Give Every Day a Chance of Its Own

I bought a new book a few weeks ago titled "Everyday deserves a chance" by Max Lucado. I've always been a big fan of Max's books because he seems to know exactly how to capture the essence of the time we live in, and bring God into the darkest scariest parts of our lives. I decided to share some insights from this book, and some of my deductions with you in the hope that you will begin to have better days from now on. 

Every morning when we wake up from deep or restless slumber, the one thing that is certain is that we have been given another opportunity to live, to dream, to work, and of course to win. It is also another opportunity to sin, gossip, backstab those who trust us, take God's grace for granted, and take pride in ourselves. It is also an opportunity to be sad, depressed, faithless, hopeless, feel worthless and ugly, reiterate mistakes made in the past, and dwell on the relationships that didn't work, the job that never came and the dreams that are still unfulfilled. Every new day is an opportunity. The question is how are you spending your opportunity?

Sometimes, it is difficult to be happy. It is difficult to look up and see a bright day; it is difficult to even have hope because you have had so much hope in the past, your heart is sick from hope deferred. It is difficult to even remember God when you are being tested on such days. Believe me when I say I can write a whole book about this. But I want you to take a step in the right direction starting today. Can you make yourself say "Jesus today is in your hands. Please be with me at every turn." That's the prayer that broke me and made me all at the same time. Sometimes we are sad because we want to be in charge of how our lives play out, but the bible says "none can receive except God gives". It means we cannot decide on how we want life to play out, we can only trust God. If we are to trust God, then we must place every day i.e. every opportunity into his hands so that we can choose life, grace, love, happiness, strength to work and a winning attitude over depression, backbiting and backstabbing, gossiping, pain, regret, worry and everything else we think is important. 

From this day, start to saturate your day in the power and grace of God. Let him be your guide and your captain. Let his grace engulf you, and let his power strengthen you. Give each day a chance of its own by placing it in God's hands. Remain blessed. XOXO

Not Just Another Resolution

PhotoCredit:www.karmalife.com

Around this time of the year, it is not uncommon to see people with deep resolve to be so much better than they were in the previous year. The cool thing about this is how it almost feels like one has suddenly gotten new springs that one can leap on. I know the feeling because I have been there many times when I feel like I have a new book to write new things on and I can pretend like the mistakes in the old ones never existed. 

Relevance plays a big part in our beings as humans, it is almost as important as oxygen to us. We have become experts at taking our place and announcing ourselves to the world in the ways we can. While I was much younger, I was convinced the only reason I was born was to finish top in my classes and be good at sports. So, my New Year resolution used to probably be to ace all my test scores and I was encouraged on this path by my parents. I used to attend two extra school lessons right after my classes when I was in primary school. All that mattered to me was academic success I used to spend extra time carving my alphabets in my notebooks just so my teacher could say I had the best handwriting in class. I would contest in a wrestling competition among the boys and beat the strongest one just so they’d know size didn’t matter. I even refused to follow the driver that was sent to pick us up on the last day of school one particular term because I slipped from my first position to the sixth position in class.

Some of us are still like I used to be, we see everything as a competition. Our outlook towards life is so we can shine, so that our names can be heard. What we forget is none of us is here by ourselves.

Have you ever wondered why you were not aborted or why you didn’t come as a goat or a bee? 

I am just saying that we were created purposely to fit into God’s work on earth. We are created for a big mighty purpose of doing good works for the glory of God. This means that while we are chasing academic excellence, do we ask ourselves ‘what can I do for God with all these achievements of mine?’ Everything we have been given is solely to serve that big purpose of making the world see God through us.Coincidentally I stumbled on the picture/quote used above while writing this piece and I can’t agree more with the author. Once we start to seek answers to the reason why we are where we are, our aspirations start to be far beyond making money or becoming the youngest president. We start to feel like we are a part of a higher calling, A call to fulfil purpose. A call for our lives to be a gospel unto others and doing good works wherever we find ourselves.

Lay your ears on the table of a lonely heart, share your food with those hungry,pray with the sick, lend yourself and resources however way you can. In all you do let God be exalted.Remember Let your LIGHT so shine before men, that they may see your GOOD WORKS and glorify your Father in heaven.

Tips To Living A Happier And Fuller Life

I was on a flight recently when the plane plunged downwards all of a sudden probably due to a change in altitude but the pilot didn’t have the decency to inform us, so some people assumed we might crash. Much as I kept my cool, I found the sounds of their alarmed prayers and screams disturbing and I must confess my faith did shake. I found myself making notes in my head of what I have made of my life and thinking  if I had lived a life I would be proud of were that the end of me. Surprisingly, my answer came in the negative. I found myself guilty of overthinking things and I recall how much I fight sleep because there are so many things that need to get done. Every dawn has me thinking a million and one things need my attention and I am surprised how I am not even the POTUS.lol.

Well, the plane stabilized and we had a drama free flight home but that incident was like a wakeup call. I wrote a note to myself to keep things in the right perspective. You see, we forget just how short life is thinking we have all the time in the world to get to things we really should be doing right now.

If that incident was the end of me, I would have been deeply dissatisfied but thank God for tons of chances, I am here now and I am sharing with you some of my life tips.

I have decided to be less apologetic. People have always had differing opinions on how other people should live their lives. You will discover how unsatisfying your life would be when you take every decision considering what someone else has to say about it.  Do things because it makes you happy. Happiness should be given so much more priority than it is being given because life is really too short. You need to live that life and live it filtering out every negative comments.

There is no better time to do that amazing thing on your mind than right now. Don’t get me wrong, you are not going to die young or any of that but the earlier you do that thing that has been ion your mind, the better. Age shouldn’t hold you back on the things you can achieve in your life. I find the story of the 83 year old first grader deeply inspiring. I have heard people say I would have loved to be this or that but age isn’t on my side. That is a lie we tell ourselves. Get off your seat and go on that journey that makes your life so much more amazing than it is right now.

Mistakes are only human, Failures are not the end. Don’t beat yourself up over mistakes. They only help us in building wealthier experiences. There is so much life to see that it is absolutely a disservice to oneself not to move on after a failure. Learn from your mistakes, understand it is just a bend and not the end. I remember Having an F in a course in the University, I was so scared of taking the exams again because I became really unsure of myself, I am glad of how far I have come since then.

Have fun. How do you relax? by partying or going on picnics with friends? attending cookouts . Just do something fun and adventurous.  Stop making excuses on why you can’t possibly have a little play time. Life is not that serious. Taking a day out or even a vacation for a week or two wouldn’t ruin your life. 

You need to create time for the people that matter in your life too. You don’t want to realize when it is too late that it was going to cost nothing extra to be at that family dinner. 

Eat Healthy: You owe your body that much. Food helps build our immune systems and even helps our mental health among many other things. We need to be conscious of what goes into our mouth. Why take ill when it can be avoided. Some of us take more care of our cars than we do our bodies. Eating right might really be the key to living longer.

Exercise more often: Do I even need to say this? A healthy person is a happy person. Asides from keeping one in shape, exercises are great for health generally; Heartbeat rate, cholesterol level, muscles and whatever thing you can think of. Create time for it.

Stop Complicating things for yourself: Keep it as simple as it can be. Life already has its own complexities. Don't take on more than you can handle. Live life at a pace you can keep up with. There is no use comparing your life with every Tola, Chudi or Adamu.

Don’t compromise on your time with God: Life without God feels like walking in a complex maze with blindfolds, achieving anything is going to be by a tiny stroke of chance. Why would you want to live life based on chances when you can have someone hold you by the hand and guide you? I have discovered life becomes easier to live when one understands purpose and there is no greater way to understand that than by being close to God. 

All in all,You owe yourself your happiness. Seek it and live it. I am on the path of living my life that way, so help me God.

Have a great week y'all.