by Mark Ibigbami GreatMark | Sep 11, 2018 | Articles, Empowerement, Lifestyles |
Yes, “why this waste?” You often hear that in your life, huh? I do too. I do hear it from the old man within. I hear it from friends and colleagues that tells me that am missing out on a lot of canal pleasures that my youthfulness or position should enjoy. I hear it from our culture that tells me that if I don’t accomplish certain things, or act is certain ways, my worth and relevance is in question.
I hear it from the pit of hell, that if all I do is to follow God, and give much of my time to serving God and humanity, I’m only just wasting my time. I hear that there are a lot things worth spending my life on today, and God is not in that list. So, why the waste?
My social environment constantly alerts me that it is all about me, and that in this one life that I’ve come, I must move with the flow, run town and have fun, and careless about who it hurts, as long as I am happy.
It’s a subtle and tricky voice. It can easily convince me that my business and career is is good and worth all of my time. I’m constantly prodded by the voice of reasoning that like the Biblical Martha, I must ensure that all of the “more important things” that need to be done are done before I give God my “precious time. “God understands”, they say!
Sadly but truly, some of the things we consider “more important” and worthy of our time are actually not as important, in fact, not important at all. Some activities we consider more important are just like marking time, they don’t move us forward in life. Many things we call “fun” only appeals to our emotions and sensuality, they don’t amount to profitability, and many of them have no value for eternity. So, why the waste?
When Mary argued that her sister, Martha was giving her precious time to something less important, than preparing a meal for the special guest, Christ rebuffed her saying, Mary has chosen the “one thing that is necessary “—sitting at his feet and listening to him.
Many would argue that spending time with God in worship is a waste of time; other say its boring and uneasy, while many others just simply say, there’s no enough time. Meanwhile, it is much easier to spend time surfing the Internet or browsing pictures of other people’s vacations, event or activities on Facebook. This you consider “worth wasting your life on?” Yet, it leaves you downcast and desperate after all.
I recall the words of John Piper in talking about time, he said, “one of the great uses of Twitter and Facebook will be to prove at the Last Day that prayerlessness was not from lack of time.” Yes, indeed! We often blame prayerlessness on lack of time, whereas we have so much time to devote to those things that are less important.
The way it applies to sacred devotion is the same way it applies to our daily lifestyle. You claim you have a vision and yet you are not disciplined enough with your time to achieve your life goals. If you’re going to be great in life, you have to devote your time to those things that matter.
As believers, we will never enjoy our friendship with God if we don’t spend quality time with Him. Time is the most precious thing we have, and without daily doing that “one necessary thing,” everything else in our lives creeps up as way more necessary than it should ever be. What would you pick as the most important things in your life?
Everything you do for God’s pleasure has eternal value; anything you do for the flesh perishes with it. Give your life to God; give your time to pursuing what is necessary and beneficial to all!
You’re winning! Yes we are winning!
Also read:THE CLIMATE OF THE TIMES: We are lords of our world
Greatmark
by Mark Ibigbami GreatMark | Apr 9, 2018 | Articles, Empowerement, Events |
If you haven’t seen a truly hopeless situation, I tell you what, you can find a few at an AUTISM center. Yet in the midst of this hopeless situation, a young autistic girl, by name Leah was conspicuously high-spirited, whether voluntarily or as a result of the intellectual derailment, I can’t tell but I know she was happy and yet hopeless.
Afflicted from the age of 6, a man remains a living corpse at the age of 67. For 61 years he’s not aware of his identity and he continues to exist as a senseless 2 year old boy. And then another woman, sapped of life and wellness. I bet, you won’t believe she’s 50 but she exists in a 5 year old paper-weight skeleton-like body.
As part of our social service, the Yes We Are Winning team made a visit to Modupe Cole Memorial Child Care & Treatment Home School, a government owned autistic centre in Lagos. Established in 1960, by Late Mrs. Modupe Cole, it has since 1980 been adopted and funded by the government, with supports and donations from NGOs, families and individuals.
Until I surfed the Internet to search for autism center in Lagos, I didn’t know about this home, so does many of my team members, and I believe many Lagosians do not know as well. Housing over 300 children and adults with over 150 day students, all categorized as totally dependent, trainable and educable, the school facility is definitely not sufficient to cater for this indigents. The Government and NGOs certainly need to do more in terms of support and creating awareness.
YWAW team with Some of the Autistic children
What you should know about Autism
1. World Autism Awareness Day is an internationally recognized day on 2 April every year, encouraging Member States of the United Nations to take measures to raise awareness about people with autism throughout the world. http://www.un.org/en/events/autismday/
2. It was designated by the United Nations General Assembly resolution “62/139. World Autism Awareness Day”, passed in council on 1 November 2007, and adopted on 18 December 2007. It was proposed by the United Nations representative from Qatar.
3. World Autism Day is one of only four official health-specific UN Days.[5] The day itself brings individual autism organizations together all around the world to aid in things like research, diagnoses, treatment, and overall acceptance for those with this neurological variance.
4. World Autism Awareness Day (WAAD) aims to put a spotlight on the hurdles that people with autism – and others living with autism – face every day. As a growing global health issue owing to its increasing exposure in the press and common knowledge, autism is an issue that is only gaining more understanding – and WAAD activities are planned every year to further increase and develop world knowledge of children and adults who have autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
5. World Autism Awareness Day goes one step further to celebrate the unique talents of those with autism, while putting a huge focus on the warm embrace and welcome that these skills deserve through community events around the globe. Gladly, some of the disabled children have been trained on skills acquisitions, and they made lovely beads, and beautiful art work.
The Government needs to do more in terms of funding and providing quality educational facilities, training equipments and professional care givers. Also, more awareness need to be created to enable more people to donate to the school.
Trust me, some situations look very hopeless, and looking at these intellectual impaired people, you will but thank God for who you where you. Some of them have been in this deplorable state for over for as much as 60 years and they can only wait for their death, that is if they even know if they are living.
If you are normal, and able, and have a sound reasoning capacity, you should be grateful even if you have don’t know where the next mean will come from. There’s certainly no hopeless situation with God because there is no impossibility with Him.
You should be thankful for the little things, and do render help to those who are needy. Everyone is precious in God’s sight, whether able or disable. Therefore, show some love to all men. You are winning! Yes, we are winning!
http://www.un.org/en/events/autismday/
https://www.awarenessdays.com/awareness-days-calendar/world-autism-awareness-day-2018/
For more read
https://www.google.com.ng/amp/s/doctor.ndtv.com/living-healthy/world-autism-awareness-day-2018-focuses-on-empowering-women-and-girls-with-autism-1831663%3famp=1
