Work it!

This is how it starts..

       

But it can become this:

Does it take time, patience? Yes.

Does it take work, effort? Yes

(This seems pretty obvious huh? Yes)

Is the process the same for every plant type? No! Some people even get grafts to get them started but others, seeds.

Alright Grace, you know what you gotta do!

"Don't spend time praying for fruit when you are holding the seed in your hand. Its time to work it!" 
T.D Jakes (paraphrase)

May God help us to maximise the opportunities and gifts that He has given us, to do the work that is required to grow and become better so that we shall not be like that third servant that Jesus talks about in the Parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30). That even when it seems scary knowing how many things COULD go wrong, we shall step out in faith and do what we need to do.


Special thanks to google images for some of the pics captioned here;-)

Learning to be okay..

There are times that I read words that I just cant shake; such as the passage below which is an excerpt from Paul's letter to the Philippians: 

"How I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you have always been concerned for me, but you didn’t have the chance to help me. Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ,[a] who gives me strength."

I still don't really know how to be okay regardless.
Whether people "get" me or not
Whether I excel  or not
Whether I have what I want or not
Whether I am here or not

Here refers to more than just Australia(geographical location) to include where I am at within myself, where I feel like I fit (or don't) within the society, where I am in my journey of life with reference to where I want to be...

Paul says he learnt "the secret" of living in every situation. It seems he learnt it so much that even though change was welcome, he was okay without it. Eh!!!! How do I be like that????

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

I am learning that that involves some of the stuff that Paul speaks about earlier in the chapter: 

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.  Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

I am still learning. 

Speaking of learning.. there is this song! Do have a listen when you can. Not sure if these pretty girls still find time to sing together...But they are damn good!

Have a lovely end of week.

Marriage Foxes and Boxes

"Quick! Catch all the little foxes before they ruin the vineyard of your love, for the grapevines are all in blossom."

Song of Songs 2:15

Our wedding anniversary was about a week ago. I am still very excited that we have made two years in marriage - Yaaaay :-) I took sometime out to pray cause my heart was a bit heavy and I realised the bu foxes that were trying to disturb our vineyard. Thankfully, I have started chasing them nga bukyali. It is kinda hard to explain but I have tried and written about it below. For the first time ever, the husband is featuring on the blog in person!!! (He commented after I showed him my writing and I decided to include it :-) 

I pray that God will help you to see the things that could ruin your wonderful relationships so that you can face them and sort them and your love can blossom. Sometimes they can be really small things like sand in shoes...

Grace's Jazz:

No, you don't fit
You never have
The edges are too straight
The height is not right
You don't fit in that box

Or even in the other boxes that I read about on facebook
Or in romantic novels
Or in magazines or newspapers
No
You don't fit there either

Why do I keep forgetting this?
I guess maybe it's because I just find myself comparing you to what I have known
Or what I have come to expect
My extrapolations of my previous experiences
Or even those of my friends
Are projected onto you my love

I know that when you look at me
You see no cardboard
You see me
Strong and weak
Beautiful and ugly
You see me

I am sorry
For not stripping the cardboard
And seeing you for who you are
You
My love and the desire of my heart

The husband's reply:
I am happy that I do not fit in a box
I fit with you
I wasn't made for the box :-)

Dangerous seed!

image source http://vermontcompost.com/compostopedia/gardening-tips-seed-sowing/

I remember the evening I was in the hospital winding up for the day when She came... 

I found her lying on the hospital bed. A young adolescent all by herself... crying and afraid. She told of how she had had some trouble at the home where she lived and had gone to report to the police. The policeman offered to help and said she could spend the night in the cell. That night he raped her. Not knowing where to turn, she kept this to herself until she overheard rumours that the policeman was HIV positive! One week after the dreadful nightmare, She finally found courage to seek help.

I shuddered. I shuddered not only because of her pain and humiliation but also because the doctor in me did not know how to help her. You see.. in order to build a good case against a rapist, one needs 'medical evidence' which is often bruising from the vaginal mucosa that is mostly visible within 24 or maybe 48 hours of the incident (and that is really stretching it). Unfortunately because of the rich blood supply in the groin area, healing happens pretty fast unless one develops very severe injuries which is not always the case. It gets worse... The medication given to protect people who have been exposed to HIV from acquiring the infection (a.k.a post exposure prophylaxis) is most effective within the first 24-48 hours of exposure and the efficacy decreases over time. However, the free medication can be offered up to 72 hours after. She came in after a week :-( 

In conversations with my friends, I realised She was not alone and it was not always a stranger.

Volunteering in the slums, I heard her voice again... 

Many of these girls were often exposed to guys.. men.. uncles.. mother's boyfriends who took advantage of them. They too, did not know where to turn.

Do you know what is universal among all these girls who have been violated? It's not that they all had long or short hair, were a particular skin shade, wore particular clothes of a certain length or tightness... It wasn't that they all wore make-up or even spoke the same language or lived in the same community. It was rather that they all felt shame and guilt following the experience. The kind that is unfounded but hard to erase.

By now most people who have taken time to read it know that the Ant-pornography bill which was recently passed in Uganda (that has been famously called the mini-skirt bill), actually has nothing to do with mini-skirts. However, unfortunately it has been portrayed thus largely by the media and leadership figures such as the minister of ethics. Perceptions like these result in incrimination of women for perverted and often unremorseful actions by men which should be unacceptable. In a weird way, the nature of the publicity for this bill has 'legitimized' bad manners by men in the country who will obviously not take time to read the actual letter of the laws. It has sowed a very bad seed affecting how men view women; an aspect well illustrated in a blog post by Melanie Kitongo. 

Instead we need to be protecting our women. Empowering them to see that NO, IT IS NOT THEIR FAULT!!!! Men need to be admonished to behave responsibly. Perverts and NOT the vulnerable need to feel uncomfortable in our society. We need to be teaching girls how to protect themselves and what to do if they are attacked. We need to also be advocating that our police forces be safer for the public.

A very bad seed has been sown! I hope that following the review of his bill, the media, minister and law enforcing agents in the country will act to protect not expose the vulnerable in our society.

For God and my country.

image source: http://www.thisisafrica.me/opinion/detail/20026/how-decent-is-decent-one-minister-s-sentiments-may-represent-a-larger-problem-in-uganda

"Oh sorry, did my dress make you feel like RAPIST today?? "image source: http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1090759/march-challenges-bias-about-rape-victims

image source: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/229894755949121092/

Falling

A couple of weeks ago I went to the Gallery of Modern Art(GOMA) with a friend and the experience was nothing like I had expected. I could not have anticipated the intensity of the somberness or deliberation that it triggered. I found myself quiet (yes, me quiet) and (wait for it...) thinking critically and analytically about my life!!! All this just from viewing a display!!! Man! I was so emotionally drained that I wasn't even able to tour the rest of the gallery and had to head home; very exhausted.

Below are a few shots of the display that did this to me (trust me, the pictures do not do it justice!)

It was called "Falling back to Earth".  The wolves come from different places and begin their journey to the "top". They seem to be making progress.. going higher and even soaring

But.. when they least expect it, that's when IT happens! They hit this invisible wall and start "falling back to earth". 

In the picture you might be able to see how some remain down and struggling after the fall but there are also those who are clearly contemplating rejoining the trek back to the top.

Is it obvious yet how that made me think about life like in an overwhelming way???? Man! The artist (Cai Guo-Qiang) also mentions in a caption at the gallery that the most difficult barriers to overcome are the one that we cannot see. Hmmmm... It is such a fake feeling to feel like you are going round in circles and not making any real progress. Those times when  it is not even clear that you have 'learnt' anything from that past experience but keep repeating the mistakes or whatever. Heb 12:1 says

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us..."

May God help us to identify the "barriers" in our lives, to pay attention and see which things are keeping us from growing in our faith, becoming better in the areas that He has placed us. May He help us to not only see but do the work that it often takes to address those barriers. It's obviously not going to be easy or straightforward that is why the Bible uses words like endurance. We can't give up.  He has got us and actually has good plans for us.

Obviously, there are some barriers that are beyond our control. But even then, by the grace of God, we can get up again and be able to live a life abundant because of God who

"... is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us" (Eph 3:20)

Images from http://bmag.com.au/your-brisbane/brisbanes-voice/laura-s/2013/11/25/cai-guo-qiangs-falling-back-earth/; http://blog.qag.qld.gov.au/tag/cai-guo-qiang-falling-back-to-earth/; http://www.pinterest.com/9melons/9melons/

Sharing food

One day when I was frustrated that I hadn't been hearing rich Bible teaching, I grumbled to my dad and he said to me: What does a mother eat? (As I was still contemplating on the weirdness of the question, he answered himself) She eats on what she has cooked.

I guess I honestly haven't been 'cooking' much of late. Making a cup of tea and warming food from others is kinda different. Obviously eating out is great but doesn't always rock (Last time we went to our ka fave Thai restaurant, they served us food which was rather stale). Even though cooking is not always rewarding, it nice not to be dependent on someone else for all your eating.

So, at the moment, I am going through the book of Daniel and enjoying it! I find it strange how even though I knew most of the stories, they are fresh and I am being challenged in a scary way. Currently living in a foreign country, oba I 'identify' with Daniel in a new way. Him and his friends were not just foreigners, they were captives but they did not aim at 'fitting-in' or 'blending-in' or doing stuff so they could be highly regarded by the officials overseeing them... rather, their standard was God. Their allegiance, service or whatever was to God.

I look forward to the day I learn that lesson once and for all! The day I learn 'for rio' and it actually sticks in my  head that I should NOT aim to please people but God; that'll be the day I take the world by storm! Anyway, the learning curve continues! In Daniel 1, it mentions how he was determined not to defile himself. Guess his demeanor was not a coincidence- it took firm resolve for him to be thus. Something that a friend of mine calls DELIBERATE EFFORT.

Well, Daniel and his friends said no the king's food that was served to them(how do you even do that when you are just a captive?Dryness I tell you!). In addition, despite the possibility of severe consequences, they also refused to bow to  a statue that the king had erected and when asked to explain their actions they said(Italics- me):
“O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. (Huh? I think maybe you do seeing as you are captives and he is like ummmm the powerful king?Anyway... they continued to jazz..)
If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us(the Babylon pips didn't even know about this God). 
He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty(still managing to sound respectful). 
But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you(Huh? who are you again?), 
Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.”

These guys were clearly not blending-in! It did not matter that everyone else was 'doing-what-needs-to-be-done' to get by. It did not matter what the consequences could be. Even in this foreign land, they did not bow down to the idol. Having been captured and taken to Babylon could have made them feel like God had abandoned them and besides, no one back home would know or care about such 'trivial details'. But even here, they honoured the God who is unseen. 

I pray that God will help us to be deliberate about living for Him even when we are in situations where we could best be described as the under-dog. I pray that it shall be clear to us to whom our allegiance is above all and that will cause us not to be lazy bums but people who seek to honour God wherever we are whatever it takes. May we stop being afraid of being different from everybody else and learn to say NO so that there is real power in our yes. Also, may we take time to do some cooking ;-)

Image from http://londonerfromafar.wordpress.com/2013/01/27/cooking-eating-eating-cooking/

Dear Sir-mwami,

I know you are not into Vals day
But you know that I TOTALLY am!
It is just one of the many adjustments you have made since us.
You keep doing that-
Making room for me :-)

This morning I looked at you
There you were taking care of me,
Tending to me like I am your precious flower garden
Yours
Your garden
My heart swelled with joy and something else
I can't just find the right word.

I am no poet
But I am yours
I am no perfect wife
But I am yours
I am a clutz, talk heaps and even finish the words for you,
But when I am at my best and when I am not,
It feels like you ceaselessly see something in me that I don't
Holding me, grabbing me
With your arms or without
I am yours

I thank God for you
I dont know how you can be so wonderful to me like this
I am way NOT over you
Happy Thursday my love