"Jesus is Our Everlasting Hope" A poem by Kindergarten 1- FNCA End of 20...

THE COCKTAILS OF LIFE

If you have guested at my house, or just passed through, and you have privileged us with the honor of sharing a meal with us, we do always try to wash down the meal with fruit juice for a drink. And I’ve been told I make really great juice (blowing my own trumpet). Matter of fact, this year I want to venture into availing you with this juice; watch the space and be ready to place those orders. And I can promise the damage to your wallet will be so minimal that you won’t even feel it.

I’ve been asked many times about the recipes (fruit portions) that I use, then I go on to point out the fruits I’ve blended to squeeze out the cocktail. When am asked about what quantities however, I do struggle with explaining myself because I don’t seem to be intentional about the quantities when am making the juice. It’s like asking my grandmother how many grams of salt she puts in the source, no, she just scoops the salt from the salt tin and then the finger tips and the eyes do the math. Well, enough with the mambo jumbo, too much praise normally slides into flattery.

In the juice making process, I’ve scooped out some life lessons that I would love to share. I’ve noticed that if we allow ourselves the serenity that God offers as we trust Him in our daily struggles and endeavors, regardless of the circumstances, every simple activity gets to be inspirational. Even simple activities like making juice. May be that’s what the apostle Paul meant when he admonished the saints that, “in everything you do, work as If you are serving Christ not man.” Enough said, what’s the juice lesson here?

As long as you are born of a woman, life will give you a cocktail of both good and bad times. Without doubt, you will taste the bitter drink of loneliness, sorrow, grief, pain, disease, death of a loved one and much more. In the cocktail juice of life however, there will be sweet flavors of happiness, good friends, wonderful memories, accomplishments, the joy of children and so forth. And for the most part, you don’t even get to choose the mix; life might serve you a career breakthrough mixed with a rebellious child, or wonderful memories mixed with loneliness, or good and loyal friends mixed with the loss of a loved one. Life serves and your job is to drink.

With the wisdom that comes with age, I’ve learnt to leave the “whys” for most cocktails to be asked in the afterlife. However, with the belches from sweet cocktails and drunken stupors from the bitter servings, I am compelled to leave a few of the ‘Whys’ that won’t leave me alone. Some I’ve experienced others I’ve observed. You might disagree with some perhaps, well, these are my whys. Feel free to add yours and if you can, offer answers to some of my "whys" if not all. But if i can add a tip, the questions are meant to stimulate reflection.

§  Why do criticisms come much easier and faster than compliments?

§  Why mistakes are so easily remembered than achievements?

§  Why do lies spread so much faster than the truth?

§  Why is it easier to spend money than to earn it?

§  Why do good plans seem to evaporate as soon as money comes in?

§  Why is it easier to give good advice than follow it yourself?

§  Why does it come easy to see the wrong in others than our own wrongs?

§  Why is it easier to gain weight than lose it?

§  Why do most Ugandans respect foreigners more than their own people?

§  Why are Africans or Blacks considered second class citizens by the rest of the world?

§  Why is that idiot rich and I am not?

§  Why do most of us think that wealth and honesty can’t co-exist peacefully?

§  Why is it hard to break old habits and build new ones?

I WANT MY CARROTS NOW

Raising a child is a very intricate, challenging and rewarding process. And as am slowly discovering, a journey full of beautiful lessons as well. For a woman, the journey begins right after conception all the way to…well, a life time. About the latest addition to our family, he’s just about to walk. And it’s so exciting to see him beam with pride when he makes his fifteen seconds stand. He’s so proud of himself more than we are proud of him. Another amazing addition to his expeditions is food. He’s been on it for three months now and I can tell he’s enjoying one of the unrivaled pleasures that life allows to human beings; the taste of food. I don’t think a goat goes out there and is wowed by the taste of shrubs like I get floored with the taste of  my home made pineapple fried rice. And for my son, he just loves picking out slices of carrots from my meal plate. I don’t know if it’s the bright orange color of the carrots that draws him, or their tender slippery taste in the mouth, all I know is that he loves the carrots. No matter how satisfied he is, when it’s my meal time, he comes running to scout for those orange misfits littered all over my food.

As you can imagine, most times the food is hot, well, too hot for him. But all he wants is his carrots. So it turns into a scuffle where I try to explain to him that I need to cool it to the temperature his inexperienced mouth can handle, and he’s not allowing any of it (he’s 10 months by the way). To drive the lesson home, I allow him to taste the hot carrot and he immediately gets it. Then he grudgingly allows to wait for me to pick them out and feed him one at a time, by blow cooling each pick. And so harmony is restored as things get to settle, I can now take my meal in peace as he also munches on his carrot one blowing at a time.

Aren’t we adults just about the same with what we need from our “parent” God? We pester him with our wants (carrots). We just want our carrots, and we want them now. We want that career move now, we want that spouse now, we want the financial break through now, we want that corner office now, we want the success now. We don’t care if it’s hot, we are convinced we are ready. And the fact that we want it is all that matters.

Perhaps the delay is because he’s been explaining that the carrot is still hot; You won’t be able to handle the pressures that come with that new job you want as yet, you are not ready for marriage and the obligations that come with it, if the success you envision was to come now, it would quickly get into your head, thus stealthily slipping in pride, arrogance, and bad leadership altogether. Perhaps God is been trying to say, “The carrot is still hot.” If you were listening more attentively to His voice, he might be saying be patient and watch me cool it down for you.

Do not focus too much on that corner office or that position, focus more on investing in yourself, desire to know more, empower yourself, go for that post graduate, enroll for that leadership course, and gather the guts to finally approach that amazing soul you’ve been eyeing as a mentor. Then when you least expect it, that move will come when you are tending to the sheep; if you are familiar with the anointing of the shepherd boy David as the next king of Israel (1 Samuel 16:1 -13. Too much worried about age, or meeting the right person? I’d rather you focus more on being the right person. If you keep doing the right thing day in day out, God will hold his end of the bargain.

Am not saying these are the most important accomplishments in life, all am saying is, if you focus on doing the right things, by Gods providence  and sovereignty he will  order your footsteps, preparing good works in advance, and making all things work together for good. Of course, somethings won’t make sense until we cross to eternity, but in the meantime, be the best you can be by God’s grace that He richly provides for us. Don’t push God to the point of him allowing you to have your way, the “carrot” will burn more than your mouth.

Shalom