IMPACT OR DIE!!!!

Mysteries in my heart

Right from the start

Stormy waves in my mind

Like a shove from behind

Leaves rustling in the breeze

Marking my face with a crease

The sun sleeps with a wink

The shadows appear on the brink

The flowers are tainted

The birds have fainted

The shadows are cast

The songs have passed

The treasure has rust

The air is stale

The stars are pale

The notes have become wails

Love is now sent through mails

Clouds crowd the skies

 I’m just so tired of the lies

The smiles have faded

The joy have been traded

It is a gloomy night

My heart shivers with fright.

Then I heard a voice

Very distinctly from the noise

Rise and shine

For thy light is come

This is mine

What I can become

So I will encourage myself and fly

Gird my loins and go high

I was made to change the world

To impact or die!!!!

Be nice

I love saying hello to people. From old friends to complete strangers, I enjoy the simple ice breaker of a polite greeting that initiates conversations. Regardless of whomever, I do my best to go out of my way to be nice. I love making friends with cab drivers, security men, shop attendants, hawkers, washing bay attendants, bank tellers and so on. It is amazing how much you can learn from these people if you are willing to make the effort to treat them with some respect. A few days ago, after I had closed from work, I had to join a very long queue to take a cab home. As luck will have it, the clouds let go of their pent up content of rain and we had to quickly run for shelter. After standing in a shed of a kiosk for a while, I felt a tap on my shoulder and I turned around only to see the smiling face of a young taxi driver asking me to follow him. Apparently he had seen me in the queue and not wanting to cause a stir has parked somewhere to call me to board his vehicle. I was overwhelmed with relief. This was a driver I had engaged in conversations with a couple of times and we had developed a civil acquaintance. It was after we sat in his car that he told me, he singled me out because I was nice to him. 

Another significant event was when I urgently needed to complete a bank transaction or disappoint lots of kids who were expecting a big party. It was almost 2 pm when I walked into the banking hall and the first worker I encountered had a red eye and I could see he was in a lot of pain. Coming from a medical background, I engaged him in a conversation and gave him a few ideas on what to do and what medication to apply. After this conversation I moved to the banking sector and saw this very long queue and at that point I knew I would have to disappoint the kids. Just as I was about to turn around and leave, this worker walks up to me, takes my details and in a matter of minutes I was smiling on my way out of the bank. All he was said was, thank you for being nice.

Ever had someone treat you with absolute contempt and rudeness? How did you feel? Bad, right? Very bad I imagine. Well, guess what? Everyone you have ever been rude to felt the same way. The same kind of disgust you felt when someone was disrespectful, ungrateful or simply nasty to you is the same disgust everyone you have been nasty to also felt. Being nice is actually one of the easiest and most profitable life changes you could activate in your own life. It is simply a matter of sowing and reaping. Investing in a nice attitude, almost always brings good returns. 

I am not naive enough to claim that people you are polite to will always treat you in the same way. Some people are unabashedly rude. They are simply nasty! Unrepentantly ill mannered.  But you see, being nice is not just for other people. It is also for you. Being pleasant is a gift you give to yourself.

So from today, make up your mind to be nice. Treat everyone with respect. Never look down on people, especially everyday folks. One day, they might save your life or help you avoid a big mistake.

It is really nice to be nice.

Pastor Joel Osteen's Full Sermon "The Power of 'I Am'" - Oprah's Lifecla...

Joel Osteen - Be Good to People

Author and Finisher.

A couple of months ago I was watching the latest installment of the James Bond movies called Skyfall and an interesting event happened. If you have watched the movie you will realize that right in the first couple of action scenes, the hero and main character was shot by friendly fire and presumed dead. Now it was a little upsetting to realize the hero of the movie died in the first few scenes but I was not overly worried because I knew he couldn’t be dead. After all he was James Bond, the hero and main character. The director of the movie, the crew and all the technical staff knew this too. The only people who were worried were the audience, those who had no idea how the movie would end. 

Another event was when I had the privilege to watch one of Uncle Ebo Whyte’s plays. In this particular one, a couple was having an argument which later turned into a bitter exchange of words. In the middle of the play, they got a divorce amidst lots of groans and protest from the audience, myself included.

Since I had come in earlier I knew where the director was sitting so I chanced a glance at him at this point and saw him smiling. I was initially upset that he seemed to be enjoying our discomfort until it dawned on me that, perhaps the reason he was smiling was because he knew the end of the play. He knew what would happen in the end, so he could smile at the audience. I took a cue from that and focused on the events unfolding on stage with renewed hope. As you would expect, the end was so happy and satisfying that, every one of the audience including the ones who protested vehemently in the middle were applauding and cheering the couple who had reconciled and started a family.

I believe sometimes this is what happens in our lives. 

Since we have no idea how the movie of our life will end, we get overly worried stressed and anxious.  We protest and complain about the events in our life and blame the director for writing unpleasant parts for us to perform. We cry and wail, demanding a rewriting of our roles and functions. We forget that he knows the end of this play. He is the author and the finisher. He is the writer and director of this play called LIFE! And he asks us to take a cue from him and just focus on our roles. The Bible is replete with countless admonishing, prophecies and advice on having faith and confidence in the one who knows the beginning and end of our struggles.

My favorite verses on this topic are Romans 8:26-28 which says “Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good” (The Message Bible).

and Philippians 1:6; “There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears”(The Message Bible).

Being mortal and finite, there is no doubt that we will struggle with infinite ideas and pre-destination. However, I am certain that is why God keeps reminding us to have faith and trust in His word.

He is the author and finisher of our faith. He knows and has seen the full picture. He knows where all fits. Have faith and be still, He won’t let you down. So look unto the director and smile at the scenes. The end is truly glorious.

dedicated to my friend Caroline Isreal Kusi, and all those who have stories to tell, your story is a miracle, keeping smiling at the scenes.