Category: Growth

Our Lives & Our Passions

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I have not written a blog post in months! Possibly because I have been busy or perhaps procrastination had more to do with it. Oh well. This morning I read in the news about Pakistan’s Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti who was shot dead in Islamabad. Mr Bhatti was assassinated for his fight for a reform to blasphemy laws in Pakistan.

This news saddened me greatly firstly because he is human like every one of us who has been killed unjustly and also because I had heard him at a conference about 3 years ago. It was clear he was passionate about his cause and was willing to give his life for it. We all as well as himself knew he would some day. However we did not know when. I definitely hoped it would not be so soon.

This event got me thinking about 2 things:

Could this have been avoided? From the BBC News report, “he had complained about not being given extra protection in spite of the obvious threats he faced”. How come he was not adequately protected? Then I wondered about him and those around him – were they praying for his safety and wellbeing knowing the dangers he faced daily? When can you say you have prayed enough anyway? I know that God answers prayers and it is by His grace that we live on. Perhaps his death is all in the plan…I only know in part but I prefer people alive and fighting on rather than as martyrs. This is my preference, God knows best. Just some of the questions I had racing through my mind.

Secondly I asked myself “are you so passionate about anything, enough to be willing to give your life for it?” I believe this is passion in its highest form. Should we even develop and embrace this sort of passion? Christ was passionate about people. His love for man cost Him His life.

Where is my passion? Where is yours? I believe passion defines us and adds colour to our lives. It gives us something to live and if possible die for. This may sound somewhat morbid but the truth is this: passion births results. Every dream, value, goal and cause requires zeal, seriousness, focus and some form of sacrifice. Without these, they will eventually die. I believe Mr Bhatti was dead (in the sense of it) before he was actually killed. I doubt he would have continued in his fight had he not resolved to lay fear, doubt, complacency and the other things that usually keep us from moving toward our desired goals and expectations. In his own words (I paraphrase), he was ready to die for his cause – for the lives of minority faiths in his country.

I am not saying that whatever you believe in would cost you your life, rather that whatever you believe in or are aiming for, be passionate about it. Fight for it, run with zeal, encourage yourself, be courageous then watch the sown seeds of desire, watered by your hard-work sprout, grow and birth fruit.

I pray that God will provide comfort for the family and friends of Mr Bhatti. I hope this would bring about the change he gave his life for. May the Prince of peace dwell in all of our hearts.

Be passionate x

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He makes all things beautiful

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A man asked God for a flower and a butterfly because he wanted to be surrounded by beautiful things. Imagine his disappointment when God gave him a cactus and a caterpillar. He was sad. He didn’t understand how or why God had misunderstood his request. “Oh well,” he thought to himself, “God has too many people to care for so I won’t question Him”. So he accepted the items, put the cactus in a pot and placed the caterpillar where it could feed and forgot about them. After some time, the man went to check up on the cactus and caterpillar. He was stunned to find that from the ugly, thorny cactus, a beautiful flower had emerged, and the unsightly, disgusting caterpillar had transformed into the most beautiful butterfly…

I do not remember where I read the above story however it spoke a lot to me then and I kept it. I have had to revisit it and what follows is a little ‘finding’ about how God works and also a reminder not to belittle the little things.

Have you ever had a “Lord, I think You misunderstood me. I asked for a beautiful flower, but You have given me a cactus” moment?  I have. I am beginning to appreciate something about God: He rarely hands over things in its mature state. You ask for a child, He places a foetus in a woman’s womb. You ask for food, He gives you seed. You ask for a home, He gives you a spouse. You ask for wealth, He gives you a skill or more. Even our Salvation needs to be worked out to its maturity…if you are faithful to the end.

Naturally it is easier to prefer the finished good to raw materials. The latter takes longer to get us to our destination although its usually the better option. I feel our inability to see the flower in a cactus or the butterfly in the caterpillar often causes us to ‘lose’ what we have asked for. We lose when we fail to achieve or reach our goal in a particular area. The man in the above story was lucky. He was able to go back where he kept his items and ultimately discover that his needs had been met.  Some are not always so lucky however thank goodness God knows how best to work our mistakes for good. That being said, I feel its more profitable to understand His way and pattern to minimise our loses,  heartaches and even time over ‘unanswered prayers’.  Remember the Israelites, one act of doubt resulted in 40 years of roaming in the wilderness!

The life He has planned out for us is greater than we can imagine, and we have those little things that He has placed in our hands to help us reach our full potential – people, talents, desires, locations, finance, etc. We only need to open our eyes to see the prospects. Abraham’s children as many as the stars in the sky began with one-Isaac. God planned  a beautiful green earth full of people, He began with 2 people and a garden. He asked them to multiply and to tend the garden so man can learn to work with what he has to bring about an increase. We have to learn the same.

This is just a quick note to remind us not to be too quick to throw away or be disgruntled about the little things. Rather, we ought to be thankful and to thankfully work out the big things out of our little. If the man in the little story above had not put the cactus in a pot to grow, the beautiful flower that he longed for never would have come out. I guess the key thing here is to remember that He makes all things beautiful in time, however, before then He needs us to do a little bit of work as well, after-all, we are co-workers and partners with Him.

Every forest began with a seed. If you throw the seed away, you will lose the forest. Your destiny is already in your hands, but you have got to work it out.

Work it xx