Welcome to the September 22nd 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.
Sometimes, the big things we push for might not overwhelm us as much as we expect.
This was a major reminder for me this week.
No matter how big a goal or vision is, it just requires us to take one step and then the next step.
One of my big goals, I hit a milestone on it.
Actually, it was for two of my goals.
One of them was financial. I got the first payment for my services on one of my contracts in my practice. In the context of the overall goal I set, it is not huge but it represents progress and a telling of what can still come.
The second one is not financial. I reached a milestone to move my goal to the next marker point.
There is still some way to go.
But I am very grateful.
Grateful for the people that God planted on my way to get me up to this point.
I know that I will get more people along the way as I move to the next milestone in my goals.
No matter how big a goal is, it only needs one step to move closer to it.
I am committed to taking one step now and again to get me closer to the endgame.
Things I Learnt
1 - The Scarcity of Encouragers: A couple of things happened during the week that highlighted how encouragers are fast disappearing in public life.
It is easy to see more people tell you that things are so bad and worse than they are.
Even when they have gone from bad to worse, encouragers are needed to ensure that people don’t lose hope.
When people lose hope, they are unable to stop the decline from worse to the worst.
I am convinced that this is one of the things that we as Christians must bring to bear.
You ask “Why should we bring hope when there is no immediate light in sight?”
Let me borrow a story from history.
The Roman Empire experienced 2 plagues between AD 165 and 251 leading to the deaths of almost a third of the empire.
Towards the end of the 2nd plague, Bishop Dionysius of Alexandria wrote to praise the actions that Christians were focusing on.
In his letter he writes "Most of our brothers showed unbounded love and loyalty, never sparing themselves and thinking only of one another. Heedless of danger, they took charge of the sick, attending to their every need and ministering to them in Christ, and with them departed this life serenely happy; for they were infected by others with the disease, drawing on themselves the sickness of their neighbors and cheerfully accepting their pains. Many, in nursing and curing others, transferred their death to themselves and died in their stead. … The best of our brothers lost their lives in this manner, an number of presbyters, deacons, and laymen winning high commendation so that in death in this form, the result of great piety and strong faith, seems in every way the equal to martyrdom."
These Christians served till the point of death because they had a hope in this world using it as a way to bring others to Christ and in the world to come, reunion with Christ for themselves. They were winning on both sides.
I want to live as an encourager bringing hope to the people around me.
Even in these difficult times.
2 - A New Name is Service: Someone let it slip that a nickname had been forged for me at the office.
I smiled when I heard the nickname.
But I know what it means.
It means that I am adding value differently.
In a way that shows I recognize the value everyone brings to the table.
I am committed to doing that.
And look forward to everyone becoming better as the company gets better results.
Because we all brought our A-game to work.
Without losing ourselves or missing out on the things most important to us in our lives.
Postscript
May you shine your light in a way that brings encouragement to people around 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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