The Cross

Each time I reflect on the Cross, all I see is an image of a young man of 33 years of age hanging on a tree. I see a figure of an innocent man whose hands and feet are securely nailed to the tree. 

I begin to feel his pains. I see him dying slowly while gasping for breath. His mother, friends and close relatives watch helplessly in sorrow unable to do anything to safe him. Knowing he is going through the last moments of his short but purposeful life, he turns to his executors and asks for their forgiveness.  

I imagine this young man to be my son paying the ultimate price for having the audacity to challenge the status quo, for daring to say the truth even when it hurts, for having the moral courage to protect the interests of the poor and needy and for his unstoppable desire to defend the cause of the socially excluded, hard-to-reach and voiceless members of the community.

Whilst I am feeling the agony of a mortal father for losing his son, I am also feeling the pride of being the father of such as a hero. So is his immortal Father.

Lord, I thank you for paying such a high price in order for me to know the truth. Now I am free. What about you?

MAM Buddy self-coaching activity

Who do you think you are? Who do people think you really are? Do you think you are a kind person? Or do people tend to misunderstand your acts of kindness? This week’s MAM Buddy self-coaching activity helps you to identify if any of your behaviour or attitude could potentialy make others to misconstrue your genuine intention to be kind to them. To carry out this self-coaching activity, register free at www.mamcoaching.com/register. Then click on, “Yourbuddy” option. Select the Buddy group titled, “activities, tasks and ideas.” Click on the Buddy activity titled “who do you think you are.”

Your thoughts are your dreams

The contents of your dreams are determined by the contents of your thoughts. When your thoughts are in the past, you dream about the past as if it is still happening in the present.  However, when you learn to keep your thoughts in the present, you will begin to dream about your future as if it is already happening in the present.  

Stop And Smell The Roses

The following lyrics are from the album “Everything is Beautiful”, a collection of songs entitled “Peace in the Valley” by Reader’s Digest. I love the message in the song and thought I should share it with you. It is a message of finding love and peace in everything around you moment by moment. 

Hey Mister

Where you going in such a hurry

Don't you think it's time you realized?

There's a whole lot more to life than work and worry

The sweetest things in life are free

And there right before your eyes

You got to Stop and Smell the roses

You've got to count your many blessings everyday

You're gonna find your way to heaven is a rough and rocky road

If you don't Stop and Smell the roses along the way

Before you went to work this morning in the city

Did you spent some time with your family

Did you kiss your wife and tell her that she's pretty

Did you take your children to your breast and love them tenderly

You got to Stop and Smell the roses

You've got to count your many blessings everyday

You're gonna find your way to heaven is a rough and rocky road

If you don't Stop and Smell the roses along the way

Did you ever take a walk through the forest?

Stop and dream a while among the trees

Well you can look up through the leaves right straight to heaven

You can almost hear the voice of God

In each any every breeze

You got to Stop and Smell the Roses

You've got to count your many blessings everyday

You're gonna find your way to heaven is a rough and rocky road

If you don't Stop and Smell the Roses along the way

You got to Stop and Smell the roses

You've got to count your many blessings everyday

You're gonna find your way to heaven is a rough and rocky road

If you don't Stop and Smell the roses along the way

Living Your Life In The Moment

“This moment contains all moments.” C. S. Lewis

I can think of three types of thinkers.  There are those who think in the past.  Others think in the present.  There are those who think in the future. A past thinker lives his or her entire life in the past.  A present thinker lives life in the present moment and now. A future-thinker lives life in the future.

In his book titled Excuses Begone, Dr Wayne Dyer advises us to "stay present: every second, every minute, and every hour. Every day of your life is full of present moments of infinite value. You won't find God yesterday or tomorrow - your Source is always here and now."

To be living a life in the past is an illusion. To be living a life in the future is fantasy. To be living a life in the present is to be living in the presence of the living God.  He created you to live in his present. Your life is therefore for living in the present.

To keep thinking in the past is to keep reminding yourself of the things that had gone badly wrong in your life, the things you no longer want in your life. To keep thinking in the future is to keep building your castle in the air. The more time you spend thinking about your life in the past and in the future, the less time you will have to think about your life in the present moment.

What you are now is a creation of what you were in the past and will create what you will be in the future. The now is when you can do what you could not do in the past. What you do now also determines what your life will be in the future.  That is why they say you can create your future today.

When you keep thinking about the past and the future in the present moment, you miss the opportunity of aligning your thoughts and action with your Source who lives in the present and in the past or in the future.

When you become a friend of the moment, and just keep taking things as they come into your life without being hostile to them, you are making the most of what life has for you. You are avoiding spending your valuable time wrestling with the past and fantasising about the future.

You can show appreciation and gratitude for the present by noticing what is happening now in all areas of your life; your health, your children, your spouse, your job, your finance, your home, your environment, your education, etc. and find a reason to thank God for everything. The present is a precious gift, why throwing it away for the past that is already gone or for the future that may never be.

The root cause of terrorism

The root cause of terrorism is hatred and the inability to forgive. When you replace hatred with love and forgiveness, you cut the root of terrorism. The journey can be long but achievable. It starts by including and teaching the culture of love and forgiveness to our children as part of their education.rism is hatred and the inability to forgive. When you replace hatred with love and forgiveness, you cut the root of terrorism. The journey can be long but achievable. It starts by including and teaching the culture of love and forgiveness to our children as part of their education.

Obstacles, what obstacles?

In life, there will always be obstacles in your way towards achieving your dreams: money, family, friends, health, environments, etc. Some people call them hurdles because you can fly over them. Some call them barriers because you can open them and pass through. For others, they are called difficulties because they are meant to test your physical and emotional ability to overcome them. I call them mountains because they are meant to be climbed in order to reach the top. Never give up or given in to any obstacle in your way towards achieving your dreams in life. It is a mark of your level of creativity when you can identify any obstacle that is outside your sphere of control and work your way around it.

The Earth belongs to all species

When God created the earth, he gave every species their natural environments. He provided enough space for every species to live and co-habit within their respective habitats. He endowed each habitat with enough resources to make all the various species live together with one another harmoniously within their respective natural environments.

However, mankind, the higher and supposedly the most intelligent of all the earth's species, chose to use its higher intellect as a powerful weapon to encroach on and take over the natural habitats of the other species.

Image what would have been our fate on earth if at the time of creation, God also created another planet, populated it with super beings with the highest possible intellects and gave them dominion over human beings.

By the way, what makes us think that we are alone in the universe? If, for the reason of our doubt that we are alone, we can begin to learn how to treat our planet with more respect, it will be great for the future of our children.  We need to begin to learn how to live our life on earth with more wisdom. We need to begin to learn how to treat the other species on this planet with more respect and love. The earth belongs to all species and not just for the humans..