150 Moments in Psalms -Psalms 2

Psalms 2: 1-12  (NKJV

 “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us

Psalms 2:1-3

Psalms chapter 2 gives for us an important question and the answer to it. This question and answer provide an understanding to why the world in which we live is the way it is. Verse 1 is the question,  “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?” The word heathen means “gentile.” In the Old Testament the word gentile referred to someone who was not part of the chosen nation of God, Israel. But its truest meaning is not national but spiritual. It means a person who is not part of the family of God by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. To rage is to be violent, to rage is to be angry, to rage is to war, to destroy, to hurt others. The world is filled with these things. Why?

Apparently according to this verse, the rulers of this world consciously plot how to oppose the will of God and the things of God. This is the reason the heathen rage. This is the vanity people imagine, that they can oppose the will of God. You can oppose God’s will but you cannot stop it. Men cannot stop God’s will any more than they can stop the stars from shinning. Why? *Notice that it says the word “LORD” and “anointed.” The word “LORD” is the Old Testament name, the Hebrew name, for Jesus. The word “anointed”, means Messiah, and Messiah is the Old Testament equivalent to the word Christ. This world is opposed to Christ. Generally speaking the powers that be, the governments of this world, are opposed to Jesus and anything that is associated with Him. This is why governments take prayer out of school, as if you can stop someone from praying. It’s vanity to imagine you can. This is why some governments outlaw the Bible in their country.

The counsel, the reasoning, the thinking of such people is given here in verse 3, “Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.” Man in his natural state is in a state of darkness and rebellion against God because ever since Adam and Eve sinned man has had a fallen and corrupt nature. Mankind is naturally in a state of rebellion. If you watch a small child, you will see these tendencies. All men are servants. There are however only 3 S’s that you can choose to serve: sin and satan, or the Savior! The council of the world and of many of the rulers of government is to break their bands asunder. That is, they don’t want to serve the Savior, and they don’t want bands and chords which attach them to the will of God. The vain imagining is to think that they can stop God’s Word. The heathen rage, and the kings of the earth take council against the Lord, and against His anointed. This is the world in which we live.

4 He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The Lord shall hold them in derision. 5 Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, And distress them in His deep displeasure:

Psalms 2:4-5

In the end it is always God that has the final say. It can be easy to feel overpowered, helpless, cast down, and persecuted in a world in which there is so much evil. In a world where so many rage, and so many powerful governments seek to control everything and oppose freedom of religion and especially Christianity. The Bible says, “The eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good.” God is looking down from heaven and he knows what the rulers of this world are doing and what all the people of the earth are doing.

The word “derision” in verse 4 is perhaps best depicted through the story of the towerof Babel. Genesis 11:4-8 “And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one,and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.”

The story of the tower of Babel is a repetitive story in human history. Men will always gather themselves together against God. This world is slowly heading towards a similar situation again to that of Babel. One in which all the heathen and all the kings of the earth will take council together and unite together under the anti Christ. Christians are often the outcasts in society, they are often the ones ganged up against in the work-place. But whenever you find yourself in this situation do not become impatient as is the human sinful tendency. Just remember that God is waiting too. He is waiting until the fullness of times. Perhaps He is waiting until everyone has used up their opportunities or wasted them. God is waiting until the time that every human has made their final decision regarding Jesus, who said, “Behold I stand at the door and knock.”

When we look at all this plotting and evil that is done in opposition to God and when we suffer, are ridiculed, are mocked, and are mistreated by the heathen in their rage, we should try to keep in mind what Psalm 2 says in verse 4, “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh.” Calamity, suffering, and judgment are going to come against the wickedness of this world, and yes, just as the people of this world have laughed while they sinned and laughed while they tormented the children of God.

Continued in the next post…

150 moments In Psalms

Psalms 1 (NKJV)

The Way of the Righteous and the End of the Ungodly

1 Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;

2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.

3 He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.

4 The ungodly are not so, But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.

5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

6 For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Bible study summary

 “A Man Of Attitude & Purpose”

Psalm 1:1  The Choices Of The Godly

The godly, an active person, pays attention to 3 lifestyle traits:

  • Words Of Wisdom” (advice, plan, purpose),
  •  State Of The Mind” (nurtures an upright mindset) and
  • the “Company It Keeps” (mingles with God-praisers)…1 Peter 2:9-10

 Psalm 1:2 Thrilled By The Word

He is passionate about the Word (Joshua 1:8) and approaches it intentionally (Psalms 119:105). This approach is not erratic, but patterned, meditating all day on it (Proverbs 4:23). The Word is his life that gives light (John 1:4).

Psalm 1:3 Blossom Like A Tree

A preacher once said: “Success is predictable.” The picture of a tree by the river describes a firm relationship which brings relevance and flourishing to the tree through different seasons. The river is symbolic of the Holy Spirit (John 7:38) and the soil, the grace of Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18).

Psalm 1:4-5 The Ultimate Fate Of The Ungodly

Just like dust, the memory of the ungodly is forgotten (Proverbs 10:7). They also have no defence on Judgment Day. They cannot share in the true inheritance of the righteous. Fret not over the wicked’s prosperity (Psalms37:7).

Psalms1:6 God Knows The Righteous’ Ways

Yes! This is a confidence-booster. “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and He (God) delights in his way” (Psalms 37:23). When a man’s ways please God, He can make His enemies to be at peace with him (Proverbs 16:7).

Questions and Reflections

I think I am walking righteously, but I don’t see “prosperity” or “fruitfulness” like the tree. Am I doing something wrong? Is there a problem with me?

© Momodu Oyakhilome

Books: Seeking Knowledge and Understanding.

What books mean to me: Knowledge

 

I like to read and I have some books. I think I have said that before. The thing is the books I buy are supposed to be a reflection of the knowledge I desire at that point in time. The books that eventually get read are a reflection of the knowledge I acquire. There are exceptions though. You may see a book on amazon.com or bookstagram or  boookdepository.com  or any of those book-reviewing sites and decide that it is an area you want to exploit. For me, that can be tricky. I am learning how to enter a bookstore whether real or virtual with a goal in mind. I need to have a particular book or topic I want to read about lest I find myself ‘just buying’. There is this thing about books. I like to read them, I like to feel them and I like see them. Yes, literally see them around me, I’ll make a space for them anyhow. My love for books! However I don’t consider myself a bibliophile. Not there yet.

What was saying again? I was saying that my desire for knowledge comes (preferably) before seeking to buy a book for that purpose. Or the other way round. Whichever it is, there is a journey between buying a book and getting the knowledge that the book has to offer. It’s called reading the book. I shouldn’t get started on how many books are acquired (bought or gifted) that never get to be read. Reading a book depends on how much you really need the knowledge. Which brings me to my story for this article.

 

Inspired to Enquire

So I was doing some soul-searching recently and I decided that I really needed to be sure of what I knew about my Saviour Jesus Christ. I don’t do biblical arguments but sometimes you can not escape it. You get cornered. I could not escape it when I recently met a new friend who was from a particular denomination that is popularly known for door to door witnessing. Yes, she is now my friend, I don’t judge and she is a nice person to me.

What this led me to do is to go in search of materials that will explain properly what I already have an idea of. Though the subject that day was whether hell is real or not, what I desired was to look deeply into the scriptures to get a better and deeper understanding of my Lord and Saviour. I have to say that I have no doubt that hell is real. I don’t desire to explain it or defend it to anyone. So I took that encounter and turned it into a knowledge seeking mission. The first books I got were ‘23 minutes in hell’ and ‘HELL’  by Bill Wiese. I may share what I learnt from the books some other time. I simply wanted to know more.  Proverbs 4:7 says ” Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding. (NKJV)

After that it has been quite the experience seeking knowledge and reading books written by people who have spent so much time in the Word and all the other things authors do to come up with substance in their books. I still read my Bible but I have also found some good material online. These days, I mostly look to my favorite ( newly found) author Pastor John Piper on DesiringGod.org. I think I have at least 30 of his books in electronic copy. If you are looking for  deep, saturated and overwhelming, I recommend his books.

‘Seeing and Savouring Jesus Christ’ is a book that burst the bubbles of my self-absorbed world. I read this book standing 90% of the time. I am going to read this book over and over again. And you should read it too. It’s just as the title implies. I would have offered my ‘lessons learnt’ but I fear that I will water down the book. It will be selfish of me to not share a good thing. The book is available for download on their website free of charge and I believe it will be worth your data and time.

As I continue in my quest for knowledge, I will share with you all whatever goodness I find. That’s it for now. Till the next one, stay blessed.

Let Love win.

PS: This is a recent article, about a week old.

A Very Belated Happy Anniversary!

Un Joyeux Anniversaire Très Tardif

Yes, I am trying to flaunt my French. Even if I had to check with translator before posting. I know. No shame. I am in a celebratory mood today in respect to the real anniversary of my blog. its long past, but I must celebrate! So I wrote an article that day that I never got to publish. This is me doing what I need to do. Maybe there is hope for me after all. I have a number of articles that I never got around to posting. Lets see how I can get them out. I will tell you if it’s an old article or a fresh one. Starting with this one that is two and half months or fourteen and a half months late, or both. Here what I wrote for my blog anniversary. Thank you for reading:

Blog’s 3rd Anniversary

 

Reality Check: What I like to call Anniversary Questions.

Ha! So I still have a blog. Qservers have sent me an e-mail and I have to renew domain and hosting. Should I renew or I should just let the blog go? What have I done with it in the last one year anyway to justify the cost of renewal ( it’s not much though). What have I put out there? Has it been a case of writer’s block or is it procrastination? What happened to all the half-written articles in my Evernote folders? Where did my desire to model a reasonable and decent personal blog go? How do you have so much going in your life that cannot translate to well articulated blog posts? How is that you have so much (concerns) you are itching to share, causes you want to raise awareness for, upcoming (dangerous) trends you want to raise alarm and alerts about, but you are not doing so?

The questions are endless. But I am not in a hurry to give my truthful answer(s). The answer is right there in my face, on my mind and the tip of my tongue (yes, all this just for emphasis). So permit me to evade it and move on with my non conventional post.

 

Reality Check: What I like to call anniversary questions.

So this week marks the second anniversary of this blog. It’s been two years! Already? At two years most children would have started walking, talking, eating solid food, turning their immediate surrounding upside down. They would be done with the first stages of teething problems by now and would be enrolled in toddlers class at school. Not my blog o. It’s still teething and crawling at 2 years! So it’s a late bloomer. Late bloomers have been known to excel exceedingly in the long run. I am holding on to every word of that. Never mind the hard work it will take for it to happen. I really don’t like hard work, smart work is better. Yinmu. (Laughing at myself). Never mind that today is May 2 and the anniversary date was March 17th or thereabout. Let’s not point out the fact that I started this post on the anniversary day this will be the 13th post in its 26 months of existence. Chai!

Having said all that, it is still my blog, I am paying for it. I still think something good can come out of it. It can still be a sound for unheard and unseen voices. There are boundless possibilities for it and on that note, I say ‘cheers’ to a blog born out of good intentions, worthy and laudable causes.

PS: This blog was 3 years in March this year so…….

Anyway that is it for an anniversary. Till I post again, stay blessed.

And let Love win.

My Birthday Message

Love greetings everyone! I decided to pick my fingers and type today. And I am super excited, more like super thankful! Why? Its the 7th of September! My birthday! The thing is today hit me differently. I mean I have an awesome feeling today. You know, instead of waking up all gloomy and sad about the things I don’t have that I have tirelessly prayed for, I find myself so happy and thankful to God for His Love, for all the awesome things He has done to and for me in the very recent years! Let me share one with you. He brought me out from dark places where the enemy would have been happy to keep me (tongue out at the enemy) into His marvelous light, a place of love, joy, peace and so much more! Hallelujah! So the ‘Mobolaji’writing this piece today, is a very very thankful one! Please join me in giving thanks to God Almighty. 

Therefore, instead of writing what I would if it were September 6 or 8, like “the I just wish that every idea I put down on my Evernote gets to be published” story; and I am always wishing this! I am beginning to sound like a bad CD even to myself. I am sorry about that! 
Today, I want to remind myself of why I did this? I mean why I got myself a blog. It is not to make money, it is not to gain popularity, it is not to be one of the fast growing list of ‘successful Nigerian bloggers’. It is a fact that I care less about driving traffic, though it would be nice to get the message out there. It would be great to have some quality, inspiring blogs sharing substance! It is not for these reasons and many others. 

It is simply to share with you the things I stand for, the causes I support, my beliefs, my thoughts, my interests, my faith in order to create a specific picture of who I am and what I am about, the things that are important to me! I have found that if you don’t show (by your way of life) and tell people (with whatever voice you have) where you stand, they are likely to be mistaken about these things. And maybe, just maybe I can inspire others to do the same. 

We are in a world where everyone is concerned about all sorts of things, where niches are being formed, focused on and blown out to become industries in their own right. I see a need for us to maintain sanity. A need to remind ourselves that the most important thing in life is Love! The Love of God, the love of ourselves and each other. Don’t ever forget it, God is Love! There is a lot of change we can bring to this world if we will just find a way to live a life of love. 

So, love hugs and kisses to everyone out there today. Thank you for reading my birthday post! I hope it makes some sense and I am able to pass my message across. It would really be nice to hear from you! Till the next time we see, chat or read about each other, stay blessed. 

Overwhelmed? Time to regroup!

Becoming Overwhelmed

It turns out I have made a number of promises on this blog that I have not kept. Or should I say that there is no indication that I fulfilled those promises since there are no follow-up post. Where should I start from first? Is it my books that I promised to start reading diligently and tell you about as I read them? Is it the latest 30- day challenge that I supposedly started and did not talk about? Or let me tell you about the articles or gist (whichever works for you) that I have written halfway in Evernote and tagged. Posts with potential to share something meaningful to people. But may never get to do that unless I get them from the ‘ideas’ to the ‘drafts’ and finally to the ‘published’ folder. I am just hoping this one even gets there.

 

The question you may want to ask me is why am I not able to live up to my promises. How did I become “overwhelmed”. Well it is a long story. But I have thought about it and I think the summary (short version or  simple story) is that I have put too much in my plate than I can deal with. I was involved in quite a number of things. Haha! There is my 9 to 5, then some courses (quite a number of them to be candid), this blog, a newly initiated Non-governmental Organization and most recently a publisher (I can’t remember how that came about) breathing down my neck for me to start writing a book. And that is just part one of it.  The interesting thing is that all this busyness only results in many half done projects.  High-five if I am talking about something you can identify with.

Too Busy to Deliver

I mean you have this determination to achieve so much and there is little or no time (or so you think). So you crash and overload your schedule with multiple tasks. This moment you find yourself trying to get somewhere with a particular  assignment but you don’t get too far before you remember there is a looming deadline on another job. So you take a break on this one to attend to the other one. It goes on and on. In the end, not much is achieved.
Enough of whatever it is am doing right now. Moving on……the lesson learnt is that I can plan all I want and make plenty promises to keep good habits. But when it gets down to really doing it, committing to the plan and keeping my promises, other unanticipated factors come into play. Things you can’t control. Or situations that when you try to control or manage them, you become overwhelmed. That is exactly what happened.

 

Retract, reflect, regroup!

What did I do to resolve this? I took a step back and looked at me from an observatory perspective. You know something like a self assessment. And this is what I came up with.

  • Take life one day at a time.
  • Set up a routine for yourself daily.
  • Make sure the high-priority, daily, non-negotiable items on your to-do list get their permanent place on your schedule. Examples of this include your devotion-time, reading period, courses (language or professional development) period.
  • Prioritize your other tasks and attend to them one after the other. Some multitasking simply does not bear good fruits.
  • Keep a part of your day flexible and open to changes. This is very important for a person with a 9-to-5 job like me. What boss wants done during that period gets done!
  • Eliminate ALL time-wasting activities from your lifestyle. It’s time-wasting if it’s not fruitful, productive or adding value to any part of your being.
  • Plan to finish whatever good project, process or task you start. It is okay to do a review once in a while to remove projects that you no longer want to pursue and put in new ones. I do that all the time after careful reflection.
  • Lastly but most importantly (I learnt this one the hard way), don’t do ANYTHING without first committing it to God in prayer. You will save yourself some unnecessary sweat. We can achieve more with relatively less time and resources when we are guided.

Lessons learnt!

I hope I have been able to convince you and not confuse you that…….. ?. So there it is. I have told you how I am dealing with my self-imposed busy schedule. These are the lessons I take away from attempting to do everything. I just cannot afford to burn myself out! What would be the point anyway. After all, wise King Solomon says “I returned and saw under the sun that— The race is not to the swift, Nor the battle to the strong, Nor bread to the wise, Nor riches to men of understanding, Nor favor to men of skill; But time and chance happen to them all.”‭‭Ecclesiastes‬ ‭9:11‬ ‭NKJV‬ and Apostle Paul says “So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.”‭‭Romans‬ ‭9:16‬ ‭NKJV‬‬.
Thank you for reading my piece and sharing in my experience. I would love to hear from you about how you cope when you are overwhelmed. Please leave a comment. Till the next article, stay blessed.

Habits: 30 day Challenges

Habits can be easy or difficult to form. It appears that the bad habits such as unhealthy eating and gossiping are relatively easy to form. My honest observation. While the good habits like reading and exercising are relatively difficult to form. I am stating the obvious, right? I know. Indulge me and keep reading please.
A common scenario would be if daily exercise were to be rigorous and boring workout sessions, it is likely that majority will see it as difficult. On the other hand, if you visualize exercise as  simple 30 minutes walking and jogging sessions, you are likely to look forward to it. Personally, I have learnt to keep things short and simple. I get tired when tasks or activities are lengthy and complicated.
I am excited to talk about habits because I have formed some very good ones. I can say that I have dropped some unhealthy ones too. The approach I took to successful form or to drop a habit is to start with a short term challenge, say a 30-day challenge. What a short term challenge does is that it gives me the opportunity to form a habit without the overwhelming feeling that I am doing something that will drastically change my life or my lifestyle. This way it doesn’t feel like I am taking on a huge and difficult mission!
It is a subtle but effective way to introduce new things into your life. Interestingly, it also works the other way round. I mean when you want to stop an undesirable practice. When I was going to stop drinking soda or frizzy drinks,  I took it short term but with a mind never to drink one again. I made that commitment in December, 2014. Today, I have never looked back and I am the healthier for it.
Steps that make short and long term challenges easier include:

Informing your family and friends.

Document the details in a journal (truthfully).

Plan the replacement to avoid a relapse.
So I have this idea. How would it feel to tweak things a little with different 30 day challenges?

Here are some good ideas: 

30 day no-TV challenge

30 day no-processed-food challenge

30 day no-white/brown-sugar challenge

30 day one-book-a-week challenge
It would be a good thing right? Join me as I take on the 30-day no-TV challenge and the 30-day no-white/brown-sugar challenge. I think the first may really be a challenge, but the second one is just formality because I rarely have sugar at home. I can’t do the one with the books because I have a lot on my plate right now. No way I can squeeze a book in. Maybe later. Now it would be nice to see how I cope with the no TV thing. I think I would ace it because I really don’t have programs or shows  I can’t live without running. 
Here we go! Let me know if you try one of these challenges soon or if you have ever done this before, I would love to hear about it. I will definitely be doing a follow up post to let you know how it went. See you later! Ó dàbò! *chuckle* ?

Love is a habit

1Love shares

Love greetings, everyone! Today I would like to put to practice what I have been learning at church and in my daily Bible reading plan. This year, at church, the emphasis is on Walking in Love. Coincidentally, in the last two weeks in my Bible reading plan, the focus has been Love. I could write, write and write about what I have learnt but I don’t think I will do justice to it like the original authors, writers and speakers of the sermons or articles I have been so blessed to read and listen to. So with a spirit of love, I want to share a day’s reading with you. I want to share it because it touched me. The whole subject of love as it is being presented, makes me look inward to assess my love level. Now this is just one day’s devotional reading. It’s day 53 of my Bible reading plan. There is a whole lot more but I just want to share this with you. Love shares, doesn’t it?

Love Is a Habit

Bible text: Luke 6:32, 1 John 4:16
If you only love on and off like a light switch, you do not love others like God wants you to love. Jesus said, “If you only love those who love you what credit is that to you?” (Luke 6:32 NIV)

His point is this: all of us can love those who love us back. Becoming a master lover means you learn to love the unlovely. It’s when you love people who don’t love you, when you love people who irritate you, when you love people who stab you in the back or gossip about you.

This may seem like an impossible task and it is – that’s why we need God’s love in us, so we can then love others: “We know and rely on the love God has for us.” (1 John 4:16 NIV)

When you realize how much God loves you – with an extravagant, irresistible, unconditional love – then his love will change your entire focus on life. If we don’t receive God’s love for us, we’ll have a hard time loving other people. I’m talking about loving the unlovely, loving the difficult, loving the irritable, loving people who are different or demanding.

You can’t do that until you have God’s love coming through you. You need to know God’s love so it can overflow out of your life into others.

 

Cultivating the Love Habit

Okay, it’s me now. When I read this piece, I went ‘wow, that is deep!’Can I do deep? It appears difficult. Maybe so, but the thing is anything I set out to do on my own becomes an experiment that may likely fail. So if I had set out to love the unlovely on my own, I am pretty sure I would have failed and found them (the unlovely) repelling! Not until I received God’s unconditional love for me did I realize that I can also love unconditionally. I knew something was changing in me when I found that my reaction to other people’s weaknesses, needs and pains was a feeling of empathy. Even the road side beggars that we mostly scorn and hiss at (and tell ourselves that they are deceptive and we need to be wary of them), I find myself wondering how they survive in this hardship and thinking of ways to help! That can only be the love of and from God!
Now, I consciously remind myself to do the things I was scared to do. To open my heart to loving the people around me and reaching out in any way that I can. I can provide support to those who need it because that is what love is about. It is living a life with love as a habit.

How is your Love-life like? How easy do you find loving the unlovely?

Back to Reading Books!

I do love reading!

I love reading! And I want to be doing what I love. Sadly I have not been reading enough lately (or at all). I see books and I buy, but I never get around to reading them. At the instance that I start one, I never get to finish. That was my book reading story before now. Apart from my engineering books (I can never finish reading) which are not attractive in any way, I have not paid ample attention to a book in the last three years. Which means some books are sitting, taking up space, gathering dust and still unread! That’s just shameful! Why? Because its I ironic that I love reading but  am not reading!

Thankfully, there is always a chance to start over. Every new day, they say, is an opportunity to do things differently. So this year, I will be reading as if my life depends on it. And just to make sure I keep it up, I will share the books I read here. No book review means no book reading.

Scribd and Paperbacks and Others.

Just to satisfy my bookiness (not an English word, I know), I installed Scribd app on my ipad mini and subscribed for premium membership at $8.99 a month. Now Scribed used to be unlimited access, but for some reason, it is now limited to three books and one audio book. Anyway, if I am going to be paying nine dollars every month, I might as well read the three books now. Abi? I hope I can. Let’s not forget I still have other paper back books (collecting dust) to read o.

Is it okay for me to say at this point that my interest or love in reading is selective and limited to Christian and engineering/construction industry related books? I am not sure if anybody wants to hear about what I read in the monthly Civil Engineering magazine or new technology in construction. So I will probably limit my review to the faith-based reads.

So far, it has not been easy to fit a steady reading time into my schedule. But I find that anything you prioritize finds its time in your day. Some tasks have had to be shifted and/or compressed, some excesses curbed, purse/bag content changes have been effected. If the book is in hard copy, I have to take it everywhere with me. If it’s on scribed or it’s an e-book, then the ipad goes where ever I go. Simple. You want to read more, then you have to keep the book with you always. So when I would have brought out my Sudoku or any other word game (the only types of game I ever permit myself to play), I am and will be bringing out my book.

Lets Go!

Now that I have put all these measures in place, lets see how this goes and how long I can keep it up. I will start with the books I never got to finish coupled with my scribd reads. As at the time of publishing this post, I have read a couple of life changing books which I will share in the coming weeks.

Join me as I explore the great world of books and expand my knowledge base. I also welcome recommendations for books to read, and invite you to join me if you are not already reading.

Struggle or Retreat?

It’s a Struggle!

We are on today and tomorrow we are off! Sometimes we are somewhere in-between and to stay afloat, we struggle. We know what we want out of life and how we intend to get there. Some of us even have step by step plans to get us to where we think we need to be. Splendid! Fantastic frame of mind. But how many of us have things going for us the way we planned. Do we always have our desires granted at the time that we wish them to be? Is life ‘on point’ ? Are we moving through life at the pace that we envisaged we would? Are our scheduled expectations of life being met or are they being cut short! I could go on and on! So many questions we are not eager to answer because the answers may not be encouraging.
I know a few people, myself inclusive (mainly me, or maybe just me) who were confident that having made sure to put things in place like a ‘good’ career choice and getting married on time, life was bound to flow nicely! Well…………Shocker! (Eyes popping). The amount of strategizing is not directly proportional to the level of success or fulfillment. That is a theory of life! (Chuckling). That is not to say I am not grateful, because I am indeed grateful. I am grateful because though I am not where I want to be, I am definitely not where I used to be. I am not stuck. And that is always good news!

Plan and Prepare Anyway!

Back to the subject matter at hand. So I know we are supposed to plan anyway, so as not to fail. Planning is not one of those things you do so that things can go the way we desire. If it were that easy, we would probably have a whole lot of people planning their lives. No, we plan so that we can absorb most of what we think will come our way in the future. We plan so that we don’t live life without focus and direction. We plan so that we can establish a relationship between where we are, what we have to work with, where we want to be and how we intend to get there.I am an advocate of planning. I love well laid out plans for use of resources. However, I think we need to always remind ourselves that our planning and preparing does not automatically guarantee us a smooth sail.
So what happens when things don’t go according to plan? How do we cope when we are thrown off course and off-balance? How do we react to not getting the things we yearn so much for? How do we keep our sanity if we find ourselves lacking or lagging behind? How do we find hope to go on till we either get what we want or things change for the better?
Do I have an answer? I don’t know. Let me get back to you on that. I do have my own coping and survival mechanism and it may not the best approach. While I try to put it into words it would be nice to hear from other people. Better still it would be great to hear your views or answers!