... Equality in Competition.

During the summer of last year, I spent a week volunteering at a club for children organised by Scripture Union.

I was asked to teach a memory verse to the children. And because I wanted to make the learning process competitive, the day before, I bought a packet of candy to share to the first, second, maybe third, winning teams (out of 4 teams).

When I was up to teach, I told the tasks to the four teams. As expected, minutes later, one of the teams completed the task. To these ones, I gave a share of the candy. Another team finished second  and I gave them also a share... The camp leader, discerning from the candy left that I intended to leave one team candy-less came to me and said, 'Just make sure all teams get something. Give everyone something.' Wait...wuh?? I was puzzled! The loser loses, no? He loses the gift, he gains no share of the trophy or the prize, right? So why is this lady trying to challenge my belief about winners & losers in a competition? Nevertheless, in obedience, I did give everyone a share of the pack although I was troubled and kept wondering why she made me do that.

This year, I went to the same camp as I did last year and it was again my duty to teach a memory verse. Like last year, I made it a task-based competition for the teams, however, this year, I kept the advice from my camp leader in mind. While putting the candy together before time, I thought of the previous year and her advice began to make some sense as I asked myself certain questions: What's the point of competition? Why differentiate prizes? To make the losers feel like losers? As if losing were not enough. #smh. Really, of what benefit is competing to a child's development? Hm?

I come from a very competitive society. Parents encourage their children to be ahead in class (by all means). You are deprived of some goodies and outings during holidays, if you do not come first in class (by the way, I think coming first was/is a very silly yardstick for measuring success). Also, one must compete to secure a job. Sometimes, people have to step on others to get ahead. Really, of what benefit is this? I think this kind of attitude does not encourage a healthy learning/work environment.

I think If one has in mind that at the end of the day, he would get the same prize as the next man, he can forgive the system for being full of flaws, for not making all play by the same rules. He can help the next man and the next man can help him grow and learn. Plus, people do not become so focused on getting the prize at the other's expense. Get my drift?

Truly, it didn't matter who won or lost in the memory verse task. The point of the task was to foster learning. It is better not to make enemies or make anyone feel left out by being 'partial' in gift giving. There really need not be a winner, don't you agree?

LOOK OUT!! KIDS!!

Yea, it has been a while. I've been busy with exams. Also, last week, I was blessed to spend the time as a volunteer at a children's camp organised by Scripture Union.

I never expected that I had a lot to learn from or about kids from my camp experience. I probably learned more than I had to teach them....lol.

Living in a flat close to the university, surrounded by university students, and in a country where language poses a huge communication problem with locals, I can be excused for being very out of touch with family-hood or children and their behaviour. One can also understand why the way kids behave can be quite alien and shocking to me (the excused...#haha). The camp was also a lab for me. I could indulge and also observe. At the end of camp, I had some impressions, confusions and questions about children.

Observation #1: Awe!
Kids are most appreciative and awestruck by the least of things. They are so easily impressed. It was fascinating for me. It made me wonder: What makes us adults raise the standard so high? Does the sun need to breath ice for us to be impressed? Do we need to see a person draw/paint like Leonardo Da Vinci before we appreciate it? I was challenged by this attitude to look at every creation like a child would, appreciating the detail or the lack of it. :) I believe this would indeed help me to be grateful for small things

Observation #2: Energy, anyone?
Whoa! Kids have so much energy. Imagine if we could transform the thermal energy children oozed daily into usable electrical power supply. Mehn! My country shall never suffer power outages/sudden blackouts...#lol. Do they ever feel the need to sit still and be quiet? Was I really like this as a child? Did I and my siblings give my mum/dad a hard time controlling us?

Observation #3: A child's mind.
Hmm... Does our mind get more complex as we grow older? I would find that hard to believe, really. The mind of a child, who can understand? There was a 3-year old kid at camp. He was told to paint some flower pots within a circle. This young man had other plans....
I'm like, wuh? Really? but like a proud designer, he seemed satisfied, even comfortable, with it: the colour-pencilled red zigzags running in all directions within each circle and the inadequately coloured flower pots begging for colour. In my head, I'm reasoning... What's this little guy thinking? What's in his mind? a couple of zigzags? Does he have a convincing reason for what he's just done? Can he sell his product? I didn't find out, though, and I'm convinced I wouldn't. :)

Observation #4: On approval...
Kids seek attention so much. O well, don't we all? I think this is one thing we couldn't/can't outgrow. We all seek some kind of approval, but I think there's a difference between an adult seeking approval and a child seeking this. I can tell 3 miles away, when someone really is faking a smile of approval, but kids do not seem to care. They just need to hear, 'ügyes vagy' (you're clever), 'very good', 'wow! awesome!'. A 2-second (fake) smile seems to be enough to keep a child happy. All this was very confusing. As a personal principle, I try to be honest with my praise. I have to genuinely feel that what you've done is worth the praise I give. Do I break this principle now to keep a child happy? Hmmm.... I guess I have to refer back to Observation #1. If you want to be friends with children/keep them happy, you've got to lower your expectations, sorta. Also, it might help to look for something in what they've done that is praiseworthy. For example, 'O wow... your choice of colours in this painting is fantastic. I love it.' Then, you can satisfy your conscience that you've smiled and praised genuinely. Your mouth and heart are in sync.

After all has been said, I think children are amazing and fascinating (No, not in the same way that lab animals are....lol.) Their existence is a gift. Somehow, more than we are models for them, we can learn from their honesty and simplicity. We can covet their awe threshold, so we can be grateful for the small things,  appreciate and find beauty in the humble, 'not-so-impressive' things. We can learn to find beauty in their zigzags, and give a loving appreciative smile for their little artworks and 'inventions'. We can love them, knowing we were once in their shoes, proving that, somehow, we understand.
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Happy Children's Day!

Jack Frost wrote in his book Spiritual Slavery to Spiritual Sonship, “We all were born with an orphan heart that seeks to independently do everything our own way. We never feel at home, we’re afraid to trust, afraid of rejection, and afraid to open up our hearts to receive love.” He goes on to say that, “this orphan heart must be displaced by being introduced and submitted to a loving Father.”

Galatians 4:5-6 talks about God adopting us as his own children ..... Psalm 68:5*-6 talks about God being a Father to the fatherless and defender of the widows. He puts the lonely in families.

When I read this, I totally agreed with Jack Frost, the writer. I've been there (orphan-hearted), but today, I'm grateful to God for love. The love and care I receive from my adopted (God's) family when I'm so many miles away from home. I'm grateful for the lesson I've learnt that family is indeed not by blood ties and love is not for biological family first (or alone). I'm grateful God is working to give me a big heart to love like he loves us, teaching me to love regardless of race or tongue, teaching me to celebrate differences and not merely tolerate them.

I'm grateful to God for my mum, to whom I thankfully have a permanent stamp of daughter-ship, regardless of how old I become.

I'm grateful to God for you reading this too!

Happy Children's Day, fam.

* - Psalm 68:5 have I held to heart for many years. Learning this scripture at the age of 11 was the beginning of my dependence on God. This was after I lost my dad. I want this to encourage you, fam; God never disappoints his own. When he says I chose you, I love you, I have honored you, just believe it and trust him!

PS: Today (27th May) is children's day in my home country, Nigeria.

New week, New Rock!

As we go into the new week, what are you challenged to do? What's that big rock you have to move? What have you done in the past week that you'd like to change or keep doing in the new week?

You can write this down, so you can run with it and keep it in focus.

As for me, I'm challenged to pray before I eat. I believe this is a very important act of reverence (acknowledging God's provision and giving thanks for it).

Have a blessed Sunday and an awesome week next week.

UNTITLED!

NOTE: This post has been untitled that you may choose a title yourself.

Question! Have you ever done something or gone somewhere, which and where at the end of, you go, ’mehn! This was pointless, a complete waste of my time’. I've been there! Being a person given to efficiency and results, I really hate it when I waste my time. I've spent hours going from YouTube video to YouTube video, clicking on link one, two and more links. :D

One day, I intentionally went on YouTube to find some information about Spiritual Disciplines, I stumbled on videos on the subject and of all that was mentioned, one spiritual discipline struck me; It’s called EXAMINE.

Examine, according to my understanding of the 4-minute talk by the speaker, involves one, at the end of the day, replaying his day in his mind and reflecting on the presence of God at different points of his day.

For me, it is to regularly (daily, hourly, weekly...whenever) STOP and POP, pop a question that questions my current situation and measures what I’m doing against a scale. For example, I’m in a relationship with someone. I ask, ‘Is this relationship draining me? or am I being refreshed by it? Is he/she adding to my life? Am I adding value to his/her life?’ The answers I give to these questions would help me evaluate if it’s a relationship I want to continue in or not.

Once in a church workers’ meeting, the speaker said, ‘The system we live in has been designed to make us fail. It’s up to us to refuse the system and become something for ourselves’. I totally believed and agreed with him. Practicing this discipline of stopping to pop a question would allow us direct our energy into stuff that yields profit and adds value momentarily and even in the long run.

In our walk with God and as workers in God’s vineyard, this practice is critical. Scripture says, ‘God is spirit. Whoever worships him must worship him in Spirit and in truth.’

Isaiah 29:13, ‘The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.[a]” (NIV)

It simply means our heart and mouth/actions need to be in sync. Let your mouth and actions be according to what your heart feels. This would help us eliminate pointless acts of worship/service. It most definitely would be a sad thing to get to that point where our service is unacceptable to God. If it is unacceptable, it is a complete waste of time doing it. This is why it is always important to ask, ‘why am I here? why am I doing this?’ Is the focus me or God? It helps you re-align yourself accordingly, shifting the focus to God.

Also (and this would also lead me to the next issue I’d like to address), 1 Peter 3:15 says, ‘But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,’ (NIV)

Stopping to pop a question allows you have an answer. It gives you a certain kind of preparedness.

Let’s shift our attention to the first statement in 1 Peter 3:15, ‘but in your hearts revere Christ as Lord’.

What does reverence mean? According to a definition from dictionary.reference.com ‘a feeling or attitude of deep respect tinged with awe; veneration.’

I wonder whether when we exclaim OMG (when we mean in our hearts ‘Oh My God’), Jesus!, Chineke meh!, Istenem!! or Mon dieu!, do we say these with a tinge of awe for the Most High God? I've been trying to understand for a long time why we say these.

Honestly, I flinch when people use the ‘F’-word, 'S'-word. I also flinch when the name of God is used as mere exclamation.

God, himself, says ‘Thou shalt not use my name in vain. He who does this would not go unpunished!’ Exodus 20:7.

I like to think that God, when it comes to sin, sees in black and white! There are no shades of white and tints of black. Whoever uses the name of the Lord in vain is just as guilty as a liar, cheat, adulterer and murderer! Sin is sin!

This habit/attitude has crept into the church. It is, indeed, a culture of the ungodly. We ought not do this as Christians. We pray in this name. Who knows? Our prayers may actually go unanswered, just because we don’t have reverence for the very name we pray in.

Finally, I think it is good enough reason that we don’t exclaim in the name of God because we want folks to see and know that we are Christ-like, but I also think it is even more important that we do this simply because God is God! He is the Almighty. He gives you breath and can take it at anytime. John the Baptist rightly said, ‘...I’m not worthy to remove [carry] his sandal...’! We all need to have this feeling of unworthiness, when we regard our relationship with God. He nailed our disease, sorrows and condemnation to the cross. He bore the bruises, strokes and sores. Please, he deserves more than we right now give to his name.

May God’s word reside in our heart. May we ponder upon it day and night. May the Holy Spirit, our helper, teach us all things and lead us into all truth. Amen.

P.S: This is actually a talk I had to give at workers’ meeting today (11th May, 2014). Someone raised a question, asking ‘What if my OMG actually means Oh My Goodness?’ My question back is: Why don’t we say it (or spell it) as it should be said: ‘O my goodness’ or ‘O my gosh!’ (What does ‘gosh’ even mean?)? What you don’t say (or do say, in fact) might cause another to sin!

Origin of 'gosh' (link)

Regarding causing another to sin, some people were of the opinion that it is the 2nd party’s fault, if he falls into sin for (or is not happy)reading OMG as ‘Oh My God’, instead of ‘O my gosh!’. 

Romans 15:1-3 talks about pleasing others before one’s self.

Eph. 4:29 talks about unwholesome talk. We may also use the discipline of STOPPING to POP here. Is this exclamation necessary? Can I use another exclamation that would not stir any controversy? Why or Why not? Please answer sincerely.

#31 - Spiritual Discipline: EXAMINE.