Welcome to the May 14th 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
A couple of things happened during the week that gave me a fresh perspective on the life I currently live.
The summary of it all was a huge sense of gratitude.
There are still so many things up in the air about my future but what I can see in the present makes me grateful to God.
I have uprooted my family across 3 countries in about 7 years, started new relationships across different levels during this period, and had to spend money in ways I would not have thought I needed in the past - through it all I am grateful.
I am grateful for the things that I can do and live out.
I choose not to ruminate over the things I think I should have gotten - I focus on the things I got.
And I am grateful.
The relationships that have blessed my way, the people I have discovered, the perspectives I have developed, the growth I have experienced and much more, all add up to the vision of the life that I will live now and in the future.
I am grateful.
Things I Learnt
1-Keep Creating Win-win Situations: My team and I went to an office where we were trying to get things moving on a couple of our projects. The man in charge was not moving things as quickly as he should.
As we were waiting, we ran into someone we had worked with in the past.
It turns out that the win-win relationship we had during our past engagement was still a winner.
When he found out why we were in the man's office, he promised to look into the matter and try to get things moving.
The whole situation was a reminder that when people feel they won when they worked with you, they will stand for you.
Even when you did not go asking them to do it.
Anyway, now we can follow up with him and ask if he is making progress in the discussions with the man.
All from a win-win situation.
2-Be prepared and adaptable for opportunities: My wife was telling me the story of an entrepreneur she met during the week who got into the game through serendipity.
The lady does beautifully crafted woven baskets.
She does it with about 255 women working for her. She counts herself as the 256th weaver in the business.
So, how did she get into the game?
She had a career as an architect which had taken her to live and work in Europe. She returned to Africa to continue her career.
As part of making her home beautiful, she had gotten a couple of local women to weave a couple of baskets based on her specifications.
A friend of hers came to visit, loved the baskets, took a picture and shared it on social media.
That’s how a lady reached out to her from Europe asking if she could do over 1000 units for them.
She promised to link her up with the local women but as the European could not speak the local language, she preferred to work through her.
She got the order done and a couple of orders later, a social enterprise was born.
Part of the profit from the business is used to fund the cost of schooling for the kids of the women who weave.
This was not her dream but it was an opportunity she had the skills built over years to work with.
She is no longer pursuing an architectural dream. She is into something different.
Growing a business, creating income for the women to make a better life for themselves and building a future for the kids.
When serendipity happens, please be ready to make the best of it.
You might just be changing your future and the future of so many others.
Postscript
May you find yourself prepared and ready to make the most of new opportunities as they open up for you. 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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