Welcome to the June 16th edition of Faith & Life Lessons.
You will see this email full of tidbits from my week. My goal is simple. I hope that from how I live my life, you can find a thing or two that helps you as you try to live a life that matters. I am always trying to do one thing - make Christ-focused decisions in love, work, and life. And this was my week.
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The Story of My Week
An interesting conversation played out with my dad and one of my kids.
We were visiting the grandparents and he was so excited to see them after a long time.
During the initial embrace between my dad and my kid, my dad referred to him as "my son".
Guess what the little genius said, "I'm your grandson."
We all laughed about it.
The whole situation gave me another window into how without the right perspective, we go into unreasonable arguments.
"My son" was symbolic while "grandson" was literal.
One was a sign of endearment and affection, the other was just a literal.
One said more than it meant while the other said exactly what it meant.
Things I Learnt
1 - What you say No to: Someone asked me "How did you get the time to write a book?"
She was familiar with my schedule and wondered how I managed to put a book into everything else.
My response? I said "No" to many things so I could say "Yes" to the book.
I eliminated many activities from my schedule so I could keep my commitment to my book.
Because I was self-publishing, I was not under a publisher-imposed deadline so the whole process could drag.
Not for me. I set an ambitious deadline to keep myself under a deadline.
I missed the deadline by about 2 weeks.
The thrill of completion made it worth it.
I said No so I could say Yes.
Yes to something that I really wanted to achieve.
2 - Prepared for my Present Future: I recently took up an assignment in Lagos.
After almost 10 years of living and working in other countries, I'm working in Nigeria.
I've been getting some interesting questions. Questions like "How are you adjusting to being in the country?", "How are you coping with living in Lagos?"
A part of me can't understand the reason for these questions. I was born and raised in Nigeria so coming back to live should not be like I'm climbing Mount Everest.
I did some reflection and came to the conclusion they were not wrong in their questions.
The problem was who they were asking the question.
Thinking further, I realised why I didn't have the typical readjustment blues not just now but in all the other countries I have lived in.
Until the 2nd year of my undergraduate, I was dreaming and planning to be a rural jungle missionary. I was going to live and serve tribes removed from civilisation.
God changed my plans but the mindset and training I had built all those years continues to serve me.
Yes, I have been prepared to live the life I now live.
And I'm now been prepared to live the life I will live in the future now.
My past got me ready to thrive in my present as my present gets me ready to thrive in my future.
Postscript
May you always live prepared to thrive now and in the future. Amen
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Tola - The Everyday Disciple
I help Christians like you who want to live intentional lives incorporate their faith into everyday life so they can make Christ focused decisions in all areas of life and truly live to make an impact and make God happy.
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