A simple gift

Half of a leaf

We were at a party yesterday afternoon & one of the teenage girls who I have known from her birth came up to me & gave me half of a leaf, the same leaf as the one in the photo. She said to me that I have to keep it as it is a gift from her & I without hesitation slotted it in my phone case which is clear.

Today, I sat here looking at it & something dropped into my heart.

This little leaf was the only thing she had on her at that very point in time to share with me.. this is like a gift that may be the only thing we have available at a specific moment to give God or to give to a person we love or cherish or respect or honour. It may not look like something of value & definitely does not have monetary value. It is drying out in parts & brown & there is little to almost no life in it, but no matter the look of the gift, it is the heart behind it that truly matters.

Then I thought of the heart of the young girl giving it to me.. she did so just because at that moment, she wanted to give me something, it’s that simple. She may not have thought any further about it or had any other intentions behind it, I am not sure. Maybe she was trying to determine if I would keep it to toss it away amongst the other leaves on the ground.

Then I stopped & thought back about my heart when I received it. I joyfully & gladly took it, said thanks, promised her to keep it & proceeded to do so. I did that not because there was a physical or monetary value to it, but I valued that gift & any gift for that matter because SHE was valuable to me, because our relationship had value, because she was someone who I had watched grow up, invested into, encouraged, supported, cheered on & loved.

I felt like I captured a glimpse of what God’s heart is like when we give Him what we have at a moment we feel like giving, whether it is praise, a moment, a word, money, time, prayer, or anything at all.. It has today reminded me not to overthink when giving God what I have in my hand & my heart because to me, it may look silly but give it with a child-like spirit, with joy knowing that it is not about the item or the gift but the heart.

Woman; be who you are designed to be!

Today is International Women Day & I have this message within me that I had thought of not sharing but it is fighting to come out as words that needs to be heard.

As I scrolled through social media & the news & so many other things today, there are women fighting for equality, women fighting for a status, articles & awards celebrating the achievements of women, people celebrating their wives, mothers, daughters & girlfriends lifting each other up in support & messages that it is ok to be imperfect.

The niggling question that keeps bugging me as I read through this today is “who or what are we comparing ourselves with?”; as women, do we realised that we are created to be different from men?

Yes, some of society has deemed us to be the weaker gender but within our “weakness” is our strength. Yes, we should be recognised but there is so much that a woman endures & sacrifices that is not known nor can be comprehended. When we live by our design, we have the confidence to go forward & function as we are meant to.

As a woman, I find myself discovering new abilities of who I am & what I can do each day & in that discovery, my identity & my confidence grows.

Maybe instead of fighting for women” rights or competing with each other of who is better, let us be recognised for who we were designed to be…

• The wife who will out of our love for our husband be committed to partner & journey through ever aspect of life with him
• The daughter who will always look up to her parents & wish to please them with everything that she does
• The mother who will always carry & expand & stretch & endure however much required, physically, emotionally & mentally for her children
• The sister who will always stand up for those who she fights alongside
• A boss and/or leader who will always nuture & champion those following them
• A friend who will always cheer on, lift, support & encourage

Let us strive to discover our identity of who God has created us to be & be the best woman we can for ourselves & for those around us.

Pathway to peace & joy

Today, we went on an adventure to a waterfall with some friends. Throughout the day, I found so many lessons that we could take away from this trip.. but one of them that was really on my heart to share was the pathway to peace & joy.

To begin with, we made a decision last night to make this trip. The decision was easy as it was something at seem attractive for our live such as peace & joy can be. It was our desire to go visit this waterfall.

So with decision at hand, we kinda prepared for it but as the day started, we had a few hiccups & a few detours just as life would throw some unexpected issues before us leading us in circles or giving us other things to deal with first.

Then the long drive began which is a bit like life.. when we choose peace or joy, there is usually a process but life doesn’t stop just so you can focus on that nor does it happen by the click of your fingers.

Then we arrived.. but that was not the end destination yet.. but there was excitement.. we can start to feel it, but the true tough part of the journey has just begun.

There was a trek to get to this waterfall, not an easy one but in fact, one which was steep & uneven. One of the kids aptly named it the 3 obstacle courses to get there. Interestingly, after the first obstacle course, there was a lookout to the waterfall giving us a glimpse of our end goal. Life can be like that too where we get a glimpse of where we want to be… but there is still the rest of the journey.

On the second “obstacle course”, it was a steep climb down. There were doubts & there were anxieties. There were thoughts of are we even going to get there.. there were moments where we made it to a stable point & wanted to just stay there forever, BUT in this time, we had friends who supported us, encouraged us, helped us & gave out a helping hand.

Then came the last bit of the trek which was pretty rocky.. we were tired, but we could hear the waterfall calling. We knew that the end was near but we had to draw on the last bit of our strength to keep pushing on.

Then we got there!! We arrived.. there were still uncertainties when we got there as we made our way into the water but we had arrived.. we did what we needed to do to get in.. we were there! As I sat beneath the waterfall & had a quiet moment to myself, these concepts camp to me. It was a moment of true peace as every other sound & thought was drummed out by the sound of the water falling. It as a moment of joy that we had made it & we had achieved it & the memories we were making.

On our way back, we still had to go back through those 3 obstacle courses… but the journey was a bit different. The ground hadn’t changed, in fact, it was still steep & uneven.. but, our footing was more certain, we were more sure. One of our friends made it back up with one broken thong/flipflop! It reminded me of how it should be like it we ever had to re-walk a path that we have been through once but in a different manner. We weren’t anxious anymore, we had confidence. We got to appreciate the view & our surroundings & we got back quicker.

For me, today’s trip was momentous but also one filled with revelation.

Rediscover Joy

I woke up this morning rediscovering joy. There has been a lot of things that have happened in my life in the last 2 years that has caused me to slowly lose my joy.. Not that the entire time was horrible but there were events & occasions that would rob a chunk of it & those events & occasions would require a battle to survive the storm that holding on to joy becomes a secondary thought. 

After a lot of thinking, pondering, reflection (& a massive lot of intervention by my darling husband & a few close friends who love me enough to stop me & pull me back from that destructive, bitter, dark & hatred part of seeking justice emotionally & mentally) of the last few years, I realised that I have allowed circumstances & people to get te better of me. There are & will always be things that I can’t control like how people act or think which I had always known… But there are things that I can choose to do like remove mules from that situation or removing those toxic people from my life. 

So step one that hubs & I have done is to reclaim our life & living space! What was a temporary arrangement that became a long term one of over 2 years will be coming to an end. We now enter a new season where we can have a place to call our own & my creativity can flow as I redesign my HOME! Something which to many may be a small aspect is a big breakthrough for me.. I have literally felt the burden lifted when we made that decision & although not quite there yet (few more weeks) seeing the light at the end of the tunnel has started the little bubble of joy in me that I haven’t felt in a long while. 

I am excited to go on this journey to rediscover joy! To reclaim my life.. To know that things will get better.. To have that joy seep & permeate everything I do & encounter!