Skip to main content

"Life-lines"


“Go on, be a go-getter!”

“Good things come to those who wait”.

“Be sensitive and tender-hearted”

“Be tough and thick-skinned!”.

“Successful people do not sleep! They burn the midnight oil”

“You need about 8 hours of sleep to be productive”.

“Put yourself out there. Grab life by the horns. Go hard!”

“Take it easy. One step at a time, Rome was not built in a day”.

“Live life to the full and don’t look back”

“Take time to reflect, life is  best seen in hindsight”.

“Stay hungry”

“Be satisfied with what you've got”.


It seems to me that there is so much advice out there about how to live life. When presented as a collection of punchy phrases they seem a contradictory bunch, don’t they?

The truth is I don’t think anyone really knows the formula to live a happy life. Really, how could we know when we are all having our first go at this?

As a lady in her 20s, it’s not unusual that I spend a lot of time trying to figure out what I must do to build a bright future. But I must add, it is overwhelming and frustrating when the self-help books present you with ambiguous advice. What worked for one person left the other unfulfilled.

So, there I was at the drawing board, very confused.

“Remember to trust in God”. My father added this to the growing list of memorable one-liners last night. This one had been tucked away at the back of my noisy mind and needed to be brought to the forefront. I am reminded by the Bible that He has plans for each of us that supersede whatever plans we have for ourselves.

“The heart of a man plans His way, but the LORD directs his steps” Proverbs 16:9

“Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that will prevail” Proverbs 19:21

“For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure” Philippians 2:13

Now how’s that for punchy phrases that tell you what life is really about. These are the true lifelines for someone like me who was drowning in the sea of society's wavering counsel.

    

Comments

  1. Bukunola Fagade3 October 2015 at 23:51

    Very true my dear daughter. It is the reason the preacher wrote in Ecclesiastes 9:11 that regardless of our individual traits and talents, we still must seek divine guidance to chart our life's course. He knows the end from the begining; that's why He is called The Aloha and The Omega.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How Great Thou Art: God's glory in the Arts

I remember how I saw colour that day. The green trees, the blue sky, the brown soil, everything vivid and bright. It was the usual walking route with the usual after-work tiredness, but, as if my eyes had been opened from blindness, the mundane became vibrant and I stopped to take it all in. The words from the popular hymn, How Great Thou Art, come to mind: When through the woods and forest glades I wander And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur And hear the brook, and feel the gentle breeze The greatness of God’s works was displayed before me, like an artist exhibiting his masterpieces in a gallery. Hidden in the seemingly dull and ordinary was His beauty being uncovered. I thought to myself “how great is His creation, the work of His hands.” “The heavens declare the glory of God, the sky above proclaims His handiwork” (Psalm 19:1). O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder, Consider all t...
1 comment
Read more

Power 2.0: Doing the Impossible

God has spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongs unto God. -Psalm 62:11 God, Sovereign, unbound by no rules, has done what you and I can never do. By making His Son Jesus to die for our sins, He has shown HIS great power. It is the most impossible feat; the most Holy and blameless person who walked this earth took the place of the most sinful and unrighteous men, as He took on the sins of all the world upon His shoulders. This was to make us, we who revelled in our uncleanness, blind and oblivious to our sorry state, become perfect in God's sight. And why does this show His power? It is because it is a work that not even the strongest, most zealous, enthusiastic person can dream of achieving. It is because it is a work that transcends time and will carry on into eternity. It is because it is a work that no one can dispute, no one can stand against it. God planned and He did it, and no one can come in the way of what He has achieved. So, by God...
Post a Comment
Read more

Power

Carrying on from the previous post , this post is about where to get courage against despair. I am no counsellor or therapist; I write from personal experience. I have also come to learn from research that many share similar opinions as I do which have helped them as well.   Depression causes one to feel alone in the dark; the cloak of gloom never lifts and it traps you from seeing anything in life as good, enjoyable, dependable or worth it. For many, there is a heavy feeling of shame and worthlessness and that you have nothing to offer this world. It is really difficult to go through this nearly every day and some have tried to find freedom by ending their own lives. My interactions with people who have made suicide attempts have showed me that many regret the decision. I heard of one man who jumped off a bridge and survived. But his thoughts when he let go of the railings were “What have I done?”, “I don’t want to die”. Each of us have a fighting spirit that wants to live...
2 comments
Read more