and the man into becoming a successful dominant being in the world of competitive power. In their growing they both passed the tests of time and the tremendous opposition of nature and man-made adversities.

However, as life follows the forward movement of time and seasons, the tree becomes even taller and sturdy; its trunk even becoming stronger and undefeatable by nature’s fury, with branches able to withstand natural calamities, excepting manmade disasters. They can live thousands of years.

And what of man? In the short span of its time in mortality, when the unwanted label of seniority becomes evident, man deteriorates and its physical vitality starts to recoil and shrink. Soon he is to “walk through the valley of the shadow of death…” but “fear no evil” ever clinging to the assurance that the Lord is with him preparing “a table before [him] in the presence of [his] enemies.” In the process of surviving the sanctifying swelter of adversity attendant to aging, lingering afflictions, and anguish of pain, walking along the seemingly impenetrable crammed celestial highway, the only strength that keeps him to stand tall is the uplifting and comforting promise that “goodness and mercy shall follow [him] all the days of [his] life, and [he] will dwell in the house of the Lord forever and ever.” (see Psalms 23). 

2000 year old tree in Africa

Thus, while the tree enjoys the glory of its enduring growth and longer life in its space in the telestial environment, the man, like the tree, tries to drive its roots deep into the fertile field of the gospel and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for, “He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.” (Isaiah 40:29). And though a tree lives thousands of years, yet man, with the Lord, is ushered into eternity.

Job, “the man in the land of Uz,…perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil (Job 1:1),” and a very wealthy man, described as “the greatest of all the men of the east (Job 1:3)”was tried with physical illness and pain of enormity, losing all that he possessed even including his children. Nevertheless, in the quiver of losing everything he calmly said, “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21). And no matter his confusion why God did sorely tried him, and despite being impelled by his very own wife to surrender his integrity and “curse God and die (Job 2:9);” the cruel accusations from among his friends; the travesty and ridicule by those who were thrilled in his ruin, he did not waivered his faith in the Lord for he knew then, as he bore witness of the living Lord and His Second Coming, and his own personal resurrection saying: “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter-day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: (Job 19:25-26).”

While I so appreciate the beauty and grandeur of the tree as it grows up with increasing strength into the green horizon, no longer did my heart envy for I know that though my physical life deteriorates in so short a time in mortality, it is only temporary. The tests and trials of life are but constants to spiritual growing into a sanctified state on the other side of the veil where eternal power, might and dominion are reserved by no less than the Father of us all and the creator of the tree and man; heaven and earth, to those who, like Job, endured well to the end.

I am not yet as Job, but as I contemplate on the ills of my mortal journey and the preservation of my life until this time of my 66th year of an enduring race through life, I can’t help but acknowledge with deepest gratitude to Heavenly Father in earnest prayer:

O, Father, before Thee and Thy eternal heavens I pray
With deepest feelings of thanksgiving, ever in my yearning heart,
Encompassed by Thy eternal love, kindness and mercy,
Through each passing day of my life’s mortal journey.

Ever in my soul, I thank Thee, for Thy divine power,
Which saved my life in its dying moments from infancy,
Forward to my growing years and ordeals of maturity,
And through the waning days and refining tests of seniority.

I thank Thee, for every moment of joy and gladness
Thou gavest me, along the path in this challenging earthly sojourn.
Grateful as always for the edifying experiences
That sustained me in my battles with the adversary.

In my sinfulness, and human weaknesses and frailties
Thou hast always been forever forgiving and loving;
In the depths of humility and my ever grateful heart, therefore,
I express my most profound thanks for Thy forbearance and compassion.

Father in Heaven, how grateful I am for the Atonement
Of Thine only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ and His redeeming love and mercy,
Giving me the faith and hope for a glorious resurrection,
If I but follow the covenant path and the conditions of repentance and obedience.

In flashes of Thy Divine light, I express gratitude to Thee,
For guiding me, through the Holy Ghost, away from the dark tunnels
That obscured the track of my voyage into the realms of eternity,
Clearing the way to the inviting flickers of eternal exaltation.

I thank Thee, O, Father for the trust and confidence
Thou hast in me as to have me ordained to the Holy Priesthood.
Grateful as well for an even greater trust of having a family of my own
And the glorious promise of being sealed together forever.

Heavenly Father, at this time of my life when intensifying trials are evident
I pray that Thou mayest grant for me a stronger heart and an enduring soul.
Please help me in mine unbelief; guide me through the Holy Ghost,
To live a life of service in righteousness and in truth to the end.

Help me that I may continue to live in faithfulness and obedience to Thy commands,
And allow me to consecrate my life in service to Thy kingdom and Thy people.
Bestow upon me the spiritual gift of power to withstand the refining tests of life
Now remaining as I move into the abating cycle of life attendant to old age.

In the process of surviving the sanctifying swelter of adversity,
I ask for Thy inspiration that I may not in any way shrink from my fight.
Let my family life be in accord with the pattern that Thou hast provided
For us to live by in unity, harmony, peace and love.

Dear Heavenly Father, I most humbly pray, as I submit my honest petitions to Thy divine will.
In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

The dawn of my 66th birthday commenced with hugs and kisses and words of love from my dearest wife---Letty---as early as 2:00 AM, whose unbounded love has always been reflected by her thoughtfulness and ability to remember the most memorable days of each of our lives.

THE DRESSMAKER’S NIGHT

The Flordeliza Gasta Betita-Odtojan Story

By: Norberto Betita

Flordeliza Gasta Betita-Odtojan

She was born on August 11, 1937 when our mother was only sixteen years old and christened as Flordeliza Gasta Betita. She is second to have been born out of thirteen siblings. In her younger years, she was the most beautiful and attractive of the women in the family. She was born when life was too difficult because of the global ‘great depression’ and only a little child when the greatest battle ever fought during World War II at the Surigao Strait was at its height during General McArthur’s Leyte landing. The most terrifying roars of American bomber planes, flying above their evacuation places, was such a dreaded part in her life’s experiences.

Although our parents are very supportive of our quest for learning, high school education was too difficult to attain because of its 12 kilometer distance from our place and the non-availability of public transport. Plus the fact that money was too hard to find.

However, despite all the difficulties she struggled to study high school at the Northeastern Mindanao Colleges until she was forced to stop due to an incident in which she collapsed and went on a coma one afternoon at school---4:00PM. She was thought to have been already dead, and was no longer brought to the hospital. But at about or past 10PM, she awakened as if just from being fast asleep. 

With husband Gerardo Odtojan

Since then she stopped schooling and trained with our mother the skills in dressmaking. With innate intellectual gift, she’d easily learned the skills. Not long after she became the assistant of our mother in her dressmaking works. She had trained so well that she eventually became an expert dressmaker.

Then trying to find opportunities for work, even just as a house help, she went with our cousin Margie Japzon to the Province of Lanao. Returning home later, a distant relative---Bella Marquida Odtojan, discovered her dressmaking skills and invited her to stay with her family in Mangagoy to earn a living as a fulltime dressmaker. She obliged and went to stay with the Odtojan’s. Her expertise started to shine in the neighborhood and then into the community which in consequence earned for her the trusts of more clients.

Not long after, while more women were attracted to the glamour of her finished dresses, her beauty and personal prettiness also caught the searching eyes of a relative of her landlord. Gerardo Odtojan, a native of Bad-as, Placer, from the same province of Surigao del Norte, her home province, was an engineering graduate and was working at the lumber department of the Bislig Bay Lumber Company, Inc. (BBLCI), which later evolved to become the Paper Industries Corporation of the Philippines (PICOP). From attraction was formed a deep friendship which later developed into a profound desire for courtship. Finally, as was the culture of their times, a “yes I do” was given in answer to a very sincere pleadings, “will you marry me?”

I was only about eight years old and had just completed my first grade in elementary, but I still could vividly remember that day prior to the scheduled wedding day when a large truck came and parked in front of our house filled with oversized cooking utensils, food stuffs, live animals and others. There was also a band. While formal family courtesies was in process, hired cooks started slaughtering animals for the sumptuous wedding feast. The pre-nuptial party ended late while cooking continued uninterruptedly even as the church’s bells rang to signal the beginning of the wedding march and expressions of marital vows on that blessed day of May 6, 1960; until the wedding convoy with a band following arrived at home and the grandiose wedding reception was started to the delight of the guests and the entire neighborhood who had been invited to the celebrations. Such was one very expensive wedding preparations which probably was never duplicated in our hometown. But to my brother-in-law---Gerardo---it was and must have been worth the cost, for throughout their family life, my sister---Flordeliza---had always been a loyal and hardworking partner. 

Relaxing at home with family pets

I was privilege to live with them during the summer vacation of 1962. I was supposed to enroll for my fourth grade in the public school of Mangagoy, Bislig, Surigao del Sur. She was then pregnant of her first born son. It was there and during the time of her pregnancy that I witnessed the mounting pressures of the dressmaker’s night. From morning till night, she labored to make sure her commitments to her clients are met. When her husband was on a night shift duty in his work, she worked even till midnight. She healed her conception related nausea by smoking cigarette and filled her thirst with Coca Cola. The demands of her sewing expertise includes dresses, uniforms, curtains and others. Yet in her busiest moments as a dressmaker, she always took time to care for her husband when at home. Her husband, a very humble man, also understood that in their partnership, they are co-equal, hence when he recognized that his wife was too busy dressmaking while at the same time doing household chores, he did the woman’s chores as well, such as, but not limited to laundering and cooking.

Even at the heights of her pregnancy, at the time when the fetus in her womb was already 5 months, she still did sewing dresses. She did her daily routine in dress making and never complaint. She should have reasons to decline her customers or to limit her works to do, after all, they still have no children to provide. Yet she did what was necessary to prepare for the future and especially to make sure that her clients will remain faithful patron of her.

Sometime in 1971, I have again the opportunity to go on vacation at their home. Mangagoy was already flourishing as a barangay. I noticed that she had gotten more and more clients than before. By then she had already four children to care for and pregnant for her fifth child. Yet despite her mounting dressmaking work commitments, she never shook off nor faltered in her motherhood responsibilities to her children and her spousal duties to her husband. As a matter of fact, she should have established her own dress shop and hire other dressmakers, but she did not, knowing that it would seriously affect her motherhood duties. At least with her business at home she was sure that the family was first in her daily agenda before sitting in front of the sewing machine. Her family was central to her life. She had been very lucky to have a very understanding and kind husband who was always true to their spousal and parental partnership. 

With living siblings

While the family was as ever paramount in her daily routine, sewing seemed to have become the way of recuperating her weary soul. Besides, she wanted to serve her clients with confidence and build a relationship of trust; keeping in balance family duties and earning opportunities. As children are asleep and her husband on his duty shift, the dressmaker’s night continue to echo the timbre of a mechanical sewing machine which to her had long become a sweet music to the ear. She knew then that there is no way that she can be a perfect mother, but throughout those many years of her mothering, she was provided the best opportunities to be such a good one.

Despite her husband’s adequate income as an executive of the Paper Industries Corporation of the Philippines, as Section Head of the Lumber Department, even eventually retiring as Senior Staff member, she continued to labor as a dressmaker. Beyond those weary nights of pedaling the sewing machine was her dreams to help her children attain the necessary education that they wanted to achieve which for her was denied because of poverty. She and her husband, provided all their children the opportunity to go to college. Although not all earned a degree, it was not out of financial incapacity and moral support, but of individual choice. Her unconditional love for her children reverberate the poem “A Mother’s Love” by an unknown author: 

Her seven children

There are times when only a Mother’s love
Can share the joy we feel
When something we’ve dreamed about
Quite suddenly is real

There are times when only a Mother’s faith
Can help on life’s way
And inspire in us the confidence
We need from day to day

For a Mother’s heart and a Mother’s faith
And a Mother’s steadfast love
Were fashioned by the angels
And sent from God above
(Author Unknown)

There’s a saying that “Never underestimate the power of a woman with a sewing machine.” Indeed, as years are carried on to the ever changing fashions and styles, the dressmaker remains to be the best and most fitting partner of beauty and glamour. However, more than the fits and fads in the stylistic and enchanting world of trendiness and charm, the dressmaker’s night which was made part of my sister’s productive dynamism was always and ever pointedly attuned to an ever dominant and far more supreme creative power to shape and frame the beauty of her family life.

When her husband died in July 1, 1998, my sister Flordeliza continued to do her trade until she was advised by her children to stop at age 75. She may not have been blessed with material abundance, but she rejoiced with contentment while reflecting on those years of tremendous struggle to raise and rear and educate seven children.

She is now 81 and walking the lonesome pathway reserved for the feeble and weary travelers in their advanced and deteriorated years of life’s journey. Yet her countenance never displayed the common frustrations of the compounding and intensifying physical limitations resulting from old age. She enjoys her remaining years at home under the care of her two unmarried daughters.

On this her 81st birthday celebrations, I do wish for the best of benedictions which God has kept in reserve to be poured out for her from this day and all through the staying time of her mortal life.

HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MANA FLONG!