Feelings!

Once there was a very small person who had feelings. They had many feelings and felt them every day. Their family liked them when they showed their feelings, so the very small person started to wear their feelings on their sleeve. One day one of the small person's parents said that they didn't like to see the FEAR feeling any more, so the small person tried to pull it off. The parent said that they would give the small person some TOUGH to cover over their FEAR. The small person found it very difficult to cover the FEAR with the TOUGH, so the other parent and the grandparents all helped. It took many days. "Now you look wonderful," said the parents when it was done. "We've covered some of your FEARS with TOUGH, and you'll grow into a strong person."

The small person grew a little older and found a friend. The friend also wore their feelings on their sleeve. The friend said one day, "My parents want me to cover up my LONELY feelings, and to be different from now on." And they were. The small person decided to cover over their LONELY feelings too, and they got ANGRY from another adult. The small person put big patches of ANGRY on top of their LONELY. It was hard work to cover over the LONELY feelings.

One day when the small person (who was now not so small) went to school some of their LONELY feelings started to show. So the teacher kept them behind and gave them some GUILT to cover their LONELY feelings. Sometimes when alone at night the person would look at their feelings. The would pull off the TOUGH and ANGRY and GUILT to look at their LONELY and FEAR. Then they would have to take a long time putting the TOUGH, ANGRY and GUILT back again.

One night the person noticed that their LONELY and FEAR were growing, and beginning to stick out from under the patches. So the person had to go out to find some more ANGRY to cover the LONELY, and got all the TOUGH that their parents could spare to cover their FEAR.

The person grew older and became very popular because everyone said that they could hide their feelings well. The person's parents said one day that they had a PROUD feeling because the person had been so TOUGH. But the person could not find anywhere to put the PROUD feeling because the TOUGH was getting so big. The person had trouble finding room on their sleeve for any other feelings - the TOUGH and the ANGRY were all that showed.

Then after a time the person met another person and they became friends. They thought that they were a lot alike because they both had only TOUGH and ANGRY feelings that showed. One day the friend told the person a secret: "I'm not really like you - my TOUGH and ANGRY are only patches to cover over my LONELY and my FEAR." The friend pulled back the edge of their TOUGH and showed the person their FEAR; just for a second.

The person sat quietly and did not speak. Then carefully they too pulled back the edge of their TOUGH and showed their FEAR. The friend saw the LONELY underneath. Then the friend gently reached out and touched the person's FEAR, and then the LONELY....... The friend's touch was like magic. A feeling of ACCEPTANCE appeared on the person's sleeve, and the TOUGH and ANGRY had become smaller. The person then knew that whenever someone gave them ACCEPTANCE, they would need less TOUGH, and then there would be more room to show PROUD..... SAD ....... LOVING.... STRONG.... GOOD.... WARM... HURT... FEAR....

Start with gratitude

The place to start anything is to have gratitude.

Be thankful for the situation.

And for the desire to better it.

Maybe not happy about it,

Yet joyous for the lessons

The situation avails for life.

For you are responsible

For everything in your life

And everything in some way comes to serve you.

So, look for blessings, and you will find them.

The Glass Roof

There is a glass roof in my house

I can see the furthest I wanna go

The sky aint even the limit

But I can’t even leave the ground

The furthest I have gone is just up the ceiling

I wanna fly way above

Break this glass roof

And peperuka up in the sky

And release my full potential

Are Broken or You are just Broke

I have noticed many people get very close to God when they are broke. They will consistently seek his face in prayer and in gathering and such stuff and you will think they are very broken christian. But once these guys get a breakthrough, first they forget it was from God and next they develop some air. That is bad manner.

But as Paul says, he has learnt to be content in much and in lack, because he knew what His God was. And I think that is the standard we need to have. To know who we are in God, and therefore, whether in lack or in plenty, It will not affect who we are in God or who he is in us.

You may be broken, but maybe you are just broke.

Nothing to Give!

Today is one of those days I wish I had the power to mend the crack of dawn! But now that super glue can’t help I will just have to creatively let the day be a present. Every day I try to remind myself that today is a new day, a day the Lord has made for me to rejoice in it, but my feeble minds can’t smell the newness of the day and my back seems to carry the staleness of yesterday!

Today is one of those days that end great. Today I have nothing to give. So I open my heart to receive; the radiance of the sun to enrich my skin, the movement of the wind to blow my yesterday and the coating of the dust to remind me I am just human.

Today is one of those days, I go back in the evening and I thank God that He gave me an opportunity to live, yet I didn’t feel like it in the morning.

Today is one of those days, I just don’t know how it will go.

You Are Never Displaced

Have you ever felt like you are displaced, lost and not where you want to be in life. Maybe it’s your job and you are not feeling it. Or maybe it’s just that you are not meeting up your expectations in life, and you kind of don’t know how to get there. I used to feel like that a lot and it was frustrating. The feeling of desiring to succeed, yet when I look at where I was, I felt like I had lost way and I was never to get to my dreams.

Ambitious people tend to have high expectations out of themselves and most of the time, before they get to achieve their dreams, they live miserably, feeling like losers yet when people look at their lives they seem to have it held together. No wonder they say, most of the happy people in the world have the least expectations. But you don’t need to lessen your expectations to be happy. It’s healthy to be ambitious and to think big. But we need to take care not to live a miserable life as we try to get there. How do we do that?  

Have you ever heard the story of the builder who was about to retire and his demanding boss requested him to build one more last house? The builder; who had dedicated himself fully all his life, felt as if the boss was taking advantage of him. He agreed to build the last house but for once in his life, his heart was not in it. In a hurry trying to finish his career, he did a shoddy job. And as the boss threw a farewell party on his retirement, he handed him the keys to the house he had just build last.

When we feel displaced, we tend to do things just for the sake. You find someone going for work just because he needs a pay check at the end of the month. The feeling of displacement makes one do thing half heartedly. You become unsettled and anxious all the time and you lose the touch of excellence.

When I was thinking about this, I was reminded of David’s story. Refer to 1 Samuel 16, 17 and 18. I was imagining how David used to feel, when he would see his brothers going for war and he would be sent to look after the sheep. I mean, even when the prophet came to anoint one of Jesse’s son, David was not around.

It was so easy for David to feel misplaced. I know within his heart, he had dreams of being a warrior and accompanying his big brothers for war. I imagine their conversations in the evening; his brothers are narrating how terrorizing Goliath had become, and as David would try to recall his events with the sheep, the brothers would rudely interrupt him, wondering what is this boy talking about. We all know how we cut off our small brother’s silly stories. I know I did.

Yet David was dedicated in his task even with the expected feeling of displacement. He wouldn’t leave the sheep alone and try and sneak to the battlefield to watch like I would have done. No, he would dutifully look after the sheep. What encourages me most is seeing how God was still developing his muscles for war while at the pasture land. I mean he fought the bear and the lion. And so when, by accident, he saw Goliath trying to defy the armies of God, the build dimensions of a warrior in him rose and he took the challenge.

I have been a victim of despising my current placement as I try to capture the desired life. But one thing I have come to learn is that my faithfulness in the place I am will eventually fuel my getting to my desired place. God in his own way is able to prepare us for the future with our present. Even when we feel like our present state is like a waste of time. We just need to be faithful.

Most people called by God, still don’t believe all things work for good. ALL THINGS.  And when you understand that, you will be faithful in the things that in your natural thinking may not seem to take you to your desired place. Look at Abraham in Genesis 12, God tell him to follow him to a place he will be shown. God doesn’t tell him the place at first. He unfolds Abraham’s journey as he walk in faith and obedience day to day. That’s how God works.

That is our call. Your faith in God should always remind you that he is using your current place to prepare you for your place of honor. People may see as if you are just a shepherd boy, but God is using that to prepare a king, a leader who shepherds a whole nation and a warrior. Just be faithful in the little, you shall be made in charge of much. Don’t miss your opportunity like the old builder.

Of Pee and Poop

For some reason I have been feeling very guilty every time I flush my toilet. Using three to four liters of clean water to push pee and poop to the sewage drain, yet thousands of family in my continent can’t access clean water for basic use each day. I wish I felt nothing, but honestly it has been eating me up.

When my real estate dream materialize, I will build houses that have a tank that collects used water from the kitchen sink, hand washing sink and the laundry room, filter it and re-use the water to flush the toilet.

Meanwhile, I will have to figure out how to deal with this feeling, or I could recapture my childhood escapades of manure-ing the earth!

In the words of Lord Baden Powell “Let it not be said of you in shame when you are gone, that there was much beauty here before you came. Leave the world a better place than you found it”.

Feelings!

Once there was a very small person who had feelings. They had many feelings and felt them every day. Their family liked them when they showed their feelings, so the very small person started to wear their feelings on their sleeve. One day one of the small person's parents said that they didn't like to see the FEAR feeling any more, so the small person tried to pull it off. The parent said that they would give the small person some TOUGH to cover over their FEAR. The small person found it very difficult to cover the FEAR with the TOUGH, so the other parent and the grandparents all helped. It took many days. "Now you look wonderful," said the parents when it was done. "We've covered some of your feelings with TOUGH, and you'll grow into a strong person."

The small person grew a little older and found a friend. The friend also wore their feelings on their sleeve. The friend said one day, "My parents want me to cover up my LONELY feelings, and to be different from now on." And they were. The small person decided to cover over their LONELY feelings too, and they got ANGRY from another adult. The small person put big patches of ANGRY on top of their LONELY. It was hard work to cover over the LONELY feelings.

One day when the small person (who was now not so small) went to school some of their LONELY feelings started to show. So the teacher kept them behind and gave them some GUILT to cover their LONELY feelings. Sometimes when alone at night the person would look at their feelings. The would pull off the TOUGH and ANGRY and GUILT to look at their LONELY and FEAR. Then they would have to take a long time putting the TOUGH, ANGRY and GUILT back again.

One night the person noticed that their LONELY and FEAR were growing, and beginning to stick out from under the patches. So the person had to go out to find some more ANGRY to cover the LONELY, and got all the TOUGH that their parents could spare to cover their FEAR.

The person grew older and became very popular because everyone said that they could hide their feelings well. The person's parents said one day that they had a PROUD feeling because the person had been so TOUGH. But the person could not find anywhere to put the PROUD feeling because the TOUGH was getting so big. The person had trouble finding room on their sleeve for any other feelings - the TOUGH and the ANGRY were all that showed.

Then after a time the person met another person and they became friends. They thought that they were a lot alike because they both had only TOUGH and ANGRY feelings that showed. One day the friend told the person a secret: "I'm not really like you - my TOUGH and ANGRY are only patches to cover over my LONELY and my FEAR." The friend pulled back the edge of their TOUGH and showed the person their FEAR; just for a second.

The person sat quietly and did not speak. Then carefully they too pulled back the edge of their TOUGH and showed their FEAR. The friend saw the LONELY underneath. Then the friend gently reached out and touched the person's FEAR, and then the LONELY....... The friend's touch was like magic. A feeling of ACCEPTANCE appeared on the person's sleeve, and the TOUGH and ANGRY had become smaller. The person then knew that whenever someone gave them ACCEPTANCE, they would need less TOUGH, and then there would be more room to show PROUD..... SAD ....... LOVING.... STRONG.... GOOD.... WARM... HURT... FEAR....