Learning To Be Selfless

If only I could remember that life is not about me, my wants and my will. If only I could look past myself at all times and think more of others. The human nature is so selfish. If we were to be completely honest we would admit that we are all naturally self-centred. Every unkind thing we have said, every time we have lost our tempers, got upset when things did not go our way; every wrong and thoughtless thing we have ever done is an act of selfishness.

Something I feel God is challenging me to do lately is to put Him and others first; to realise that I was not placed on this earth to live for myself. Oh, how I have failed this time and time again. Some days I set out with this strongly in mind: “life is not about me, put God and other people before yourself”, only for it to fade from my mind later on. As we get caught up in the busyness and troubles of our lives, we forget why we are here; we struggle to see past ourselves to those around us. So I challenge you, along with myself, to notice those around you who may be in need, to think before you say something that is actually insensitive, to not always let your day revolve around your own agenda. I challenge you to forget yourself and remember others and, in so doing, putting other people’s needs before your own. This is the challenge of learning to be selfless.

Lights of Impact

This world is an evil, hateful, lost place in dire need of goodness, love and hope. Our calling as believers in Christ is to make a difference on the earth and to shine like stars in the darkness. We were not meant to live ordinary, comfortable lives. Christians have sat in their comfort zones for long enough. It is time for the Church to arise and ignite a flame that could change those around us forever. There is supposed to be a distinct difference between believers and non-believers, but so many have been swept into the tide of this world. Life is too short to be wasted on things that do not last; things that, in the greater scheme of things, do not really matter. We were made to live a life completely sold out to Jesus; a life spent following His Will and striving daily to bring Him glory.

I challenge you today to not follow the crowd and try to “fit” in, but to make a difference while you can. God has gifted each one of us with different abilities and callings; we need to use them to impact those around us at school, University/College, work and in our social lives. God needs to be infused in every part of our daily lives. We cannot sit by while the world dies. I know that the problems of this world are so large that they can be exceptionally overwhelming. But that does nott mean that we do nothing to help others in need, to love those who we do not like, to serve selflessly and to give hope to the desperate. I will admit I fail in these things every day. But I am realising how important it is to live a godly life of integrity- a life that lives wholly for God- even though it may set us apart from the “in” crowd. Our time on earth was meant to be extraordinary. Each of us has a choice how we will spend our years. You have only one life to live, will you use it to love others or to work for your own gain? You may think that you are too small to make a difference; just one tiny drop of rain. But together, drops of rain can turn into a river. By yourself you may only be a tiny pinprick of light in the stark darkness, but together we shine like a city on a hill, visible for all those around us to see. 

27 Million Voices

Picture drawn by Jess Leigh

Yesterday was National Human Trafficking Day. So I thought I would post this poem I wrote during the week to create awareness on modern-day slavery.

For the 27 million people held in slavery all over the world

Their cries resound all over the earth;

Cries of suffering, cries of hopelessness.

Yet few really hear them, nor are there many left to care.

They are like a vanishing wind;

Whispers of their fate are heard, yet they are left unseen.

They are bound like broods of animals,

Living a life they did not choose;

A life stolen by another.

They are forced to go where they do not want to go,

They are forced to do what they wish not to do.

Their time on earth is a living hell,

Imposed and controlled by heartless ones.

There is no escape, there is no freedom;

They are chained to their unwanted fate

While their souls cry out in agony.

Can you hear them?

Their silent cries are echoing

Against every corner of the earth,

Pleading to be set free

While sinister fingers grip them mercilessly.

Some heed the call and head into battle,

Striving to save the captive ones.

Others turn a deaf ear, a blind eye

And their hearts turn to stone,

While 27 million voices continue to scream in silence.

Trekking through the Jungle

Okay, I will admit it before you get too excited: it wasn’t a jungle. It was more like a steady flow of water and rocks that made up a ravine surrounded by trees and thick foliage. So if you stretched your imagination a bit, it could feel like a jungle. Except that the wildest animals I saw were birds, spiders, endless webs, one buck and a single crab.

At first our walk just consisted of happy rock-hopping to avoid stepping in the shallow water and getting our shoes soaked. The real adventure began when it become impossible to hop from rock to rock and we had to move onto land on one side of the ravine. That would have been a piece of cake if the “land” wasn’t covered in thick bushes and thorny plants that we had to force our way through. And there was an abundance of those deceptively pretty flowers attached to thorny stems that inflict poison into your skin to produce red and slightly swollen scratches if you dare to come into their territory.

Sometimes we were forced to go out into the open, away from the water and bushes, and then had to put up with the humid sun. Then, when it was again possible, we would curve back downwards to the ravine. Once we had to climb up a small, but steep, wet rock-face since our way was once-again blocked by resentful shrubbery. Later, after we had walked awhile, we climbed back downwards, using a small, sapling of a tree for support. At one spot, we even startled a deer, which, poor thing, disappeared out of sight instantaneously. We crawled under fallen trees, along the bank while clinging onto whatever we could and, believe me, I nearly slipped several times on this venture.

Finally, we had well-earned rest on a big, flat rock where we chewed on dried mango strips and ate thick slices of banana bread smeared with butter. We sat there for awhile, just listening to the beautiful sound of flowing water and looking up at the sun shimmering on the leaves that made up the sky above our heads. We then took the road instead of the “jungle” on the walk back home, our arms and legs bearing proof of a battle with thorns, branches and mud. There is something satisfying about those scratches and mud patches though; they are the evidence that we braved and survived a trek through the “jungle”………….

All pictures taken by Jess Leigh

Quotes

Small Joys

There’s something so soothing and beautiful about rain falling gently outside my bedroom window. Walking outside in the cool night air with the full moon shining up above is bliss. Just the beauty of the sun shimmering across long grass or through leaves in a tree fills me with peace. There are so many small, wonderful joys in our everyday life that we tend to overlook. I am one of those “old-fashioned” people who love reading, poetry, art, nature and beautiful things completely devoid of technology. In fact, I believe that technology, such as computers, internet, cell phones, etc, are just distractions from the things in our lives that really matter. Technology has provided a busy life so that you never have to get bored. But maybe what it really has done is take away those important moments of thoughtful meditation, of noticing everyday miracles and of hearing God’s voice whisper through the simple things around us.

Technology has its place and I use it daily. But I can’t help but be annoyed when I see how teenagers are so dependent on it that they can’t have a face-to-face conversation without looking at their cell phones every few minutes. To me, it is so sad that we have let some things of the past go. The love of art and literature and learning and classical music are slipping away, being replaced with less important things like the latest gadgets. I mean we even have digital books! What ever happened to  the joy of just  holding a book in your hands and being able to turn the pages with enjoyment?  Perhaps I just long for the times when creative things were appreciated, and people weren’t always in a rush and cramming their days with activities. 

We, especially teenagers, need to learn to appreciate the small joys that surround us each day, the organic and natural joys.  Instead of always chatting over your phones about nothing in front of people, learn to have real, heart-felt conversations with those in front of you, for that is how you make real friends. Instead of taking things for granted or pining away over the fact that you don’t own the newest technology, look around you and notice the things God gives you for free: gorgeous sunsets, colourful flowers, songs of crickets, family, friends and the list can go on.  You may think these are just ramblings of a nostalgic girl who doesn’t sound like she’s living in the 21 Century, but I think a healthy dose of simplistic things would do the world some good.  I challenge you today to not overlook small, wonderful things, but to see their beauty and to savour it.

Chiselling

The Carpenter stared at the seemingly useless block of wood and decided to make a wooden man. He took up His chisel and began His work. He chiselled here and there, getting rid of what hindered His goal. After being hard at work for hours and hours, the Carpenter stepped back and stared at His masterpiece with pride. What had once been a useless chunk of wood was now perfect.

Character building takes time and lots of pain. Sometimes we wonder why we have experience certain things that hurt. We ask the question, “If God loves me, why do I have to suffer?” But I’ve learnt a very valuable lesson: it is in the darkest hours of our lives that we grow and learn the most, if we choose to continue to trust in God. Sometimes those times of pain are just the times God is chiselling away what shouldn’t be there, forming a masterpiece that will one day, in eternity, be perfect. He’s chipping away pride, vanity, bad habits and other things that get in the way of our effectiveness in the Kingdom of God. It’s because God loves us that our lives are not all sunshine.

God has been chiselling at my character a lot these last two years. It hasn’t been easy; on the contrary, it’s been painful. But I’ve matured and learnt a lot in the last two years. I still don’t understand why I have had to go through a lot of the things I’ve gone through. But I do know that God is equipping me for something that requires certain lessons. Don’t misunderstand me; God doesn’t cause bad things to happen to us, but He brings good out of the bad. He uses difficult situations to teach us and to mold us into someone who looks more like Him. Our characters need to be tested and chiselled before we can truly become mighty men and women of God. It’s a difficult, painful process. But in the end, it will be worth it.