Sunday, November 18, 2007

Chapter 71

Mind Boggling
By Njeri Mucheru-Oyatta

Chapter 71

What do you really want in life? Someone told me the other day that we all want money. That’s all everybody wants. Money.

I disagreed strongly. Nobody wants money. We all need money but no-one wants money. The only thing ALL of us want is to be ACCEPTED by ourselves. That’s all! Sounds silly doesn’t it? Its true. Think about it. What do you want? You just want to accept who you are and get on with your life. What others think about you is irrelevant because you are the only one who knows who you really are.

It is in trying to accept ourselves that we deceive ourselves about what we really want. Money is a means of achieving the status that one thinks s/he requires in order to accept himself or herself. We look at the lives of others and wish ours could be the same.

We are commanded by God not to covet our neighbours possessions. We covet our neighbour’s possessions when we are unable to accept ourselves and think that our neighbour has a better life than we do. The worst of it is that we think that we cannot accept ourselves as we are. It is not until you drive your dream car, live in your dream house, shop in our dream city, holiday in your dream getaway, work in your dream job, etc, that you will accept yourself, isn’t it? Why? Why can’t you accept yourself as you are right now this minute without further delay?

Achievements do not make a person. You are already the person you will always be regardless of what you have achieved in life. Death makes this concept crystal clear. A university degree will not earn you a peaceful death or eternal life! Neither will a posh car or a come-and-see house! When on your death bed, what will matter most is whether you can accept yourself as you are at that time even if you may not have achieved all your goals. You can die any time. So shouldn’t you accept yourself as you are right now? What are you waiting for?

Coveting your neighbour’s possessions can lead you to commit murder like King David did when he coveted the beautiful wife of Uriah, Bath-sheba. King David was King of Israel yet he was unable to appreciate what God has blessed him with and to understand that if God had blessed him with all that he had, God could bless him with much more. He did not have to kill another man in order to have a wife like Bath-sheba. God could have provided him with such a wife.

You too are a child of God and God is capable of giving you everything you desire if you appreciate what God has already done for you instead of looking at what you think God has not done for you. I have come to a realization that I cannot find my missing something until I accept myself.

Do not allow yourself to think less of yourself and more of others by coveting your neighbour’s possessions. Remember that in God’s eyes, we are all equal. Let God bless you with what is yours. Do not cut yourself off from your blessings by coveting someone else’s.

Do not allow yourself to put more value in possessions than in life by coveting your neighbour’s possessions. Remember that you take nothing with you when you die. You are the only one who can give yourself what you really want in life. Do not prevent yourself from achieving what you really want in life by coveting your neighbour’s possessions.

Accept yourself now and pursue your own blessings.

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