Making Impact

How often do we look around to see how many people around us could do with a little help? How often do we notice another’s pain? We are often masters of pretense, shielding ourselves from rejection, disappointment, ridicule or betrayal; so we isolate ourselves in our big homes, bury our faces in screens and put up invisible walls around us with unfriendly countenance. All the while missing the opportunity of starting a conversation with someone who can help either with advice or material resources; or being infected with a smile that can completely change how we feel. Some people are miserable today because they lack a downward relationship, someone they can help so they can receive the joy that comes with lifting another’s burden. It could hold the key to a long time depression or ulcer or just the flicker of hope that comes with the mere realization that helping someone in need means God/posterity (whichever you believe in) will smile back at you, to ease your own burden, someday when you’ll need it the most. Seeds beget harvests.

Ever seen those videos on the internet where homeless men who were beneficiaries of other peoples’ kindness are more eager to share whatever little they have with others? When you have gone through a rocky road in life, you learn all by yourself what matters the most. You understand and appreciate what life really means, and if given a second chance, you’ll give away more than you would ordinarily give because you know that your impact in other people’s lives actually make you richer. Yes, it makes you more prosperous; I’m not talking money-rich!

Most people (except terrorists) will agree that what the world needs is love. Yes, Christians say it as well as non-Christians.

Love is expressed by actions. Actions have impacts. Love-driven Impacts stay with people and change them; causing ripple effects on other people.  It’s an old story but we forget it too quickly/very often. Many times our excuses are laughable. We never have enough, it’s never the right time, and we are always busy. Excuses are made and they abound. But your impact might cost as little as your meal to the roadside beggar; or your transport fare to the pregnant woman who has to walk a long distance to get to the hospital. It could mean delaying your child’s school fees (enduring what you think is shame) until your next salary so your neighbor’s child can eat or go to hospital. The truth is that you make the greatest impact when it costs you something. But in the grand scheme of things, if you were to see the big picture, you would gladly give that little seed ten times over. For that child’s school fees you delayed might be rewarded with his University scholarship; that transport fare you gave to save the pregnant woman might bring your own car and put an end to your struggles with public transport; that compulsory fasting you did when the beggar got your breakfast might initiate the healing process to a long standing health issue. But even if these don’t happen, you would have triggered something in someone’s life that will make him want to show kindness to two more people who are more likely to spread the fire of love around the world. The peace you seek in your nation and for your children might be spearheaded by someone whose life was saved by a kind stranger who another kind stranger (you) helped twenty years ago and who remembered!

Let us consciously and more often remember to impact lives positively. Let us live as though every good deed will be repaid directly without really expecting it to be repaid. Because at the end they are repaid; but just not how we expect it. The payments come in grander forms!

Our world needs large doses of love. Overdose if I may say. Because we have allowed evil to prosper for so long and there is much we need to do for love to gain the upper hand again. Our little acts of kindness are all we need to impact lives and fill hearts with love and life!

Running For My Life

It’s been four weeks  since I started running for my life. I attended a 50th birthday in-house party of a senior friend and I could not stop wondering how she managed to look 30 at 50. Yes, she is an Italian and yes it might be genetic but I continued to think that it was not just that. She had learned how to live right, eat right and maintain a great shape. I have been putting off exercises for a long time, making excuses of tiredness and time, but that day I got cured of my procrastination by fire. To add to my fuel, the daily devotional booklet  I use had on that day, encouraged starting an exercise regimen. Call it a coincidence or what you like, it just worked for me and I got started. I waited this long before blogging about it just to make sure I have formed the habit and have committed myself to continuing.

I run round the park close to my house 3 times every morning (I can’t tell how many metres that is, I will have to find out). I run every morning, telling myself, ‘your life will be a lot better for it’. I might not see the benefits now, of course I can’t see my heart working better but I do feel it. My energy level is always higher during the day, my muscles more toned and my spirit motivated. It sounds like an exaggeration but ask any runner, and he’ll tell you.

I have been trying to wish away my post-pregnancy pouch, yes wish away because I know I wasn't doing enough to get rid of it, and I had always said (before my pregnancy) that I would not carry a pouch around because it would ruin my style (I love fitted clothes!) but I have been reluctant to put in the effort needed to get rid of it. But with this running habit and the abdominals that follow once I return home, I am looking forward to getting back to shape again. I've been told that because I did not  tie my stomach immediately after birth, I might not succeed in getting my body back again, but I am willing to try proving that wrong and that is what I am doing. I only do hope it works, but even if it doesn't flatten my tummy, I am glad to know I can make a decision and stick to it.

Many times we know the right thing to do but lack the motivation to do it, especially if it’s not connected to a pay check. Our daily habits, what we eat, drink, exercise or the lack of it will all determine how we age. I intend to age gracefully, to be strong for a long time to come, and if it is what I have to do, then I will keep running for my life!!

P.S :  I had a very big first pregnancy. I used to call it a pencil, it was that long!

Love Life: Live It Like Meg

My 13 month old toddler loves to be awake!!! Yes, so much so she fights her sleep all the time and can push it for up to 2 hours . But when she does  sleep, she almost always wakes up with a big smile on her face (if her sleep is interrupted, you won’t get any). An infectious smile that can easily be interpreted as ‘oh, I'm still here, where all the fun is’, and it makes you want to pick her up and plant kisses all over her face.

*You will be getting lots of Meg -inspired thoughts, she has been a fountain of inspiration since she was born*

Then I thought, what if I can live that way. Facing every waking moment with a smile. I confess it’ll be hard to ignore the body pains that I wake with on nights that she insists on putting asunder , the ever present feeling that plagues my sleep: how to create time for myself and  the string of tasks always waiting to be done. I'm always racing against time and my guess is, so do you.

We get so busy with life we forget to live it. We forget to smile, hug, hold hands and sit down to chat just for the love of hearing each other’s laughter. It’s worse with all the ‘aiming higher’, not being mediocre’, standing out from the crowd’ messages we hear every day. We are on a race to outdo ourselves and the next person, we often lose sight of the flowers on the path of the race.

I remember looking at the autumn trees and thinking, ‘even the withering process has got its own beauty. It inspired me to continue living each day not minding the circumstances, to see the beauty in my difficult seasons and know that as the same trees that wither with beauty in autumn, bloom again in spring with splendour , I will continue to rise no matter how many times I fall like the withering leaves.

I have resolved to live like Meg. To embrace life with a smile, telling myself I will get through it (in tough times) and stopping every now and then to count my blessings. I've had more downs than ups but every of those down times got me to reflect and conclude that I am far better alive than dead. Like when I broke my two arms (complete fractures) in an accident, I knew I could've ended up paralysed or even dead but I still live a normal life even if I can’t lift heavy things or I just get to carry my daughter for very short periods while standing.

A clearer picture (that I would never forget) will be that of a very young fresh graduate I met in Abuja Nigeria in 2012, who was travelling to another state for a job interview. A month later, I heard she died on her way back from that trip on a route I had plied countless times. I knew it could've been me on one of my endless trips during my job search days. Every time I remember that pretty young lady, I say to myself I’d rather be alive and jobless than dead, so I won’t give up just because I don’t have a 9-5.

So if you are alive and still struggling to achieve your dreams but you seem  to have more downs than ups, I challenge you: remember the autumn trees, remember some people have died in the past trying to reach where you are today, remember to stop and smile, to say to yourself, ‘I’ll get through this’. Remember to love life and live it with gratitude.