Welcome to the December 25th 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
Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Our family got a huge Christmas surprise this week.
Our friends from Gambia decided to visit without letting us know they were coming.
They called and holler “Surprise, we are downstairs!!!”
Talk about a great comeback and this was it.
The last time we visited with down during the year, we told them the day we were coming and they expected to rendezvous with us at a point where they would lead us home.
We decided to surprise them by driving to their house.
We called them when we got to the front of their gate.
So, they did a bigger one.
It has been great having them over.
Stuff like this becomes more important as a family living in a country, not your home country.
It’s also one of the reasons why we plan Christmas meals at our place for friends that we have made in the countries we live in.
We make new families with the people we meet.
And build a bigger network of people that support each other.
Things I Learnt
1 - Using My Seasons Well: Someone commented after seeing me preach at the church that I was so into the message that I did not look into my notes.
Actually, the bigger point was that I was quoting scriptures - text and verse details, off-hand.
The interesting thing is that this is not something I developed now. It was developed in my younger days.
I became a Christian in my teens and at that time, I had more time than resources.
So, I invested the time in reading the Bible and books…I spent more time reading the Bible since I didn’t have the funds to buy as many books as I would have wanted.
This has paid off for me.
When I quote scriptures offhand now, it comes from what I had stored in my younger years.
Now I have more resources than time - I invest in learning from others.
In certain cases, I pay for that opportunity, like the ongoing relationship I have with my spiritual director.
I am committed to maximizing my seasons and not looking at the minuses I see in every season
2 - Be a Relationship Nurturer: During the week, I had the blessing of being encouraged by a relationship we started cultivating over the last year.
During our conversation, they provided me with great insights to help me in the next phase I would be going into.
The whole experience reminded me of the need to not treat any meet-up as just a casual experience.
Every new meet-up is an opportunity to build something beautiful and powerful for the future.
The overarching theme is to be sure that your values align.
If values align, then nurture the relationship.
You don’t lose anything by adding value to people.
They become better and you become better from them becoming better.
Postscript
May the joy of finding peace with God birth in you the drive to create meaningful friendships with the people you meet. 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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