My goals for 2017!

Who else heard every other person say 2016 was an amazing year or for some the best year??? 

I know I did, almost everywhere I went and I sat there like, I am extremely grateful for the year 2016. No regrets, no complaints and just full of gratitude but no, it was not my best year and quite frankly, for me 2015 was better.

Doesn't stop me from appreciating my God or being full of gratitude and the same should be for you. Regardless of whether or not it was a better or the best year.

They say you don't grow in comfort and while there is a level of truth there, just maybe there'll be someone who will oppose that. But yes, for reasonable, consistent growth, it'll most likely be out of your comfort and that was my 2016 using an analogy.

The tests and trials this year, about 2 years ago, I probably would not have been able to handle it but God.

It was not in any way my best year but I grew so much this year it's unbelievable. 

Made decisions that on a normal day would leave to everyone else but myself to make.

Made friends I felt were genuine and good people, approached conflicts and disagreements in a whole new dimension, got to know a lot more about myself, but ultimately, got to know God in another dimension which I must say, is the icing on the cake.

Try not to dwell too much on what could have or could not have happened. Just take some time out to retreat and reflect and see things clearer for yourself in 2017.

For me, just 2 things made it to my goal list for 2017.

1) Be consistent 

2) One step at a time.

Those were two areas I felt I needed to work on from 2016 and I see that if I master these two things, I should be a step closer to the Rubie I should be.

Compliments of the season from me to you and yours.

Beyond any reasonable doubt, 2017 would be my best year yet! I hope the same for you too.

Moving too fast...

Ever have so much to do with yourself and in your life that you literally just sit back and hope that the time just miraculously slows down to accommodate it all?

Well I was at that point just a little over 5 minutes ago, and quite frankly since this new year in university started, I found myself always having so much to do and thinking the time just wouldn't be enough.

I knew very well the problem was with my time management in relation to the activities needing to be done, not that I was wasting my time on things of no value but I was focusing on all the urgent things that came up before I got to doing the important things and it was having a negative effect on my output which I knew very well was not good.

It took me taking a weekend off to actually examine what was going on. What was always making me feel like I had so much to do and always making me feel like the time just won't be enough.

I found out that somewhere stored up in my brain was usually a list of activities to get done each day and as I went through the day, when one item was taken off the list, something popped up from somewhere else.

While I assure you, it might be a good thing, it is also very dangerous to the way you end up spending your time like the effects it was having on me.

My advice is exactly as I did, I began to prioritise the activities that popped up in my head, because I figured that as they pop up, they appear like a stack, as it comes it stays, but you need to consciously arrange them in order of importance by actually sorting out which was important at a particular time and getting it done. It helps so much trust me.

For the first time in my life, while going through this phase, I got myself a diary where I documented plans for the day in advance of the day obviously making it flexible for any important urgent activities that might come up.

I take that diary everywhere I go and it's been of tremendous help. Some people keep an e-diary, some people who have even busier schedules and can afford too, hire a PA so that they can manage their time for the activities of the day.

Which ever works best for you, the secret is just to know what exactly is of highest importance at a particular time and to get it done. When that feeling of 'so much to do and so little time' comes up, Just relax, settle down and put your activities in order.

What really is the point?

Over the last few months, I have had several thoughts running through my mind cause I've been faced with unusual and new trials.  A part of me was happy cause I felt like it was my faith growing and my spiritual life increasing, but at the same time, well, it was a trial so having to remain at peace and trust God through it all required some effort.

When these thoughts started to come, I found myself always saying 'God forbid' thinking to myself like 'Rubie how can you even think about something like that' and I would immediately find something to obstruct and take over that line of thought.

Well, it got more frequent and then I started to hear my spirit say it's okay to think about it, and then I thought maybe God wanted to reveal something to me through them.

So I decided to explore them more. I confronted the thoughts in my mind like a person would sit with another person to talk.

And it just began to flow.

I started questioning myself of why we have to learn so much in this life, why we have to grow and pass through certain phases. I was more drawn to the fact that why do we, particularly us who call ourselves Christians tend to face more trails than our fair share when we come to the realisation that 'we are in the world but not of the world'

And it went on and on. I began to reminisce on where I had been a few years go, looked at where I was and thought about my future and I started asking questions again, is it all that there is to this?

A thought flashed through my mind and it was a phrase from Rick Warrens 'A Purpose driven life' which says 'This life is just a dress rehearsal for the real thing. Eternity'

It played over and over in my head and it all began to make sense.

I'm going to attempt to put the thoughts the Holy Spirit placed in me in words, and I hope more than anything that you understand it just as He has opened my eyes to see it. It'll answer ablot of your hearts questions that you also might not want to confront.

This Life is a phase like the way we go through other phases in it. It doesn't end here. As a matter of fact, It didn't  even start here. 

When you imagine heaven, what do you think of? Do you imagine just the angels and divine beings or you picture yourself there too? and when you picture yourself, what do you see yourself doing?

These are questions I've had to answer recently and they only brought me to face the fact that I wasn't as prepared for heaven as I thought I was.

We might live 100 years on this earth, but we will spend 3 million years or beyond in eternity. The dictionary defines eternity as 'infinite or unending time'. You can actually run mad trying to think of how far eternity might go.

The reasons why we go through what we go through the reasons why we learn the way we do, the reason why we have to love and not just tolerate each other on earth, the reason why we have to be Christ-like in thinking, words and behaviour is to get you ready for life in heaven. It is all preparation for that destination.

We're so so caught up in the world and its dealings that we almost always forget that this isn't where it ends. And you see the thing is that when Jesus returns to take us home, all He's doing is literally taking us home. He's not going to change characters and attitudes to make it 'heaven-fit' He's just going to take His true Christ-like disciples and go home, which is why we need to build that Christ-likeness here on earth. It's the whole point.

To get to a place where there is no difference between your life and that of Jesus. Loving like Him, caring like Him, obeying like Him, serving like Him and doing everything like Him. When you understand that you're going to heaven 'as you are' you'll begin to think 'can i enter heaven with myself like this?' Your eyes will be open to your heart and motives and you'll begin to see what holiness, righteousness and purity means.

This lif and all that is in it is preparing us for eternity and all that is in it. The way you are now, would it be aceptable in the kingdom of God? Would the state of your heart pass through an eternity test in heaven? can anyone look at your life at a glance and know that 'this one is for God' ?

We have a lot of reevaluation and questioning to do with ourselves. You actually need to get your mind off of this world and begin to realise what really matters,

I'll recommend the book 'A purpose driven life'. 

I had read it about 2 years ago but while these thoughts came to mind, it's like the book was brought alive in my memory again.

What makes you happy?

Only two months ago, I sat down and asked myself, '''what really do you want to be In his life?"

now, you see, It was so easy for me to start describing and envisioning how good of a software engineer I would love to be and how  I would like to develop software's and applications that will endorse billions of all manner of currencies.

That same thing that prompted the question in me then asked me, ''If that all happened, would you be happy?'' If I did create all manner of applications and acquired all the money I could get, would that complete my happiness?

I figured that I will have a sense of accomplishment but that didn't mean I would be happy.

It is totally okay to dream and have ambitions of what and what not you would like to be and do in the future, but almost all the time, we get so carried away with selfish ambitions thinking that when we have accomplished all that, our joy would be full.

Time and people have proven that more often than not, this is not the case. You can get all the money and fame in the world and still remain unhappy. The problem with people in our time is they are so carried away with the superficial things of the world and pay very little attention to those things that will be beneficial to their souls.

Beyond the plans and dreams to make money, own businesses, get on Forbes list and all, do you also plan for the way you could contribute to the society? like possible health care for those who can not afford it, or education for the numerous children out of school, or just the smallest thing to make life a little easier for someone else.

I hear people say all the time that when they become successful, they will definitely do that, but I dare say it wont happen, they only say it to keep their conscience at peace. If you cannot begin to envision and think about it the way you think about your personal dreams and goals, even when you have the means to it, you will find it hard because your mind was just never there.

I want to challenge you to begin to dream and think of your goals that will contribute not only to society but to the less privileged. And I want you to know that anything you do for money is not beneficial to your soul.

When you understand that there is always accomplishment in happiness but not always happiness in accomplishment, you'll begin to look at the world with clearer eyes, and your goals wouldn't revolve just around you any more.

Half Way through ... Carry out Assessments.

It has been quite a while since I posted before my last post and I asked myself why that was, because I had already told myself that 2016 was going to be a year of consistency and persistence, but less than half way into the year I stopped blogging.

Rubie what was your reason I asked? I didn't even have a cogent answer for it, but I later admitted I didn't think anyone was reading or interested in reading anything I was writing.

So I asked myself again, who do you write for and why do you write? My response, "I write for the people interested in reading real and Holy Spirit inspired write-ups and I write because it is my place of expression, I also feel a kind of joy when I write".

From these three lines, three things were established.

1) I write for people interested in reading. meaning obviously not everyone will be interested, but there are some who will be.

2) Majority of what I write is Holy-Spirit inspired. I kind of get dictations sometimes from what I am hearing in my spirit, so asides from interest, it is obedience.

3) I feel happy when I write. not when people read, but when I write.

And then just an extra one, I'm also even breaching my goal of being consistent and persistent in anything I do this year.

Guess the bitter truth? I know 100 percent I am not in this alone. There are so many things you hoped to have achieved at certain points in this year but are all still hopes. You haven't made any a reality.

What I want you to do is to sit and do exactly what I did. Don't assume reasons why things didn't work. Always find out the reason why and then make it work. I recently found a new meaning to the word "understanding" and the meaning says "The ability to link cause and effect"

When you see the effect of something and you are unable to say this is what caused it, this definition says you lack understanding because you are failing to link the effect of an occurrence to it's cause.

Do not give up on something you have failed to achieve now, it is not too late. If you can still do it, please go for it. When I am reviewing my goals for this year, I'm certain I will be so happy for this decision I have made as to keep up with consistency and persistence in blogging however too late it might be and I hope you will too.

Not every time hang out with friends. Some times, hang out with yourself and talk and assess yourself on your progress thus far.

CHASE THOSE DREAMS!   

I sat down with a couple of friends yesterday and we were doing some planning for an event we needed to organise, ladies are really so amazing, thinking of it now, it is so funny how the conversation touched almost everything I can think about, (blessings of a woman) talk about so much in such little time.

Anyway, I can't even explain how we got to everyone spilling out their dreams and just saying what it is they see themselves doing in this life, I was honestly so inspired as I sat there, getting into the worlds of each person as they spoke about what they wanted with so much passion, a particular someone started to tear up and I was really awed.

As I listened, I found it so funny how some people's dreams wasn't necessarily in sync with what they were currently doing in university but still, they had so much zeal as they spoke about it.

   Fast forward to later that night, I sat and just reminisced on the day and it's occurrences and as I thought of that conversation, I was reminded about how rich and blessed this world is! You really should have heard some of those dreams I heard. And I thought to myself that every single person has a dream that they are so passionate about to even bring them to a point of tears, just like the young women I sat with that afternoon.

I began to ask God, if you are the one placing the dreams in these people, why don't they manifest at some point in life?

Why do we still have people with the most amazing dreams unemployed? or working somewhere, making someone else actualise their dreams?

And I heard in my spirit, "the power to dream is inevitable", it is one of our blessings from God, but certain principles have shown that if you can dream it, you can get it, it is a thing of the mind, but "even as dreaming is inevitable, planning and getting to work is very much needed, and cannot be avoided".

Have you noticed how big your dreams are?, do you see that they appear to be so much bigger than you are?, it is how its suppose to be, cause it is encouraging you and telling you that there's work to be done.

I made a promise to myself to bring all my dreams to a reality, I am not going to add to the numerous people who have decided to forsake their dreams for reasons that may seem logical enough to them or worse still, die with that much in me. And I use the word 'decided' very intentionally because whether you admit it or not, there has been a conscious or unconscious decision that has been made.

   And I am just writing this to encourage you too, God placed those dreams in you and He cannot wait to see you actualise them but you cannot sit around dreaming about it all day, you need to get your hands to the plough and begin to work! You need to sit and plan and pray because the bible tells us that a man would sit and plan but it is God that will direct his path, meaning that beyond your plans, God has a way He would like you to use and get to that beautiful dream of yours.

I imagined God so sad with the number of people throwing away such amazing dreams that He had placed in them and I just want you to know that He is so much more interested in your success and greatness in life than you are, however hard it may seem for to believe.

Make those dreams a reality! 

The 'little' things

   I recently just discovered something, as little and as insignificant as it sounds, it is the absolute truth. As human beings there are a lot of things we seem to take for granted, a lot of times we're not even conscious of it. We don't see it worthy enough to appreciate it by even a 'thank you'.

   I have a housemate who was always kind and considerate enough to put off the heater each time she was done in the bathroom, she had been doing it since we all moved in together and it really is something we all should do each time we use the shower but for some reason, since she always did it, we always left it for her to do. Prior to that, she would always tell us once in a while to please not forget to switch it off, and even when she said so, she would still go back to check before she left the house. It became the norm for us for her to do it. By the way, it is a process to switch it off but she always found the time to do it even when she was rushing. My other housemates and I never saw it as anything for her, we never appreciated her with even a thank you or just something to let her know that we acknowledge the fact that she's doing something we're all meant to do.

Two weeks ago she travelled for the holiday, in real sense, her leaving for holiday didn't mean that the heater should be left on always but because we always left it for her to do, and got use to the fact she always did it, we left it on for 8 days and on that 8th morning, someone went in to use the bathroom and found it spoilt. It refused to come on, and we couldn't fix it. Of course we were to blame but no one would take the blame for it. P.s we ended up spending a ton of money just to fix it.

   Moral of this story: that little thing someone is doing for you, no matter how little it is, show the person you see what they are doing and say thank you. Don't wait till you are without it to appreciate it. You can be sure that we all called my housemate that was away and said a big thank you for all the times she put it off when we forgot to and refusing to listen to her when she reminded us to do it. She was so thrilled just by that gesture.

   We tend to take the smallest things for granted and whether we know or not, the person performing the action also feels taken for granted. Something happens when we appreciate people, it's something natural, I think its more psychological but even me as a person, I know how I feel when someone notices my effort and says thank you.

  Recently I learnt that being grateful makes what you have enough. be thankful and appreciative even for the smallest things.