Tag Archives: faith and trust

Just beyond the Mile……

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/05/health_beyond_boundaries/html/5.stm

“As soon as man does not take his existence for granted but beholds it as something unfathomably mysterious, thought begins.” – Albert Schweitzer

It is the wee hours of the last day of another year, precisely 0311 hours and I am unable to or do not want to go back to the turmoil of a restless sleep, aching spine and a catalogue of other undesirables however I can choose to and indeed have, to make the seconds count because time is one factor that we unfortunately have no control over and so the best time to do anything useful or productive is NOW. What better time than the last day of a wonderful year replete with its own shares of highs and lows, moments of sheer ecstasy and regrets, moments of such exquisite delight and almost unending agony, moments of hope, love and contentment and those of despair, isolation and despondency. For me, it has been such an eventful year that I can’t wait to let go so as to let in another because it is in giving that we receive. “Oh how blessed is he that scattereth even when there seems to be nothing to scatter for when you cast your bread upon the waters, you sure will find it after many days provided you do it right”- The Manual

Personally speaking, it has been yet another awesome journey and I can tell you that the pickings of the harvest are usually best towards the end of the harvest period and for me, 2013 is ending on a superlatively high note ; Like the tide that comes in right after the debris of the previous night’s debauchery, washing away all the debris and making it right as new or better still the ultimate sacrifice paid for us when we least deserved it, giving us yet another shot at life and not just any shot but this time from the winning team’s dugout. We can count on the fact that every hit is way out of the park, that is what our expected end is when we only but acknowledge what a choice we have to make. One that stays true regardless of what the present circumstances may otherwise be whispering in our ears or even clogging our senses that we are almost on the verge of accepting it as our lot in life. Hang in there for just a second and hear this truth “many were the steps taken in doubt, that saw their shapeless ends in no time. Those who travail in faith today will triumph in joy tomorrow. Let faith lead the way” – Israelmore Ayivor. Now the many variations of the word ‘faith’ has besieged many with exactly the opposite and so we are in a roller coaster of a ride trying desperately to blend in with the seemingly obvious excitement all around us and yet grapple with a deep-seated conviction that there is more to our existence than being part of a huge noisy crowd of ‘thrill seekers’. How many of us are bold enough to dare to be ourselves in such a convoluted world, where the norm is the wrong and doing the right makes you a pariah.

i recently regaled my wonderful host with the timeless classic of the childhood story of Sleeping beauty but permit me to just stretch our imaginations much more than we could as kids. In a bid to give her what her parents thought was best for her, they unwittingly bestowed her with such an impending doom (many of today’s parents are like that! all too caught up in wanting to give our kids what we never had as kids that we irretrievably fail to also remember to give then what we did have……as kids). However the tale goes on holding us breathless as kids, as the parents sought to stave off the impending doom but alas life is unfair – to gain is to lose, to bless is to give, to know happiness sometimes is in the house of sorrows but nonetheless we can only demand of life what we think we deserve and not just what we deserve but be assured that we deserve it, not on account of what we have put in but solely on account of who is steering our ship. Back to the classic tale, as usual despite our best efforts at trying to steer life, we are not only ill-prepared to do so but lack the wisdom to. On her 18th birthday, her ‘fate’ caught up with her and there was a complete rewriting of the script – a sleep so profound that the very kingdom was almost a myth. Enshrouded by massive thorns and bristles, cobwebs as thick as the wool spurn off the loom, the story goes on until it ends with the Knight on his shining white steed having heard of the tale, came to terms with his purpose which he had been searching for ……. We all know the story!

Now, as adults, we are not to be childish but child-like in our dealings so let’s re-examine this beautiful tale and see yet again if we can unravel some nuggets to help us on our journey through life. Questions – why was it just that knight that was able to rouse her with the kiss? Would there not have been many others before him? I dare say that these answers hold for us the very stuff that will make us extend ourselves just a teeny-weeny bit and venture beyond that milestone that has hitherto held us back all this while. We are all creatures of purpose and for as long as it takes, we got to keep searching until we not only realise our purpose but assiduously set about at achieving it. I strongly opine that there were many before that knight but what made him the hero of the tale – he heard the story, acknowledged his purpose, set about searching and taking complete cognizance of his surroundings, he made his way through the thorns and bristles, arrived at her bedchamber and gave her a kiss that was so different from all the others that it stirred up something within her and rekindled her hope and zest for life. What a tale! But it sure is more than just a childhood ‘read me to sleep dad’ kind of tale but one filled with simple truths that we have tended to overlook and have left it in the childhood story book section. Purpose, Perseverance against all odds and an everyday action yet so different that it provoked such profound results.

Now, I am a romantic at heart and Myoclonus cannot take that away from me because I believe that within each and everyone if us lies a set of skills particularly honed for our purpose on earth but first of all we must search for our purpose, acknowledge it and doggedly go about attaining it. Being different is another, where many have failed before us, we can choose to succeed if we choose to be different – remember that the greatest battle we all have to fight is being ourselves in a world that consistently wants to make us someone else. The question is are you satisfied living your life as someone other than you or you are brave enough to be yourself, I dare reiterate that the choice is yours to make but whilst we grapple with this all familiar concept, let us consider the point we find ourselves.

Fact 1 – You can’t have made it this far on your own and therefore Someone is calling the shots. Who is calling the shots in your life and what is your own assessment of where you are today? Completely lost sight of hope? I dare say it is better late than never, you can get your train back online.

Fact 2 – You know the story but have allowed yourself to be overwhelmed by the bandwagon effect that you may have almost lost sight of the tale and your purpose in life. I dare say that ‘he is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep just to enjoy the exquisite pleasure of obtaining that which you dare not afford to lose’. Folly in itself is not destructive but how long you allow yourself remain in it is.

Fact 3 – You have gotten to your milestone, battered and bruised, overwhelmed by the frailties of our human body and yet there remains just that simple gesture that many might have made before you with no results. That therein is summoning all that is within you cos it sure is there to venture beyond that milestone and make yours different – that is what makes the results differ for each one of us. We all have one shot at life, are we going to choose to just be statistics or be the real thing – the choice is yours to make.

I have seen seasons that threatened to overwhelm me but the choice to succumb or rise above will always be mine and I will always choose the latter because ‘in this ladder of lives we are given to climb, each life counts for only a second of time. The only one thing to do in that brief little space is to make the world glad that we ran the race’ – E.W Wilcox. I may not know how badly a hand life has dealt you, I know mine and I have chosen despite all odds to make the world glad I ran this race regardless of the inexplicable bouts of incessant pains, insomnia, tremors, huge medical bills and an unpredictable bouquet of medical oddities. I have also had reason daily to be thankful for every life that I have encountered during this journey because without you all, I wouldn’t be who I am today and for that I applaud you regardless of your roles.

My year-end message to as many as read this is, in two words – BE DIFFERENT! There’s just one of you so why make a hash of that singular honour. Love as many as you can, get hurt in the process but stay focused because life remembers not those who lay fallen and trampled in their trenches but those who have pulled themselves up and persevered in the face of adversity. My word to you is this, go for your dentals and be prepared to walk into the new year with a grin so wide that life itself will stop and recognise you. Reach out to just that one person who is suffering beside you and just do something to make him feel better and be glad he met you and above all else realise that you did not make it on your own this far and even when the clouds loomed dark above you, He still was there beside you and my advise is give Him free reign in the new year and be amazed at how puny those milestones now seem. You are a diamond in the sky, let rip your luster and brighten up the world whilst you can.

Remember that the race is not to the swift, neither is the battle to the strong but time and chance happens to us all. Choose to make that one chance count for your generation and generations to come. Have an awesome new year even as you venture beyond the mile. I sure do love you!!!

lמסתדר טוב עד שניפגש שוב בזמן שלו

Adios!

Gone with the wind???….

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It is 3.40am and the very walls of the house are trembling as the winds buffet everything in its path and although it may be scary for many but for me, it is yet another silent message that nothing just happens and even when we are buffeted on all sides by the winds of life, realize that there is a purpose to it and whilst in the midst of the storm, it seems inexplicably difficult to acknowledge that – get this; it does not change that truth, nothing just happens.

It is two years now since I was officially diagnosed with this gargantuan medical challenge and neurological disorder and I can assure you all that it has been a gargantuan change to my life and just like St Jude as she howls and stamps her presence, so much garbage and debris has been blown out of my life, giving me the unique privilege of having a clearer perspective to those things that I once took for granted and appreciating better the gift of the Present. Making me realize that even amidst the howling winds, there can be peace within the storm not because of what may seem to be happening all around me but because I have chosen before now to define what my foundation shall be and having the certain assurance that regardless of this 89 mph wind gusts of St Jude, my anchor holds within the storm.

I watched with keen interest as the tree that stands in the front lawn relentlessly lost her leaves and as each leaf was torn off and blown away, it seemed such a hopeless and despairing event because those leaves have been torn off from the familiarity, security, comfort of home, not by choice but by events that they certainly had no say in. However, as each leaf was borne away, it also marked the beginning and end of another season. Now as I sit in silent contemplation of all the events that have taken place in my life within the last 24 months, I can enjoy the beauty of a whimsical smile because, what a journey it has been. From the very first moments, the words ‘rare and incurable’ were uttered by Adrian Casey, it has been a tumultuous journey. I recall the nights when the rumblings of my stomach were loud enough to be heard on the phone during international calls – not because they were symptoms of a movement disorder but from sheer hunger. I can remember the despondency I felt, the isolation, the many unanswered questions, the bleakness of the present then…..

Today as I yet again share my heart, I am thankful for the winds of St Jude that threatened at times to overwhelm me but that have unerringly blown me across the many paths of the beautiful people I can call friends today. I thank God for the times all the flights and trains were grounded (for safety reasons which I could not appreciate then), for the atrocious conditions that forced me to force my way forward, head down and scarf lifted with limited visibility, with nothing but just my faith and the infallible truth that I was created for a purpose and a much grander reason than I may have been able to imagine then. I have had my very moorings almost blown away, my foundations shaken, veneers of a past life peeled away painfully, exposed to the elements with nothing to seemingly live for. I have experienced the deepest betrayals by those I chose to have looked up to, been cast aside in derision like an old rag doll, ignored by those whom I weakly reached out for some assistance. I have experienced the depths of isolation and loneliness, cast and borne by the winds of change, away from what I called security and home before now. I have lost all that could be lost, shed tears from acute physical, mental and emotional pain but I am still standing today – what a journey it has been indeed.

Ironically St Jude according to Catholicism, is the saint for the hopeless and the despairing and how appropriately named is today’s windstorm. I have come to realize that each time I experience these storms, there is a better future awaiting me and I will always choose to believe that since I am still with breath, then I am but stronger in all aspects. Without these winds, I will not be doing this. Without these winds, I will not be blessed with the friends that I have made. Without these winds, I will not be who I am today and I know that I can never be gone with the winds because the winds are here just to move me to a better place and the stronger they are, the further and better a location I am getting to. The stronger it blows, the more unique individuals I get to come across albeit for a brief period of time and so I have learned to make every moment count because all I have is the now and so I have chosen to make everyone count. Now I can truly appreciate how blessed I am to be surrounded on all sides by a family defined not by blood but by the vicissitudes of life and the awesome realization that God alone rules over the affairs of men and therefore there is a purpose to everything.

I count myself blessed to be able to say ‘it has not been by strength or by might but by the provisions of a God whose love is so real and sincere’. I choose to lift my face in the winds, with my legs spread apart and my staff firmly held and just breathe words of thanksgiving for a journey that is bringing me to my expected end. For the lives that I have had the privilege of passing through, for the lives that have inspired me and been inspired by mine – no truer experience is worth reliving and despite the downs (countless they may have seemed then), the ups will forever be etched in my life. And whilst like a Lone Ranger it has seemed many times, I am truly grateful for the Tontos that have accompanied me each phase of this windstorm. I am thankful for the lesson that has taught me to understand that ‘
encountered the most profound of moments and learned that life is like a coin, pleasure and pain are the two sides. Only one side is visible at times but remember that the other side is waiting for its turn to be visible.

And even as silence and calm precedes a fresh burst of wind, I have come to acknowledge that it is only the cowardly and foolish who believe that just because difficulties differ in intensity then they are immune to their own storms, however the wise use these moments of calm to hurriedly reach out and grasp a floundering arm, a struggling life and make a significant impact. Nothing lasts for ever and so dig deep and press on, for this storm is just for a season. You can choose to complain that roses have thorns or rejoice that thorns have roses, the choice is always yours to make. And as I wrap up this, I am thankful for you all that have been willing to share this journey with me and glad for the opportunity to have been bold enough to share it with you.

“I believe in going with the flow. I don’t believe in fighting against the flow. You ride on your river and you go with the tides and the flow. But it has to be your river, not someone else’s. Everyone has their own river, and you don’t need to swim, float, sail on their’s, but you need to be in your own river and you need to go with it. And I don’t believe in fighting the wind. You go and you fly with your wind. Let everyone else catch their own gusts of wind and let them fly with their own gusts of wind, and you go and you fly with yours.” – C. JoyBell C.

Remember that we are all creatures of purpose and pleasure, make every moment count because now is all you have – yesterday is gone and tomorrow is yet to come.

lמסתדר טוב עד שניפגש שוב בזמן שלו

Adios!