Month: July 2020

I AM SO HAPPY!

I AM SO HAPPY!

One of the advertisements that I find fascinating is the new McDonald’s campaign.

It starts with a popular song, Return of the Mack by Mark Morrison. The song is used to advertise McDonald’s reopening after the pandemic, with different people’s reaction to their return and the opportunity to experience the meals again.

The campaign started with a child looking out with expectation and an older gentleman joyfully shaking his feet in anticipation of the news of the opening. After that scene, more and more people started showing their joyous reactions to the same opening. Finally it shows a lovely lady who had her Big Mac meal to hand and just before she took her first bite, said ‘I am so happy!’

The reactions made me look into the subject of happiness again and looking at the reaction of various people to the reappearance of a £5 meal, showing how excited and happy they were; albeit to an advertisement, but a reflection of reality in some; was a huge lesson in the fact that happiness doesn’t need to be costly.

Are you happy? I know that many believers love to focus on joy – one of the fruits of the spirit, and act as if happiness is overrated or unnecessary for a believer. I however will like to submit to you that God wants you and I to have a happy or cheerful heart.

The word of the Lord says;

A cheerful heart does good like medicine but a broken spirit makes one sick. Proverbs 17:22 TLB

Being happy is a profitable emotion and we need to set apart time to find out what makes us happy. Your happiness helps your health, so give attention to it.

I am not saying that you should go look for the next McDonald’s restaurant! I just wanted to share with you that your happiness is important to God and equally beneficial to you. Every so often in my house, we ask ourselves this question… ‘what’s your happy?’ And for most times, it may be the same thing, but at other times, they change. No matter what happens though, always ‘find your happy!’

PS: The MacDonald advert is https://youtu.be/scHMBPId2XU

Leadership

YES YOU CAN!

YES YOU CAN!

Earlier this week I saw a mum with two children who was meant to go for a ride in the cyclopark next door to our home. What caught my attention was seeing the mum carry a child’s bike and a daughter who was keen for mum to also carry her other safety gear. The young girl was distressed and not wanting to go further. Then I noticed there was a second kid with the blue version of the bike. He had ridden his bike and moved forward. I then worked out that the children were a set of twins. The twin boy was rearing to go while the twin girl was having a dramatic moment which left mum frustrated.

Within a few minutes, something interesting happened, the twin boy rode back and told the twin girl how nice riding forward was and how she needs to come and see. He said a few more words along the lines of ‘you can do it’ and before we all knew it, the twin girl stopped whining, wiped her tears, mounted her bike, got her safety gear and started riding with her brother. The brother had saved the day! Mum looked relieved and they moved forward without further drama as far as I saw. The twin boy helped the twin girl and showed her she could do it.

As I thought of how the twin boy helped the twin girl focus on the goal, which was to go out and have a great time riding their bicycles, I realised that many of us like the twin girl get distracted by so many things and we sometimes need someone who has ridden ahead to come along us and help us regain our focus and drive so we can get on with the journey set ahead of us.

God’s word says

‘Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.’ Hebrews 12:2

While on the journey of life we need to understand that there will be things to endure and there will equally be a need to keep our focus on Jesus our helper who will help us achieve the goal.

Just like the twin boy was there as a motivator that kept the twin girl going, we also need to develop the right company around us that will include people that will continue to encourage us on in the great journey of life. Will you therefore give me the opportunity to encourage you with this article by saying, no matter the happenings around you or how you are feeling at the moment, do not despair nor give up nor be discouraged because ‘Yes you can!’

God is on your side!

Inspiration

WHAT DO I DO?

WHAT DO I DO?

A trip to the dry cleaners, which was the first in over four months was a novelty and I went along with the hubby for the drive. While waiting for him to take the laundry in, I saw a well known corner shop and thought spontaneous shopping – why not spend this time to buy some fruits and salad for our dinner.

As far as I was aware, the brand is the same as I know the bigger store to be, so armed with my telephone for payment, I got a shopping basket and went picking the items I required. The pay-point I discovered when it was payment time was self service. As I got to the available machine, I looked back and realised that the queue was building. I processed the first item, only to realise that it seemed more expensive than I knew it to be. It didn’t feel that much out, so I didn’t mind until I attempted to process the second item and saw that it felt ridiculously pricey. I tried to call an assistant for help, but there was none around, I looked back and there were impatient shoppers behind me, not knowing what to do: do I drop the item and just take the bare minimum products? What do I really do now?

I decided to go ahead and just bear what I consider, the unnecessary spend. I then again tried one more product and again that seemed much more expensive than I was used to in my superstore. By this time, I had a queue behind me, hubby waiting ‘impatiently’ and a non responsive shopping assistant. All the above led to me making a decision I was not happy with – which was, just get on with it and pay for the items in your basket without holding people up any longer. I paid for the items and left the shop feeling cheated. I also had questions in my heart, what should I have done? Dropped everything and walk or do as I did, which was to tell myself, “I am not going into that shop ever again”.

As I considered this issue afterwards, I realised that there are times in life when we find ourselves in circumstances that call for our decision making and we still walk away wondering if we ever made the right one. Some circumstances are more pressing and have greater consequences than my shopping scenario.

We daily make decisions and I thought to share a scripture with you on decision making and the help available to you and I from the word of God.

“The Lord says, I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.” Psalm 32:8

So, coming back to my grocery story. I did get home and enjoyed the fruits and salad at the appropriate time; but made up my mind that I wasn’t going to buy things in that shop anymore. Was I happy about my decision to still go ahead and buy when I felt cheated…well, maybe and maybe not. I guess that doesn’t matter now, all that matters is; my spontaneous decision to go shopping was a costly decision for me and I will not put myself in that situation again.

And for you, always remember that God is still in the business of leading and directing His own. It does not matter how far you’ve gone in the decision making process of life, you can always trust in Him to help you whenever you call upon Him for help.

God is on your side!

Leadership

THE ENCOURAGER!

THE ENCOURAGER!

I was once asked this question ‘Sister Bola, who encourages the encourager?’ I recently started thinking of that phrase and realised once more that everyone needs an encourager. A couple of things happened recently that got me thinking of ‘The Encourager’

One of the unique things I noticed recently on my runs are the little ‘well done’ greetings from other passers by. Amongst the greeters is this older gentleman who actually semi stops to not just say ‘well done’, but to give an extra phrase along the lines of ‘so proud of you young lady, you make me keep going as an old man’ . The encouragement of this gentleman and me being an encouragement to him, makes me push a bit further.

As I was thinking of the fact that everyone needs encouragement, I sat down to watch football and realised that though the stadium was empty (post covid football condition), there was a recording of cheering spectators. It was so strange because whenever a goal is scored, there is another recording with celebratory voices and when a goal is disallowed, there is also a recorded disappointment response. It’s interesting to see how the need for encouragers is being reflected in a world where you think the professionals don’t need anyone’s cheers. Yes they can play football, but could still do with an encourager.

Everyone needs an encourager and the bible wants us to be that one for the other. The scripture says;

‘So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing’ 1 Thessalonians 5:12

I will like to pass you a message of encouragement today and that is; no matter what you are going through; remember God’s word in Deuteronomy 31:6. I love the message version of this scripture which says;

“Be strong. Take courage. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t give them a second thought because God, your God, is striding ahead of you. He’s right there with you. He won’t let you down; he won’t leave you.”

Whatever you are going through today, remember that God is striding ahead of you, and He is right there with you. He will not let you down, so stay strong because God is on your side.

Leadership

GOD SENT A HELPER!

GOD SENT A HELPER!

Eddie & I got back from our Sunday evening walk to notice that the front passenger tyre of my car had deflated completely. We could not even move the car to the nearest tyre inflation point, which was less than 100 meters from home, so we had to do something urgently to get the tyre inflated.

Eddie remembered that we had a portable tyre inflator and decided to use it so we could take the car over to the next filling station to get the proper tyre inflating machine on it. After many attempts to get the mobile inflator working without success, Eddie suggested we leave things as they were and call in the breakdown services the next day to sort it out. As we were about to pack things up, with me thinking Eddie wasn’t doing something right with the machine, we saw one of our spiritual sons who is more DIY literate walking down with his wife. Yes! God has sent us a helper – I thought! Sadly after much attempt himself, our son couldn’t fix the tyre either. As we were wrapping up without success, a gentleman just started walking our way.

The gentleman in question had a manual tyre inflator in his hands. He mentioned that he saw us struggling and thought to come help us. He then bent over, fixed his machine to my tyre and started pumping manually by himself! We were all well surprised and shocked. I then asked him where he was coming from as he surely does not live in our close and I had never seen him before. He mentioned that he drove into the close to answer a telephone call and saw us struggling and thought he could help. He did inflate the tyre and then just took his machine and walked off. He got nothing but ‘thank you’ and walked off happily.

How on earth does a stranger come to help just at the time of need, one more time that situation reminded me of the scripture that says that

‘God is our refuge and God is our strength. A very present help in times of trouble. ‘ Psalm 46:1

God is always at hand to help us. He can send help at the most unexpected time from the most unexpected person. If He can help sort out my tyre problem as small as it was, he can sort out bigger issues for you.

God is on your side!