gratitude – INSPIRE

Government officials

January 4, 2019diljacob

This morning I had to get into a government office to make a claim for my retirement benefits. At the entrance the security personnel evaluated the documents and gave me #9 as my token.

When I entered the office and numbers were called, the first few numbers had been duplicated, leading to total chaos amongst the people present! The security personnel were being accused, voices were raised and suddenly there was no control until a young government official had to step in. Her role was to calm the people down and she did this very patiently and calmly.

There was pin drop silence. People listened as she explained the procedure and whilst she acknowledged that an error had taken large, she asked her colleagues to take on the duplicate numbers, making it a very fare process and no more reactions by those present!

Services by government officials are rendered free in this country and yet we tend to demand. We never appreciate!

As I sat my turn, I watched the commitment of these officials as they carefully dealt with each individual. I had no words to explain as I can imagine that this is something they must be facing each day! This morning I was encouraged with this verse, I needed to look for Him and His love:

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29:13 NIV

Each day we go about our activities and can we look for appreciation or are we waiting for something to go wrong? If things go wrong, how do we react, is it with anger or with patience to resolve? I do not have the right answers but I was touched by one individual who was able to bring about a calm from the storm.

Thank you to those who commit themselves to serve humanity. There are many we come in contact with, we must express our appreciation! Going with the right attitude can make a huge difference, this is my personal experience!

Tried a Stress Test?

August 4, 2018August 4, 2018diljacob

I ask myself what is wealth if acquired at the cost of my health, what if I experience untimely death? But despite asking this, I just carry on and I don’t give it much thought!

A friend needed medical attention and promised me that the specialist will be met on Saturday but, with a few excuses, the appointment gets pushed under the carpet for perfect reasons! I told my friend that it seems you just don’t care! My comment only distanced my friendship, I am obviously not minding my own business right!

We do this all the time, our friends and family willfully enter jobs and we take on responsibilities where the health hazards are far too obvious to ignore. We are not only stressed-out but also close to being burned-out by the demands of our work and other responsibilities. All this for trying to achieve what WE think we need or what WE think is best for us! It might seem impressive that we are willing to pay the price of sacrifice, but do we ever get it that we will always reaps what we sow!

I came across this test, it opened my heart to an honest reality, it required that i have to be honest with my answers! I took the test, I encourage you to take it and see for yourself! Take Test!

I know this for sure, Neglect my body and one day it shall surely fail me! The world pushes me to do so much more that I just do not care about my own self……

If I neglect my family, one day it will be doubly hard to get the loyalty back from my family. I know this but……

Then, this one is a bit of a non considerrant – Neglect God and one day I will be too hard-skinned to hear His voice……

I think of all this and ask myself, Is it (really) possible to achieve success by maintaining a healthy balance of life’s crazy demands?

My Physical Reality: I read the Gospel accounts and see just how physically strenuous this persons ministry was. He hopped from one town to another-on foot! (when was the last time we walked to visit anyone!) He exchanged insights with the best of the scholars of His day. He was Physically ready!

I am mindful of the deeper truth: that my body is not my own and that I have been bought with a price! The only fitting response would be to glorify God with my body!

My Mental Reality: The mind is so powerful that what I think affects my direction in life. Too much knowledge makes me very proud and arrogant to the point that I become unreceptive to the real truth. The deeper truth is that the enemy’s first plan of attack is to influence my mind! I honestly need to renew my mind so that I can be transformed and come to know the will of God.

My Relational Reality: I cannot escape relationships because I was created for relationships! The hard part is that relational health does not only mean that I need to be kind to the people I like, but it is also understanding and relating well with people from all walks of life. Eeehh?

My Emotional Reality: And where there are relationships, there are emotions! Emotions can either blind me or lead me to the truth, it can destroy or build relationships, it can deplete or uplift my physical well-being, it can paralyze or motivate me to achieve great things. Emotions are powerful, but I am very clear, it does not need to control me!

My Spiritual Reality: I can be an expert in all of the above but what will this do to me if I am not tuned and aligned? I am certain that the central aspect of my growth are influenced by my spiritual health that enables me to be an Intellectual individual, have the right Personality, be Gifted to do what is good and to have the right Emotions. It also molds me to have the right Values, Attitudes, Behaviors and Outlook to life. I know it but , at times, I do not connect to the best resource I have.

I need help, I cannot do this alone and my accountability partner always is my spouse, she can help me check on my progress and encourages me when I feel like giving up. We are called to Challenge each other and encourage each other!

N-V-ous?

June 17, 2018diljacob

ME: But my lens is no match to what they have. I am ashamed of my pictures ma! But its OK, not complaining.

HER: Don’t worry pups, one day (in His time), God will show you if you need that extra blessing!

When I began typing the message, I knew that I was envious, and I immediately corrected my thoughts and was annoyed with my own self for even thinking this way. These are the moments in life when we compare and complain, but catching my breath back was surely a thankful moment.

 "a feeling of discontented or resentful longing aroused by someone else's possessions"

Why was I suddenly comparing and envying what I did not have? I am never going to be satisfied, when will it be ‘enough’ for me? And it was at this very moment of my making the comment with my wife that I was also made aware that the more I reply on God and practice gratitude for all he provides will I be able to overcome the dissatisfaction that comes from envy.

If I chose to always compare myself to others — checking my status and updating my profile, looking at how many likes I have and counting the number of comments — every single day just brings more trouble and pain. There’s no way for me to see my blessings because the glass is always half-empty. I am very thankful that I am immediately reminded that if I can trust God as the source of my happiness, I should not have any desire to compare myself to anyone else. Why am I not able to understand that I am loved and that He, remains in charge of my life, through pleasant circumstances as well as painful ones?

The greetings flow in today for us father’s, the wish is ‘Happy’ and my only prayer is that we can be happy father’s or mother’s always, everyday. It is not funny to just make it one day of the year to make a father or mother happy, it has to be everyday and, the only way we can achieve this is to be able to count our blessings.

We sat for hours inside this hut to capture The hooded pitta (Pitta sordida). It was dark, it was difficult but I am so thankful that even without a nice image, I am still very happy I got this image! Yes, I am sure if I had better ‘gear’, it would have been a much better picture but am I not thankful that I was able to get what I so desired to get – capture the image of this bird !

That same day, we were fortunate to see the Hombron’s kingfisher or the blue-capped kingfisher (Actenoides hombroni), Wikipedia has just two lines to say about this rare bird, seen only in the southern part of the country and since 1980, only seen in 7 locations! Wow, isn’t this rare? Well, thankful that we get to spot this mother and her juvenile, not the greatest image again but, very thankful to be able to capture this!