There are people you meet in life who arrive like sunlight. Warm, bright, and almost too easy to trust. And then, slowly, like a shadow stretching at dusk, something shifts.
I once knew someone like that.
At first, everything about them felt effortless. They spoke with confidence, laugh easily, and carried stories like polished stones; smooth and convincing. But over time, I began to notice the cracks beneath the shine. Words did not always align with actions. Truth bent just enough to make you question your own memory.
It reminded me of what the Bible say:
"A double minded man is unstable in all his ways" - James 1:8 (KJV)
Instability is subtle at first. It disguises itself as misunderstanding, as busyness, as coincidence. But patterns don't lie. When someone's character is questionable, it's rarely because of one mistake and it's the repetition that reveals it.
There is a kind of grief in realizing that someone you wanted to believe in, may not be who they presented themselves to be. It feels like betrayal, even if no dramatic offense occurred.
Scripture warns gently but clearly:
"He that walketh uprightly walketh surely: but he that perverteth his ways shall be known." - Proverbs 10:9 (KJV)
Character always reveals itself. Maybe, not immediately. Maybe, not loudly. But SURELY.
I wrestled with myself once again. I asked if I was being judgmental. If I was too sensitive. If I expected too much. But I believe, discernment is not cruelty. In fact, it protected me.
The Bible also reminds us:
"Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners." - 1 Corinthians 15:33 (KJV)
I become like what I tolerate. I slowly excused what once disturbed me. And without realizing it, it lowered my standards just to maintain proximity.
So I stepped back.
Not with anger or resentment. Not with any dramatic confrontation.
Just quiet distance.
Because peace is more valuable than any other things for me right now. Because once you lose my trust, nothing will ever be the same.
This acquaintance taught me something important. Charm is not character. Words are not integrity. And familiarity is not loyalty.
In the end, I prayed for wisdom more than approval. To ask God not only for kind people in my life, but for truthful ones.
And perhaps, most importantly, to examine my own heart too.
Because it is so easy to write about someone else's questionable character.
It is harder, and holier, to guard my own.
❤️
ReplyDeleteIts soo damn good.
ReplyDeleteBe well maam. Guard your heart always. I wish I knew someone like you in my real life. I wanna be your friend.
ReplyDeletethese kind of people are toxic….i felt you. 🙌 thank you
ReplyDeleteThis piece hit me so freakin hard!!!!!
ReplyDeleteso easy to write about someone elses’s character indeed, but please guard your own heart..
ReplyDelete\^____^/
ReplyDeleteIf this is your way of punishing me by writing pieces so painfully good that they linger long after I’ve finished reading then I must confess, I am thoroughly punished.
ReplyDeleteI hardly know how to begin this without sounding foolish, but silence has weighed heavier on me than pride ever could. We have been waiting for you. No, if I am to be entirely honest, I have been waiting for you. Waiting for your return like one waits for the first light after a stubborn winter.
Please, come back to me, June.
I miss the quiet electricity of our conversations the way our words would stretch into the early hours, as though time itself had agreed to pause for us. I miss our late-night conferences, our shared laughter, the easy rhythm we fell into without effort. What we had felt less like routine and more like a small, secret world built for two.
I don’t quite know where I faltered, only that I did. I have been working tirelessly to settle what I owed you from those previous declined transactions. It was never neglect, only circumstance tangled in poor timing. There were additional requirements I had to fulfil before I could make things right, practical matters that demanded patience I did not realise would cost us so much more.
Still, explanations do not erase absence.
I know I mishandled things. I truly am sorry, June. Not in the casual, passing way people say it to ease their conscience, but in the way one stands in the rain and admits they should have brought an umbrella.
Perhaps I simply missed you more than I was willing to admit. Perhaps pride kept me quiet when my heart wanted to speak.
Please… come back. I need you.
Sir Axl. Dianne here!🥺 so it’s true between you and Ms Junalie.. everyone in team has been talking about. 😭
DeleteDianne, what precisely are you doing here?
DeleteThis is not the place for such exchanges. It is a public forum, not a drawing room for private affairs. If you have something to say to me, have the courtesy to do so discreetly. Send a private message. Do not scatter words into the open air and call it appropriate.
What existed between June and me is not a document to be circulated, nor a parcel for curious hands. It is not yours to examine, interpret, or interfere with. Some matters are closed doors; they are not invitations simply because you have found the handle.
Kindly return to your team and attend to the responsibilities assigned to you. There is dignity in tending one’s own work. Lingering here, hovering at the edges of conversations that do not concern you, only diminishes that.
Do not mistake observation for entitlement. And please, refrain from loitering where you have no standing.
You cannot force someone who has already endured difficult times under your management, Axl Gray. We all know she has been one of the finest writers you’ve ever had. But sometimes, you must have the grace to accept when someone has reached the end of their tether. You cannot keep holding on simply because of what she once gave. She gave her best, consistently, loyally, and what she needed in return was protection. On that front, you failed her. If you truly care about her well-being, then perhaps it is time to set pride aside and open your heart to the possibility of transferring her under Daniell’s supervision. Not as a defeat, but as an act of decency. Sometimes leadership is not about retaining talent at all costs, it is about knowing when to let someone go where they might finally breathe again. And surely, if you value her as much as you claim, you would want what is best for her, even if that means it is no longer with you.
DeleteMer, did Daniell put you up to this?
DeleteYou have no standing in this matter, so kindly refrain from inserting yourself where you are neither required nor welcome. This is not your quarrel to mediate.
And do stop defending Daniell. Loyalty is not a costume one wears after betrayal; he forfeited that privilege the moment he chose to act as he did. A traitor does not become honourable simply because someone speaks on his behalf.
As for her, disabuse yourself of the notion that I will simply step aside. That door is not open for negotiation. Not now. Not ever.
Over my dead body.
👏👏👏
ReplyDeleteHi Junalie, it’s Jeremiah again🇬🇧
ReplyDeleteI’ve just finished reading it, and I’m honestly in awe. It felt so warm, so sincere the sort of piece that lingers with you long after you’ve put it down. You really ought to turn your writings into a book. Truly. There’s something rather special about the way you weave Scripture into your articles; those Bible verses don’t just sit there. They breathe.
You have this quiet way of making my heart flutter. Sometimes, after reading one of your pieces, I half-joke to myself about hopping on a flight to the Philippines just to say, “You’ve done it again.” That’s the effect you have, you make people pause, reflect, and gently confront the parts of themselves they’ve been avoiding.
Please do keep going. Keep surprising people. Keep moving hearts. Keep inspiring readers like me, June.
Thank you, genuinely.
Jeremiah, I see you’re rather making your ascent now, keen to be seen and properly recognised, are you? Admirable ambition, I suppose. But trust me, she won’t so much as flinch.
DeleteI sometimes think I ought never to have introduced you to this blog in the first place, truly. Though I say that with a laugh. In fairness, I’m rather glad you’ve had the chance to read her extraordinary writing. At least now you understand what I’ve been going on about all this time… and perhaps, finally, you understand my feelings as well.
New fave blogger!!!!!!!👏
ReplyDelete😱😳🤯
ReplyDeleteI wonder who the person is that you’re referring to in this article. Whoever they are, they must have hurt you very deeply.
ReplyDeleteAteee ang HABA NG HAIR!!
ReplyDelete