Category: Random Thoughts

What is Your Brand?

But everybody is doing it … This, is a phrase we have to contend with and fight with every day to overcome. The one we need to realise is the gateway to losing sight of our brand. What is your brand?

Do you want to be everybody, doing everything and going everywhere? If you try to do what everyone is doing, going, being and seeing, you will become a no-one, instead of a “someone”. If you are a no one or a “some one”, you will lack importance for yourself and lack any authority over your life. You, don’t want to be unspecific, chosen from the crowd because you were never a part of the crowd, you were never made for the crowd. You were made to stand in your own truth.

We gravitate to brands to gain recognition, so people can know who we are, but end up being a slave to the brand, being fake in the brand and killing self to remain in the brand. A brand that was created for nameless faces, eager to sacrifice the truth of who they are for unspecific generic identities.

Do you want to show the truth or create an image? Are you willing to keep up that image, can you? To have a brand you are asked to create an image, but if the image does not ring true then people will find out, eventually. Also, how far are you willing to go, to find your brand? Are you willing to fail, to be confronted by the truth, to have your pride destroyed and to have humility as your greatest shield? Are you willing to say no to being melted and moulded by idle hands that just want to play around and then move on? It will be important for you to expose yourself to yourself to see that you are a counterfeit of someone else’s dreams, ideas and good intentions. When you really see that following a brand is not on brand, then you will work hard at shifting far enough away to make space for real growth and for the truth to grow.

If you decide to hide in the shadows of someone else, you will never encounter your burning bush. If you hope for the truth of you, are you afraid you will lose those who just want to control and string you along? If you step outside of the shadows, you may find the truth has always been on the other side waiting to encounter you. You may see that the most perfect gift is yourself and not the reward of pleasing somebody else. But beware, the truth does not accept any excuse but refuses to conform and bend to the will of the foolish. Stop looking around at those around you, so you can create a brand not given to avoidable mistakes that slow you down and compromise your gains. Remember to look up, focus forward and you will see that you will create instead of duplicate. The thing you need to understand is that sitting down is your worst enemy. You have to look up, not around, get up and not be stuck being struck by a beautiful mirage and get moving so the hard things today will become easier tomorrow.

So, you may feel that you can’t that you are incapable but, you have to get up and create by being you. Do not sit in reckless comfort at the spot of waiting but get close to the edge of finding your brand and take the plunge. To wait for others to tell you your brand is to immerse yourself in self-doubt and regret but if the light burns then there are rays to capture and mould into a picture of yourself. Grab the rays that land in your hand and do not hesitate, make them work for you. Don’t wait, for someone to tell you what to do, seek wisdom from the truth inside of you and he will guide you to create. Now, be honest. Are you willing to participate in your rebranding? The ones who are successful are the ones who still hope, refuse to stay still and are willing to walk the walk of faith.

Herd Mentality

Chose your victim
get ready for the kill
neatly packed together
we rush and snap at will.
No rhyme to our reason
displeasure is well seasoned
with the thrill...
Let's chase this sinner
stone him to death
then sweep our dirty linens
under our beds
to rest.
Once the act is committed
you cannot go back
remember
loylaty to the pack.

Now I do to get along
sick promises sold
now seem so cold
dreams once fashioned
now seem so old
wearied
lacking compassion.
Now I must walk against the tide.

I stop and wait.
I must go back.

What if God was One of Us?

Have you ever said something to the effect, “If I were God, they would all be destroyed”, (simply because someone lied or more seriously, committed a crime), or “they should be thankful I am not God”? Yes, if many of us were God or had the power of God what destruction and chaos would we cause! But thank God we do not have that kind of power. Yet there are many in powerful positions who act god-like and do create a world where there is a constant haemorrhaging of peace, joy and hope. This is because many who have power abuse it and oftentimes are so enamoured with this power that when faced with a decision that affected the vulnerable and those of questionable character, they often throw out the baby with the bathwater.

I was reading Daniel chapter 2 and this became obvious to me: if God was like one of us where would we be? Numbers 23 verse 19 gives a clue when it states, God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? God is unlike man because God does not lie, has no faults, whatever He says shall be done and makes all things good. Now, I return to Daniel chapter 2. In this chapter, we are told that Nebuchadnezzar’s had a dream and he not only wanted it interpreted but first, revealed by the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans. The only problem was they could not do so. It is clear that they tried to buy some time, begging the king to be reasonable and tell them the dream so they could interpret it, as was the normal order of things. But, Nebuchadnezzar did not trust them not to make something up on the fly, once they got the dream and he had a point here, because how would he know their interpretation was truthful or made up! So, he gave them an ultimatum, which probably sounded something like this “either tell me my dream and interpret it or I will kill every single one of you in Babylon”, even those who were not present or had not been given a shot at attempting his request. They all would die because he was angry at those present. I felt this was a bit harsh. What do you think?

So with the threat of certain death for all who fell under one of these categories, Daniel steps up and says, “wait, not so fast, give me some time to speak to my God and I know He will reveal all to me, so, I can give the king the answers he needs and he can save the lives of all those who now face certain death.” In the end, God comes through and Daniel is able to give the dream to Nebuchadnezzar and the interpretation as given to him by God. This leads to all being saved and Daniel acquires so much power and authority within Babylonia. However, if Daniel had failed like the others we would be reading a different story, but for God.

Now, I compare the decree made in the kingdom of Babylon, by its ruler Nebuchadnezzar, and that of God’s Kingdom in the parable spoken of by Jesus in Matthew 13. Now according to Matthew 13:24-48, in the Kingdom of God, good seeds planted by the owner of the land, are compromised by weeds planted by his enemy. The servants eventually realise what has been done, weeds growing with wheat! With this new knowledge, they ask, “should we yank out those weeds?” In his wisdom, the owner (God) says no. Why does he say this, after all this is a good solution, right? The wheat may be mistaken for weeds at this stage and vice versa which would be disastrous for the harvest. So his solution, let them both grow till the harvest. Now if we compare Nebuchadnezzar with God’s foresight, we realise how far apart they are in wisdom. Nebuchadnezzar suspected or even knew his Chaldeans, wizards, astrologers etc were charlatans but he could not discern if all supposed wise men in his kingdom were real or fake. His solution was to “cut off all their heads!” However, in the parable in Matthew 13, God was not willing to lose even one good seed planted because of a few undesirables that had found their way into his field. “Let them grow together until it is time for the separation”. So grow together they would, until the day of harvest. On the day of harvest, the weeds would be gathered and burned and the wheat gathered and stored in the barn. A much better solution to a tricky situation!

Unlike Nebuchadnezzar, God does not need to discern because he knows all, God in all His wisdom shows that His thoughts are not our thoughts and his ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8). He does not act out of frustration but is measured in His judgement. Therefore we should all be thankful God is not like us.

Self Actualization Versus Slef-Denial

Today I have a burning desire to consider two terms: Self-actualization and self-denial. So what does each of them mean?

Self-actualization is the complete realization of one’s potential, and the full development of one’s abilities and appreciation for life. This concept is at the top of Maslow’s’s hierarchy of needs, so not every human being reaches it.

On the other hand, we have self-denial and here we have two days in which self-denial can be defined. From the Christian perspective self-denial is:

Self-denial can never be defined as some profusion – be it ever so great – of individual acts of self-torment or asceticism. It is not suicide, since there, too, a person’s self-will can yet assert itself. Self-denial means knowing only Christ, and no longer oneself. It means seeing only Christ, who goes ahead of us, and no longer the path that is too difficult for us. Again, self-denial is saying only: He goes ahead of us; hold fast to him…

However, from a psychological perspective, it is: when you distort or deny things that are really happeningg or how you really feel about something. You may minimise your (or other people’s) concerns, ignore the problem, or blame others.

Today, I want to focus on comparing self-actualization and the Christian perception of self-denial.So, as we go along I will be interchanging self-denial with denial of self to stay firmly grounded in the definitions that align with my focus.

Self-actualization comes from Maslow’s motivational theory called, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, which indicates five (5) needs that human beings have. These include, psychological needs, safety needs, love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization. In order to reach the stage of self-actualization, which is the “highest level that one can attain or “peak of human flourishing”, one has to successfully attain the first four. The characteristics of self-actualization include, continued freshness of appreciation, acceptance, authenticity, equanimity, purpose, efficient acceptance of reality, humanitarianism, peak experiences, good moral intuition and creative spirit. Now these characteristics seem like things we should be aimming for and even work actively to achieve. However, in the drive for self-actualization I have a question. Where is God in these characteristics? One of the characteristics speaks to moral intuition, which psychology defines as, a spontaneous moral judgement, typically about a particular problem, a particular act, or a particular agent. The use of the word spontaneous, further distances moral intuition from morality based on God’s moral standing. So where are left as christians with this theory of self-actualization? We are left to consider if this is this teory we really should be ascribing to in our daily lives.

In Matthew 16:24, Jesus said to his disciples, Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me (NIV). The key term here is “deny themselves”. Since then many have asked, myself included, this very vital question, “what does it mean to deny yourself?” There are many articles that address this and the gist of them all is the beleif that sef-denial or denial of self means total submission to the will of God. Total submission means in every situation the flesh is denied the pleasures of life in favour of doing what God would have us do as his children. It further means that all that we do must be based on the desires of God and not our desires. This is difficult for many of us to understand and fully actualise. As a matter of fact, many of us will spend our lives grappling with this command, as the world we live in has many distractions, many messages that invite us to always seek self-improvement and slef-gratification as a means of attaining success. The seld is at the centre of success, according to those messages. But slef-denial or denial of self is NOT easy, and this is why it is important that we choose this route instead of a route that invites us to be totally focused on self. It means saying no to our impulses, no to what we feel is right as opposed to what the command of God is. I can attest to the many Ls I have taken when I have done things souly based on feelings. When my intution does have a foundation grounded in discerning the will of God.

If we explore Matthew 16 further, Jesus did not stop at self-denial or denial of self but he went further in 25-26 to say: For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

You see I believe that those characteristics of self-actualization will be empty without God at the centre of all we do and achieve, if we feel we can go it alone and we get to this “peak”, what will happen to our resolve when and if we do not stay at this “peak”. If we find ourslves back in the trenches and valleys we ascended from then can we make it back to the “peak” without denying self and clinging to God.

To arrive at anything looking like self-actualization, we have to first desire to know God, follow him and place him at the centre of all things. Unlike the American Humanist, Abraham Maslow’s pyramid we have to have God as the fundamental need of all human beings. Not religion but God. While I can conceed that having God would not be in Masloe’s pyramid as an atheist, that does not invalidate the importance of making this distinction. Above all each person has to decide if attaining self-actualization really is important. May be it is and maybe it is not. However, we need to go to God at all stages of our lives, through our myriad of experiences we need constant connection with God. What direction will you take and can you achieve self-actualization while you seek first the Kingdom of God?

Wealth

Wealth

Look at your friends
they are your treasure
Assess your health
Its goodness cannot be measured
Look at your gifts
they are yours to uplift
Look at your life
a richness you cannot compromise.
These are yours
these are sure
These are wealth
which much be kept
on a most precious shelf.