Friday, January 31, 2014
Why don’t you have a man!?
The other day I saw a rather funny story of Jesus
Christ and some of his followers. One of his female followers said to him
“Jesus, I need a man”. And Jesus answered her “I sent you one, but you keep
telling him he’s just a friend”.
I’m not too sure of the origin of that joke or if it has theological roots, but it sure did two things
to me: 1) I laughed so hard and loud for
almost three minutes and 2) It got me
thinking about why many people do not have the needed help or love that they
need or deserve. I laughed because I have heard several ladies say things
similar to that; some people have the impression that the closer it is, the
more unlikely it is to be real. I was wondering “is it possible that what you
are looking for “out there” is right “in here”?
I was privileged to visit a village in Democratic
Republic of Congo called Mbujimayi and during my stay, I was invited to bless a
piece of land where a local business man and his boys were about to dig for diamonds.
Yes, diamonds! I blessed the land and left for our own mission-evangelism. We worked all day in the neighboring village,
preaching and praying for people and got back late at night. I didn’t have time
to ask if the “diamond diggers” were successful or not. The next morning, as I
did my prayer walk, I walked pass the site and to my surprise they were still
digging. I didn’t want to stop by again since my translator was not with me.
But on a second thought, I decided to go nearer and take a look. When I got
there, one of the workers thought to explain to me what was going on. He probably thought that with my academic credentials,
I was also verse in his local dialect. Well, even though I didn’t understand
the dialect, I understood his gesticulations and explanations.
He explained to me that they may dig for a couple of
hours or even days and not get a single diamond. It is a very hard and tedious
task which may or may not yield dividends. I was amazed that with all the risk
and hard work put into the project, there is a huge possibility of it being
futile; but the interesting part, I found out, is that after all that process,
they only need to find a certain kind/quality/specie/type of soil that tells
them they might have reached a diamond “zone”. Soil? Yes, Soil. And when they find that soil,
the fellow in the hole scoops them and sends them up. When they get all the
“special” soil, they go to the nearby stream to wash/sift it and hope they find
even one piece of diamond. Sometimes
they do find and they celebrate it. Other times they don’t find anything; they
wash up, go home and try another location, another day. But another very interesting part of their
search for diamond is that when they do find diamonds among the soil, it does
not in any way look as attractive or beautiful as we all know diamonds to be. Diamond in its unprocessed state is pretty
ordinary and unless you know how to identify it, you may mistake it for a piece
of worthless article.
They
come disguised
Have you ever heard the metaphor “Diamond in the
rough”? Yes you probably have. But have
you considered the reality of it? Has it occurred to you that many people you
meet as you go through life are going through a process? Life is not a bed of roses and nothing comes
easy. God did not promise any of us a smooth sail through life, so maybe it is
normal to go through hell and high waters in the process of attaining
greatness. Every one of us goes through tough times and we are at various
stages. While some are still battling with mud and miry clay, others have swum
through the river and are looking a bit more polished and clean. But the sad thing is that many are quick to
forget that they once were stuck in the mud and needed some help or attention.
Why are we quick to condemn people just because we do not consider them good
enough!? A lot of us are too busy to
take a closer look to find the solution, help or even beauty in “simple”
places/people. Has it occurred to you
that the young man, whom you consider worthless or inconsequential, may just be
the “diamond” you are searching for? There are many who moan and complain of
lack of love or help, not knowing that what they need is right around the corner.
Many have failed to see that sometimes, things of great quality are wrapped in
ordinary and unattractive packages. Yes, there are treasures in vessels of
clay.
Foolish
girls want “finished” men
To those of you who are still waiting for “Mr
Right”, I have a word for you. First let me ask you a couple of questions.
1. If
you were the one who asked Jesus for a man, what do you think He would have
said in response to you? Would he say “you have mistreated the one I sent to
you” or “you are not ready to be a wife yet”? Would he say “the last time I
sent you one you said he wasn’t your type”? Or “you looked down at the one I
sent you last time”. Be honest, what do you think Jesus would say to you if you
asked him for a man?
2. Are
you one of those who believe that once you get married, you have “entered your rest”?
Do you know that marriage is a call to “more work” rather than “rest”?
3. Are
you busy cat-walking past the right man because your eyes are set on “the
Hollywood” type man?
4. If
you were quarantined to an Island for the rest of your life and you are allowed
to choose one man to live in that island with, who will you choose? (Read Chapter
15 of Winning Ways for Wise Women –J C Gogo for tips).
When it comes to relationship/marriage, I believe
that the reason why many ladies make the wrong choice is because they have the
wrong vision and some others have misplaced priorities. Some know that the guy
they say is “just like a brother” or “just a friend” is probably the right
person for them. Not in every case though, but why would anyone think of
marrying someone who is not as close as a friend? Countless young ladies have
gone into marriage to later regret because they realize that the one whom they
married is not the one whom they can laugh, pray and play with.
Worse still, I think it is foolishness to want to
marry a man because he is “handsome and rich”. Need I say more? Read about these
and more in Winning Ways for Wise Women.
Click here to Order>
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Your comments and/or questions are welcome!
Monday, January 20, 2014
You Can Be Phenomenal
Intro
I know everyone has a right
to his/her opinion or perspective, but I have a feeling that I’m not the only
one who has observed the unprecedented transformation our world has gone (and
is still going) through. Things have changed so much that even the blind can
see a whole new World. The advent of bigger
and faster air planes, development
of advanced communication systems, proliferation
of social networking and a new
generation of smart phones; these
and more tell us that we cannot maintain the status quo ante. The world is
moving forward and my dear ladies, you cannot afford to be left behind.
My new book “Winning Ways for Wise Women” was
written to motivate every lady to rise and take her place in the forefront.
Every woman can be productive and exceptional. Every woman can be phenomenal.
Here is a short extract from
the book:
You are too smart to be ordinary
The ideology of what we call
“Woman” has changed significantly in the 21st century. There is a
paradigm shift and the world has evolved and grown beyond the old-fashioned
pattern of life. It has its good and bad sides, but on a balance of
probabilities one should say there are advantages that we should consider great
gain. In those archaic days women thought themselves to be home keepers only
and a woman who is able to take care of the home front is considered to have
achieved something enormous. Some may say the old mentality was imposed on
women by some chauvinistic people and system; well, let us not argue that but
celebrate the accomplishments so far.
These days, the woman’s place
is not just in the home- the kitchen or bedroom, it is much more. Women now
play a vast array of roles in board rooms, politics, schools, hospitals,
mission field, ministries and many other areas. A woman can be a wife and still
be a student, work to support her family, lead a local church, run a business,
be a mother to her children and still be effective in her marital
responsibilities to her husband (if you know what I mean). Any woman, who must
succeed in this fast paced age, must find a way to balance between all these
without complaining or getting agitated about being overworked. As a matter of
fact, in recent times there are few women who are not involved in at least four
of the above. It is not an easy feat, but what exactly is easy these days!?
Stand out
Since things have changed, it
therefore becomes critical for you as a woman to change with the times; not to
the negative but to become progressive and take your place at the centre stage.
This requires a change of mentality. No one puts new wine in an old wine skin;
so also, no one can survive and achieve anything meaningful in this new age
with an old-school mentality. This is not a call to conform to worldly
standards, but a challenge to rise beyond traditional values and do what you
have to do to leave your footprint in the sands of time. But you cannot do this
without a renewed attitude and deliberate effort to rise and act; “You can’t
leave footprints in the sands of time if you’re sitting on your butt. And who
wants to leave buttprints in the sand of time?” -Anonymous. You must
aggressively challenge yourself to be a multi-dimensional woman, whose
lifestyle redefines acceptable standard for the women folks.
Questions and comments are welcome.
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