A moment in the mirror

I was innocently making up this morning, just minding my beauty business. I was absent minded; giving no actual thought to the motions just creating the desired strokes by habit. One more dab of powder on my left cheek and i paused to see if i had done enough and that was when i really noticed me in the mirror. I must have been staring at my face the whole time but it was in that split second i really saw myself. I saw my fair, smooth skin that was alive with it’s own vibrance. I could see that the powder i had been rubbing on to it could neither hide it’s shine nor take credit for it’s glow. My eyes took in my side view quite like any observer, only in this case my attention was commanded by my own beauty, i mean beauty that is mine, that is a part of me... i was only looking.

I saw that the face in the mirror was oblong , i thought it was the right fit for a face with a discernible forehead and a long chin. I noticed the black hair starting at the front of my head and tilted my face sideways to see it end at the nape of my neck. Pulled back in a chignon it looked just like me. I saw that it was good. I smiled. My words took the admiration of my thoughts and escaped my lips with them:“ See this fine girl”, i said, as much in estatic surprise as in proud delight. It was mine; the face, the moment, the feeling. I may never remember those few minutes again but i don’t want to forget what they left me. They say beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. If i am the beholder, i am beautiful.

Between Joel Osteen, God and me!

So i’m reading this book by Joel Osteen called “Your best life now”. I love books. A great book is like a great friend.And so when I wasn’t feeling very tall inside recently, i knew i only needed to find the right book and i’d be fine. I just didn’t know what book i was looking for.

While i was in the middle of this thought process, i came across a copy of “Your best life now” that belonged to someone else. I flicked through the pages and was engaged by the parts of it i could speed-read. I knew it was just what i needed only after a few minutes of perusal. I couldn’t borrow the copy i saw but the thought of stealing it certainly crossed my mind. Sadly, i and the book parted ways and i wished i’d either find a copy to buy or get it as a gift just as soon as i could find the right person to give a carefully deviced hint! I had to have that book.

That same day i went for my bible study meeting and somewhere between the praying, studying the word and catching up with friends , i soon forgot all about Joel Osteen or his book that i had to have! As the meeting ended and i was about to tow my tired body home, i was informed that there would be another short meeting i was to be part of! One of those fellowships after fellowship! I took a long, longing look at the door , envying those i could see making their way through it, before commanding myself in the opposite direction for this second meeting.

Once there i felt guilty about my reluctance because it was a surprise celebration of belated birthdays for some of us in attendance.There was a cake, drinks and wrapped gifts. I quickly warmed up to the mood. I received a gift, grabbed some cake and played along when they sang “happy birthday” and prayed for us. I mean, if God wanted to recreate my birthday experience a whole month after the actual date, i wasn’t going to mind!

The others who didn’t get gifts were curious to know what the rest of us had been given. “Open it” someone said motioning at me. I tried to feel it to figure out what it was. “it’s a book”, i replied hoping my response would do. I wasn’t interested in opening it just yet. Then it hit me. “What if it’s Joel Osteen’s book?”

Nah! I dismissed the thought.

“It couldn’t be. How would that happen anyway? Afterall, i only wished for it this afternoon and that was just a few hours ago. Besides there was no time to even pray for it to happen. You know how you have to bug God about it or work hard at worrying about how it would come, then pout that it hadn’t and finally grumble about it until God took the hint and gave you just to shut you up! How could i get the book just like that?”

“Nah”, i concluded again. And to prove it, i peered through the wrapping paper and saw the letters: T-i-m. “That settles it”. I decided. “It’s just some book by Tim Lahaye. See!”

“Let’s see what you got”.

The voice came from behind me. I acquiesced and started to unwrap my Tim Lahaye book from one corner. As i peeled off the wrapping paper, i caught a picture of Joel Osteen on the cover! My eyes widdened in complete, honest- to –God surprise and grew bigger when i read the words on the cover: ” Your best life now”. I screamed. I looked for Tim’s name and saw that the words where- New york TIMes bestseller! The voice behind me spoke again;

“It’s a book”.

This time i wheeled around to face it’s owner shaking my head, desperate for understanding. “You don’t understand”, I insisted. “It’s the book. Just this afternoon, i wished i could have this exact book and i get here and you guys present it to me without ever knowing what i wanted!”

I was blown away by God and i kept screaming out the holler conceived in my inside the minute i saw my surprise. God knows how to blow your mind! I mean here i was trying to figure out what God had set up an abundant way to give me!!! Woow! Later when i told someone else, she narrated how she had been prompted to make a gift of the same book to her brother who unknown to her, had the day before, given it as a gift to somebody else when he really wanted it for himself!

I’m still on cloud nine from that experience and i just had to write about it... there!

And you call yourself a Christian? Of course...

As i walk with God; as i develop and grow a relationship with him; as i learn the way he wants me to be in thought, action and motive and practice it; as i express my needs to him; asking him to do things in my life, in my relationships, in my world; as i submit my will to him, becoming agreeable to his desire for me ;and as i fellowship with other people allowing myself see God through their experiences and getting a richer picture of who he is; i am positioned to live an abundant and full life.

Everyday as i allow God in i see him make things work for me. My prayers are answered. For instance the important things that i really wanted say, in the past year? When i got to the point when i needed to get them, even when i did not qualify? I got them. All of them, the complete package, nothing missing, no detail omitted. I’m telling you the truth.

As i allow God a few hours of my time each day; as i allow him a little part of my money each month; as i allow him to guide and sometimes, no, most times pinch me and make me aware of how important the people i interact with daily are to him and how i can’t treat them like second class citizens, as i commit to several hours a week of church meetings which i find interesting, uplifting and educative ;there is an unmistakable turn around in the quality of my life. My point is i generally seem to master my complete role in life with God. I’m reaching higher and grabbing handfulls of a higher life.

I’m becoming a better person. My fears are not at the foreground; they recede in the background. My worries are less engaging, i turn them into prayers; self- centered behaivour is challenged. There’s just a sensor that alerts me to behaivour that is unfair towards another person. My accommodation and acceptance of people more; my suspicion and scrutiny less. It’s just more of the good everyday and less of the bad.

You know that kind of person who seems to get it all? God literally sets you up to be the kind of employee your boss wants to promote , the child your family wants to help along, the homie your friends want to stick up for, the spouse your partner wants to see succeed, the member your pastor/community leader/assocciation president is looking for an opportunity to help, the name or face a total stranger wants to assist... do you see?

A short excerpt explains better...

“It’s obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex, a stinking accummulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition, all- consuming –yet –never- satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love and be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small – minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival, uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies (poor imitations) of community/family/relationship... but what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard. Things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshall and direct our energies wisely.”

My life is not perfect. I’m not perfect. But my life makes sense. It is full. It feels great. The future not only looks bright but it is. It isn’t waiting to happen, it is happening. When you do it his way in every area, you live in the flow where he commands things to be blessed, where he makes life abundant, where he nourishes dreams to grow, in the flow where he says YES. When you say yes to him and what he wants, you are saying yes to you and what you want.

Read your bible (get one), pray everyday, be in church, participate, be born again ( in simple english that means do what God tells you, live as he wants you to, give him his rights over you). It pays big time!

You already know what i’m talking about cos it’s been real for you? Then talk about it. Share all that good stuff! “... you are the one’s chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work( nothing heavy folks it just means being an amebo about God), chosen to be a holy people (yep yah heard right), God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night- and- day difference he made for you – from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted.”

Well, so you are a christian eh?