The Path Often Travelled

There comes a time in a man’s life when he feels stuck. Nothing moves forward nothing is worth going back to behind him. Such times are confusing even to the most intelligent of men; it’s a period full of uncertainty, doubt, disillusionment, despair...all the while fighting the crippling fear of not making it in life.

In such times is when a man’s character is tested, his will to withstand the storm with all its roaring tempests. Many a man has given up in such instances; threw in the towel together with the prospect of ever coming out from the gaping pit of incompleteness. And to others, the solution presents itself in vices; sinking back to the labyrinth of lust, dishonesty, hate, malice, criminal minds and all sorts of evil that can be conjured. 

This is a time when a man tries to quench the fire in his soul. You see a great force and energy surges inside him, but nowhere to dispel it. His temperament and strength wills for a solid solution, but the road ahead is pitch dark with faint hopes of any flickers of light. In such times, many a man questions the deity of God, whether indeed there is a mighty being living out there watching and discerning over us. Whether the love we profess of Him is great enough to pull us out of the rut and set us back on the road to happiness and fulfilment. In such moments only one question prods a man’s mind “Is God Real?”

“Of course He is real!” the local church minister would claim, so would friends, family, colleagues and astonishingly enough...strangers. Even those people the man sees prospering in life while he himself sinks down the gaping abyss of failure and oblivion. It is a moment to question one’s existence and if really we are worth being alive. Everyone around seems to be surging forward in happiness while your life tumbles down block by block.

The relationship with your fiancée or spouse isn’t the rosiest. Job opportunities seem to evade you and when they come around, you are underqualified, overqualified, or someone else with mediocre credentials beats you to the position; simply because a godfather made a few calls and greased several palms. Rent is due, utility bills are constantly staring, bank lona notifications spam your email and phone messaging, account balances are nil and savings accounts make no sense anymore. You want to move forward but there seem to be no place to go to or someone to heed your call. 

What to do? Do you sink down to despair, self-pity, addiction or crime? Do you constantly call on a God or higher being that ever seems to be ignoring your call? Do you just sit and wait for a miracle or a downfall but not live life on the fence? How do you surge forward? How do you overcome, how do you make it?

How do you succeed?

ADDICTIONS

The all-boys rock band SimplePlan has a song on addiction. It goes something like “Am addic…. Am addicted to you”. Most of us sang along to the song, or let me say a good number of us. And the budding rock band made their millions on the Album.  Clean cut deal; everybody walked home happy. Then we all forget the lines and we go back to our daily familiar routines labeled LIFE.

But Am the kind of guy who takes my music seriously, I like to listen to it word by word. I like to dissect the lyrics into bits and try and come up with a meaning to what each line say. Weird Huh? But that’s just me. ‘So what business does a serious-about-my-music guy like me have listening to Simpleplan?’ It’s that one word that caught my attention…… Addicted

See we all have addictions of our own. You might find this odd but am addicted to video games. My all time favorites are Need For Speed and FIFA 11. There’s something about the speed and torque in NFS or the Golden goals in FIFA that completes me in a way. When I’m stressed video games are my pain killers. And when am looking for energizers to psyche me up I don’t play small group games and all that; it’s my beloved video games on my laptop.

If you ask me that’s addiction right there; though it’s kind of a mild one. I don’t know what the Dictionary says but I’ll give my own words on Addiction. It can be good or bad; mild or severe. If your addiction is mild and can be called good you’re safe……. If yours fall on the other side of the play there are several things involved.

For the few years I’ve been around I’ve seen bad… and not just bad but Super-bad addictions. In my High school days I lost a few friends to Marijuana and Alcohol. I’ve seen people addicted to indecent movies and stuff. I’ve seen ‘deluded love’ addictions! Believe me; I think it’s the disease stalkers suffer from. What scares me about the addictions is not the before but the after. I’ve lost friends to addiction; families have broken apart because of addictions; people would do anything, even kill, to satisfy their insatiable addictions. So my question is ‘Why would a plant make one kill and make the other calm. Am told there is medical Marijuana that acts as a pain reliever; when weed became a Doctor!

Here is my final verdict on Addiction; it simply is a trap! A trap from the devil. He uses it to capture people he targets in this world. Addictions yield to addiction fulfillment which then leaves you with your senses or it has your brains fried. And what happens when you can’t think straight because of an addiction; the Devil has a workshop, period!

I can’t stop every Tom Dick and Harry from falling into addiction. Not when Peer pressure leads you to your first fatal try or Bad media makes some addictions seem ‘cool’. But if you ever got to read this get this straight….. Free your mind from the Devil’s grasp!

Do you know your purpose?

Purpose. What is Purpose? Is it just another noun we have used since time immemorial? Does it have a meaning to it? If so do we truly understand it?

Well yes. Purpose is a noun, a word like any other. It only sets itself apart when we bring its in-depth meaning to light.  I try to understand the true meaning of purpose. My PC thesaurus will give me synonyms like point, idea, reason or rationale. To some extent they help. However I feel like there is a deeper meaning to the word, one that neither the dictionary nor computer can give a full definition of.

I tend to believe that only God can help me understand this word. And if I use this word on myself, I get the picture of accountability. My true definition of purpose, one that is even ringing in my mind as I write, is the accountability we have in life. What is your purpose in life? What is my purpose in life? I tend to feel lucky to have had the privilege of reading “The Purpose Driven Life”. No one gives you an up, close and candid examination of purpose the way Rick Warren does in his book.  He summarizes his work with one question “What on earth am I here for?”

Why are you on earth? Ever wondered? I know you are getting convicted as you contemplate this. To be honest, this conviction is my cup of tea every morning. When I breathe I get the scent of conviction; when I drink I can feel conviction in my throat; when am watching a movie or playing a video game, conviction is all I see on the screen. Instead of the usual ‘GAME OVER’ words that come when the game ends, I see this one dreaded question; what is your purpose?

This is not paranoia, not in the least. It’s what I like to call self examination. The one thing the devil is always trying to keep us away from. We are kept away from seeing reality. How is that done? We are always kept busy; busy voting for the next top model; busy trying to decide who sings best on Pop idols; busy watching 90210, or Smallville, Vampire diaries, Spartacus or Human target.; busy trying to meet targets, trying to outdo each other for our own gains. Busy, busy, busy………….

We have lost our dreams; we have nothing to live up to or a goal that will keep us driven all through life. We lack the vital vitamins of purpose in our system. And what’s the result? We are vegetables; we drift through life never fully comprehending our potentials. The devil seems to be succeeding; keeping us away from the responsibilities entrusted to us we will account for one day. Remember the word ‘Accountability’?

So which way forward? Let’s get back to our roots. Let’s go back to the point where we set goals and dreamt of successes. That point where you were certain you will be a doctor, an engineer, a diplomat…...  someone big! Let’s get our caring hearts back. Let’s mind what we talk about, what we see, what we do and what we think of. Thoughts produce actions and action results. Results are a two sided coin; both bad and good. So determine on which side of the coin you want to be in. Decide what it is your want with your life. Decide what on earth you are here for. Decide your Purpose!

HEY THERE, PUT ON A SMILE!

The world is the best place for everyone to be and living in it. It is a blessing in disguise. Just think of this: waking up to the beautiful smiles and faces walking the streets; the sweet little boy who delivers your favorite newspaper on your doorstep every morning or the coffee vendor just across the street who makes the best espresso around.

Moreover, take a moment and think of life’s best moments; when your baby does her first walk, when they say their first word or grow their first tooth, think of those wedding occasions when everyone is all smiles and cheerful for the newly-weds. Some will cry but those are unmistakably tears of joy.  Reminisce about those family get- together where you gather to catch up on old time’s and give thanks to God for having brought all of you this far. Still not convinced, what about those awkward situations you were once in that bring you ripples of laughter every time you think about them. How about your first kiss with that someone special or the first day you fell in love. You just got to have that one thing in life that makes it worth your being around.

Believe it or not, life has the best of everyone’s interest at heart. There is that one place in life where you will get your Zen and peace and total satisfaction. That unique place that gives you wonderful opportunities to catapult you to greater prosperity or that fountain of solace that will give you a breather from life’s trying moments. One may say this is contradictory; that life is pleasing and annoying at the same time.

If you ask me I think am getting the gist of life. Like everybody else I’ve gone through trying times; times I’ve looked right, left and there was no one to get me out of the pit of dismay; times I’ve cried to the high heavens to send a rain of hope to my once draught and desolate life; times like everybody else I’ve had to ask this question “Is Life worth it?”.

But hey! Wait, notice the word ‘everybody’ in the above sentence? That’s right everybody, everybody has problems just like you have. Just when you think life has given you a bag full of Lemons you discover someone with sacks upon sacks of them! Bottom line, everybody has a story to share, so you are never alone in this life.

Like everybody else, you have joys and pains; ups and downs; penniless moments followed by moments of financial breakthroughs; times we laugh times we cry; the complete package of life.

“Where am I getting with this?” you might wonder, but I only have one message; put on a smile! Don’t let your debts steal your joy or irrational spouse worry you thin. Don’t worry about that exam or if she is going to say yes or not. I say put on a smile to life’s trials; face every day with a positive attitude; let go and let God; put your foot down and life will bow to you, show life your weakness and it will toss you around; when life gives you lemons…………… am pretty sure you know how that ends.

Am not saying I don’t have trials at the moment, in fact; I’m facing one as I type this. But am I going to let it bother me, Not at all! I’ll think of my amazing friends, or the awkward situations I’ve found myself in sometimes back that make me laugh, I’ll think of my relationship with God and how wonderful He is to me, I’ll celebrate my successes in the past, the present and the ones to come; better still am going to think of my lovely fiancée, who has been a pillar of hope in my life. And am equally her Oasis in these parched times. I have problems and I am happy, Period.

So don’t worry, put on a smile; even the big guy up in heaven told us so in the great book.