Mind Boggling
By Njeri Mucheru-Oyatta
Chapter 62
I have been to church for two Sundays since my t-shirt was printed. I wore it the first Sunday and forgot to wear it the next time. Both times, I was confused. I had realized that my rebellion against the church was not going to get me anywhere.
God had planted a thought in my mind. He called me arrogant! He said that I had no right to call the people who were leading His church hypocrites. I should have been grateful that there was a church for me and my children to go to in the first place. They had taken care of that for God and they deserved my respect. Well ……….. who am I to argue with God. What He said was completely true. I was arrogant.
So I went to church both Sundays wondering how to deal with my arrogance and make myself useful in the church. I did not find an answer until after I got home last Sunday and remembered that I noticed an item on the church bulletin calling for participants for a celebration coming soon. I looked at it and thought it might be interesting but ignored it. I later on wondered whether God wanted me to join some group in church. I did not like how that thought made me feel. I could not imagine myself in the company of ardent church goers. I find it hard to understand their reasoning and I did not want to be questioned about my faith or enter into any confrontation with anyone. I knew my views were radical and could not see how I could tone them down in a way that they could be understood as constructive criticism.
The other day, I stepped out for lunch and met a lady who works in my building. She told me that her church was fasting. Her attitude made it clear that she is an ardent church goer and an active participant. I engaged her in a spirited conversation about the usefulness of fasting and by the time we parted ways, we had managed to reach a middle ground about the whole issue. We agreed that just not eating during a fast, is not sufficient. People need to reflect on themselves and find out if they are contributing to the problem which the fast is dedicated to.
I think that everything that happens outside of us is a reflection of what is inside us. A single person has as much to do with broken marriages as do married people. There are those single people who are vultures. So a single person on a fast focusing on broken marriages should make the effort to ascertain whether s/he is a vulture in some way. It is sufficient to covet your friend’s spouse for you to be a vulture. Some people go as far as wishing that the friend could die so that they can have their spouse since people are always saying that all the good guys are taken! We are commanded by God not to covet. So if you covet a married person, you are a vulture. I am sure that there are many single ladies in church who are secretly in love with their pastors or bible study tutors. I know of some ladies who will not go so far as to get involved with a married man but will always make sure that their greetings involve a tight hug and smooch leaving the guy and those around him wondering what that was all about. Clear your mind of evil thoughts about other people’s spouses and you are on the way to finding your own. There is someone for everyone.
You are partly responsible for all the problems you see around you. You just need to put your ears to the ground and listen real hard to find out what you are doing wrong. Find Jesus and let Him tell you where you are going wrong.
After meeting my church lady and realizing that it was possible for me to agree with an ardent church goer, I entered a lift and when pressing the third floor where I was intending to go, I also pressed the fifth floor by mistake and wondered what could be on the fifth floor. I later met a lawyer I know who is an elder in his church and even preaches. His office is on the fifth floor of the building. He is a very nice guy and we talked and laughed for a while about spouses running offices together and why my husband and I work in separate offices. That guy made me realize that there are some sober church members around. Unfortunately for me, that meant that I had no reason not to get involved in some church functions. I also realized that my t-shirt would be more noticeable to those I was working closely with than a whole congregation. So I decided to give the participation a try next Sunday although I was still apprehensive. What convinced me to do it is the fear of ignoring God and what the dire consequences might be.
God talks to us. I could see His influence in the accident with the nun and the church goers and my meetings with the church lady and the church lawyer. Those events in my life had messages for me which I figured out. It seems then that all the events in my life have a message for me from God. They are either giving me answers to my questions or pointing out my mistakes or pointing me in the right direction. It is not easy to figure out the messages. You have to be very focused on your questions and ready to accept responsibility for what has seemingly nothing to do with you.
For instance, if you get home after a long day at work and sit by yourself asking why your life is so hard and why you cannot seem to meet the goals you set for yourself, then in the middle of your thoughts, your cell phone rings and when you check the screen you see that it is your nagging mother calling and you refuse to pick up thinking that your day could not get any worse, so you get up and reach for a drink to soothe your nerves and get distracted from your thoughts about your life, you are mistaken. Your mistake is that you do not realize that your nagging mother calling at that particular time means that your hard life and inability to meet your goals has something to do with her! What you are focusing on, which is usually making money, is really not the answer to your problems. What you need to do is to examine your relationship with your mother and find out what the message is, act on it and you are on the way to solving your problems.
Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. If you honour your mother unconditionally as God has commanded you to and take her calls no matter what a pest she may be, the peace of mind you are looking for in your job and the goals you have set for yourself will be exceeded beyond what you imagined. Even your relationship with your mother will improve amazingly.
The answers to life’s questions are simple. They lie within you in the choices you are making and the kind of person that you are. Just take the time to think deeply about who you are and why you do the things you do.
By Njeri Mucheru-Oyatta
Chapter 62
I have been to church for two Sundays since my t-shirt was printed. I wore it the first Sunday and forgot to wear it the next time. Both times, I was confused. I had realized that my rebellion against the church was not going to get me anywhere.
God had planted a thought in my mind. He called me arrogant! He said that I had no right to call the people who were leading His church hypocrites. I should have been grateful that there was a church for me and my children to go to in the first place. They had taken care of that for God and they deserved my respect. Well ……….. who am I to argue with God. What He said was completely true. I was arrogant.
So I went to church both Sundays wondering how to deal with my arrogance and make myself useful in the church. I did not find an answer until after I got home last Sunday and remembered that I noticed an item on the church bulletin calling for participants for a celebration coming soon. I looked at it and thought it might be interesting but ignored it. I later on wondered whether God wanted me to join some group in church. I did not like how that thought made me feel. I could not imagine myself in the company of ardent church goers. I find it hard to understand their reasoning and I did not want to be questioned about my faith or enter into any confrontation with anyone. I knew my views were radical and could not see how I could tone them down in a way that they could be understood as constructive criticism.
The other day, I stepped out for lunch and met a lady who works in my building. She told me that her church was fasting. Her attitude made it clear that she is an ardent church goer and an active participant. I engaged her in a spirited conversation about the usefulness of fasting and by the time we parted ways, we had managed to reach a middle ground about the whole issue. We agreed that just not eating during a fast, is not sufficient. People need to reflect on themselves and find out if they are contributing to the problem which the fast is dedicated to.
I think that everything that happens outside of us is a reflection of what is inside us. A single person has as much to do with broken marriages as do married people. There are those single people who are vultures. So a single person on a fast focusing on broken marriages should make the effort to ascertain whether s/he is a vulture in some way. It is sufficient to covet your friend’s spouse for you to be a vulture. Some people go as far as wishing that the friend could die so that they can have their spouse since people are always saying that all the good guys are taken! We are commanded by God not to covet. So if you covet a married person, you are a vulture. I am sure that there are many single ladies in church who are secretly in love with their pastors or bible study tutors. I know of some ladies who will not go so far as to get involved with a married man but will always make sure that their greetings involve a tight hug and smooch leaving the guy and those around him wondering what that was all about. Clear your mind of evil thoughts about other people’s spouses and you are on the way to finding your own. There is someone for everyone.
You are partly responsible for all the problems you see around you. You just need to put your ears to the ground and listen real hard to find out what you are doing wrong. Find Jesus and let Him tell you where you are going wrong.
After meeting my church lady and realizing that it was possible for me to agree with an ardent church goer, I entered a lift and when pressing the third floor where I was intending to go, I also pressed the fifth floor by mistake and wondered what could be on the fifth floor. I later met a lawyer I know who is an elder in his church and even preaches. His office is on the fifth floor of the building. He is a very nice guy and we talked and laughed for a while about spouses running offices together and why my husband and I work in separate offices. That guy made me realize that there are some sober church members around. Unfortunately for me, that meant that I had no reason not to get involved in some church functions. I also realized that my t-shirt would be more noticeable to those I was working closely with than a whole congregation. So I decided to give the participation a try next Sunday although I was still apprehensive. What convinced me to do it is the fear of ignoring God and what the dire consequences might be.
God talks to us. I could see His influence in the accident with the nun and the church goers and my meetings with the church lady and the church lawyer. Those events in my life had messages for me which I figured out. It seems then that all the events in my life have a message for me from God. They are either giving me answers to my questions or pointing out my mistakes or pointing me in the right direction. It is not easy to figure out the messages. You have to be very focused on your questions and ready to accept responsibility for what has seemingly nothing to do with you.
For instance, if you get home after a long day at work and sit by yourself asking why your life is so hard and why you cannot seem to meet the goals you set for yourself, then in the middle of your thoughts, your cell phone rings and when you check the screen you see that it is your nagging mother calling and you refuse to pick up thinking that your day could not get any worse, so you get up and reach for a drink to soothe your nerves and get distracted from your thoughts about your life, you are mistaken. Your mistake is that you do not realize that your nagging mother calling at that particular time means that your hard life and inability to meet your goals has something to do with her! What you are focusing on, which is usually making money, is really not the answer to your problems. What you need to do is to examine your relationship with your mother and find out what the message is, act on it and you are on the way to solving your problems.
Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. If you honour your mother unconditionally as God has commanded you to and take her calls no matter what a pest she may be, the peace of mind you are looking for in your job and the goals you have set for yourself will be exceeded beyond what you imagined. Even your relationship with your mother will improve amazingly.
The answers to life’s questions are simple. They lie within you in the choices you are making and the kind of person that you are. Just take the time to think deeply about who you are and why you do the things you do.
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