Love

 

Marvin gay, Westlife, Boys to Men, Mariah Carey, Whitney Huston, Phil Collins, Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, New kids on the block  this is the list of some of the musicians that sung about love back in the day. Trey Songs, Neyo, Avant, Kelly Rowland, Justin Beiber (the new day musicians). I could go on and on, I was arguing with a friend how the musicians in the 80's sung more about love than the musicians in our generation who seem to sing more about lust. They seemed to make things more romantic and genuine compared to what the likes of Neyo who would sing of "sexy love".
The argument went on and on and I won, I felt I knew the definition of love. As long as the lyrics would describe a man pursuing a woman to be his for the long term and not how the new age lyrics would talk of one night stands and making love in the club.
Oh boy! I was far from the truth, my definition of love was being shaped by what the musicians would sing. When you look at the lives of these people I thought of as "love gurus" they never practiced what they were singing. They had strings of ex wives and husbands, scandals surrounding them. So how am I supposed to go by what they sang, how was I going to base my love life on these people.
Maybe for you it is not the music shaping your definition of love  maybe its the Mexican soap operas, the romantic films, romance novels. Whatever it is, I realized the argument I won meant nothing because I was far away from the truth, I was like a blind person leading the blind to my friend. Because the world's definition of love is selfish, it is for us to find someone to please us and make us feel good BUT...

1 Corinthians 13:1-3  If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. (NIV)

1 Corinthians 13:4–8a  Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails ... (NIV)

John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends.

Now I look for my definition of love from the author of Love; God. From His word I learn what it means to experience true love as He died on the cross for my sins He gave His life for me. I am now re-learning how to love those around me with sincere love, how to not just categorize love in the context of romantic relationships but to spread it to the people around me.
Whats shaping your definition of love? Maybe it is what that gets you in the wrong relationships, Maybe you think that love does not exist, maybe now you have hardened your heart because of past hurts of people that claimed to love you.
I wish I could shout this from the roof tops. GO BACK TO THE AUTHOR OF LOVE LET HIM SHOW YOU TRUE LOVE LAY AT HIS FEET AND LET HIM TEACH YOU THE TRUE DEFINITION OF LOVE.

Dreams

That was a documentary worth watching! I almost clapped when the lecturer paused it, too bad I did not get to see it to the end. It was about the life and achievements of Wangari Maathai, how she had this dream in her heart and turned it into reality, now she is known all over the world for her passion to protect the environment.
I have had several ideas over the years, things I would like to achieve. When I was a kid I would dream of owning this big car when pulling around toy cars made from milk cartons, when I was a teenager I would dream of becoming a neurosurgeon and save all the kids who needed help. I finally ended up undertaking an undergraduate degree in Environmental science, how I decided that I do not know but I believe it was God's plan.
As we grow up we let go of some dreams because reality sets in, like we do not attain the grades that are needed to do a certain course, getting to where we want to may require a lot more money than we have,it may require a lot more legal documents that we can get, It may require a lot more effort than we thought we needed to put in.
That is why it is always inspiring to know about people who faced the obstacles head on, who beat the odds when everyone said they were crazy of dreaming so big, who decided they would do what it takes to get what they have envisioned.

Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

The good news is that God has a  plan for each of us we just have to trust in Him that He always has our best interest at heart. No matter how hard it may seem for you to achieve your dreams, you should take comfort that God has everything under control. But we need to play our part and fight on, go against the expectations of others because when GOD  puts a dream in your heart He will equip you with the necessary skills and He will put the right people in your path so DREAM ON.

Judging

I could not wrap my head around the fact that I had just received a text from a girl I had just met telling me I am a pretty stranger Ha! at a time in our country where the headlines are about a certain man changing to be a woman. I was terrified that a girl was making a pass at me, what made it more weird is that I was still seated next to her in the bus when she texted me. I narrated the story to one of my friends later on and she insisted the girl was weird and I agreed 100%. In my quiet time I remembered that she told me her parents are divorced and she was heading to her mother's place. I had noticed the screen on her phone was broken and had a red stain which she later explained it was blood from a time when her dad hit her because she had lost the keys to the house. She had blood all over her bedroom wall that she refused to wipe so it could just stay there as a reminder.
She is planning to join school next month and study to become a doctor and she believes her life will get better. I also shared this with the friend who we had got into agreement that the girl was weird and my friend told me she does not believe in coincidences everything is God-ordained.
This statement made me think that maybe she was not making a pass on me but simply appreciating a stranger that took time to talk to her. How many times are we quick to render people weird? awkward? loosers? because of certain things they do. Maybe if we took time to hear their story and try understand where they come from, then we would see them differently. Everyone struggles with one thing or the other some have too much going on in their lives.

1 Samuel  16:7 But the LORD said to Samuel, "Don't judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The LORD doesn't see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

Let it be your prayer today to see people as God sees them and not to judge. Let God open up your eyes to see beyond the image that person portrays.  Remember unless you walk in that person's shoes you might never understand why they are the way the are.

The proposal

"He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and I believe I have found a good thing so will you marry me?" This is one of the best proposals I have seen. It got me all teary its how the guy said it so self-assured and he really meant it. No normal lady would say no to such a proposal so she jumped up and down with tears flowing from her eyes shouting  'Yes! Yes! Yes!.
Witnessing such proposals not only make me look forward to mine (daaah am a girl) but they make me think of Christ's death. What if we looked at it as a PROPOSAL where Christ proposes to you, where the guy would go down on one knee,Christ hanged on the cross for you, Where the guy would sweat because he is nervous, Christ shed His blood, Where the guy would hold out a ring for you to accept, Christ holds out His power,comfort,love, peace for you to accept, Where the guy shows a commitment to marry you soon, Christ shows you that there is nothing now that can separate Him from you because IT IS FINISHED.
We look at as  just a crucifiction  when its Christ telling us  if only we believe He died on the cross for us we will be free, we can  now find our identity in Him. But so many times we forget and at times think that we are too messed up to go at His feet and pray for forgiveness, we forget that at that moment He allowed you to lay down your burdens at the cross and instead insist on finding our own solutions to our problems, we forget that He payed the price for us and sell ourselves short by getting into the wrong relationships and end up heart broken, we forget that He is the author and finisher of our lives that no matter how it looks at the moment He will pull you through, We forget He declared us fearfully and wonderfully made in His image and we go around trying to fit into what the world defines as "beautiful' and lose our true identity, we forget He is the center and run around chasing money, men, women, friends, the latest cars and in the end we lose our souls.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave us His only son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

In front of everyone Christ hanged on the cross so that you may be set free.Will you take His ring of eternal life and let Him into every area of your life? Saying yes to His proposal will be  the best decision you will ever make in your life.

Personalities

Yuck! I can't stand the taste of eggs, whenever I try to eat them they always find their way out of my body ASAP! whether fried or boiled I just can't but I LOVE the bird that produces the eggs whether boiled,fried,marinated,raw( don't give that look). That night i was hanging out with my girlfriends having dinner, we were having Injera and this one had a boiled egg in one of the servings so my friends being the true friends they are, were celebrating the fact that they had the egg to themselves ( I understand them because I don't play around with food). So after the night was over we started making our way back to the bus stop we get back to campus. We had all dressed up for the night so one of my friends  had on this 6-inch heels and she had to tip toe through the street so some street boys took advantage of this and started trailing us, three of my friends started running off leaving behind the tip toeing friend and one of them took matters into her own hands and picked up a stone which we ended up going with it all the way back to campus you would have thought she was an archeologist who had just discovered a precious stone.
We finally made our way to the campus and being one of the "brave" ones who stayed behind with the tip toeing friend I started picking on my other pals.
We are all different that is why psychologists have made it a point to come up with all kinds of theories about the different personalities we have and we can now place which personality type is most dominant in us.

Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

As much as the world puts us into these categories where we get to know our strengths and weaknesses, we shouldn't limit ourselves to the different psychological opinions. God looks at our hearts while men will look at us from the outside. So the one who categorized you as beautifully and wonderfully made says you can do all things as long as He is there to give you strength.