The Donald or The American President

I have made it a point of staying away from the hullabaloo going on in Trump’s America. After all, which one be my own. However, something in the news this morning caught my attention on the issue of President Trump’s first international trip.

“….political analysts say if the president can return home from this with even minor achievements but more importantly, no major gaffes, the White House can consider it a win.”

Since Trump’s presidency started and given the amount of excuses that have been provided to explain his behaviour, I had always feared that by the time Trump is done with America, we would have forgotten what ‘The American President’ is meant to be. Based on what was said in the  news this morning, I am beginning to think I might be right.

Having your fears confirmed isn’t a good thing. FYI.

Now, not that I worry for present day Americans, after all, some of them put him there. But I worry for our children. Not just American children, but children all over the world. See, United States of America being a world leader is being watched critically. Yet, America is compromising on ideals regarding the highest office, the most sacred seat, and political analysts are hoping for ‘minor achievements’. Is that what he was elected to deliver? Minor achievements….

 

So I ask, given that history is watching, what type of America are we going to leave our children? How do we teach our children the values of not compromising or settling for less? The Founding Fathers fought for a deliberate type of America. Is this it?

 

Which is better? Trying to pass or trying not to fail

For some weird reason, that question popped into my head and it begged/beseeched/harassed/cajoled me for answer. Won’t let me be until I started tuning the squeaky bolts and screws of my brain. The two sides are quite similar right, shouldn’t they be the same? I really hoped they were. After a lot of cranial sweating, it came to me.

In trying to pass a course for example, you might do things like go for all your lectures, pay tuition in time to avoid being sent out of classes, reading well ahead of exam period, feeding properly and sleeping well. Everything going on here is positive, yeah. Trying not to fail on the other hand, appears to have an  element of negativity. Before you consider the option of not failing, it means failure is becoming a major possibility. You would have seen it in the horizon, weighed the options of the results of failing and you realize, you really can’t afford to fail and then you start working on not failing. And this might entail things like doing crash studying at exam period, getting exam past questions, paying a lecturer to get favors etc. With trying to not do something, there is an element of desperation in play, clouding our better judgement.

Did anyone hear that rumor that Obama might be the antichrist? What followed the rumor was the frenzy of critically watching every move of the dude, so that if he does anything  that remotely appears antichrist-ey, we might go ‘yup, we knew it!’ It was years ago and for some reason that rumor popped into my head today. While watching the guy who was going about his own business, we forget to watch ourselves, we forget to be vigilant, to ‘work out our own salvation with fear and trembling’. Got me thinking, what is the difference between trying to pass and trying not to fail? or trying to be rich and trying not to be poor? Trying to get to heaven and trying not to go to hell?

Moral of all my rambling: We need to concern ourselves with the right mission. Otherwise, we will just be wasting time and resources on missions that profit nothing, running errands no one sent us. Pick your battles, take the right paths and there will be no anxiety.

 

Is giving subjective?

I had this conversation with my neighbour a few weeks ago and she told me about all the things she gives out to people. She proceeded to tell me how she gives out lamps, clothes, couches etc. One time, she even helped set a family up with an entire apartment! Really commendable huh? And I was really sinking into mentally giving myself a korrrrekt scolding for my poor giving history. I was right int the middle of a proper mental whack on the head and hot twisting of the ear when I heard her say,

‘I only pay 1% of my salary as tithe’, she said.

In my head, I went ‘huh?’ I think my confusion must have shown on my face cos she went on to explain,

‘God told me specifically, you can’t afford it so don’t bother with 10%, just pay 1%. You are always giving out so much stuff anyway’

Ooookay. So I proceeded to re-arrange my face and relax after all if God told her, well…wetin be my own.

But in a space of two weeks, she complained about been broke too many times for me to count. And I know, without fail, if you give, the promise is that you will receive. So, innocently o, I started questioning the whole 1% tithe thing. So I went back to the Bible.

Go back to John and tell him what you have seen and heard. The blind people are now able to see, the lame can walk, people who have leprosy have been healed and the deaf can now hear. The dead are raised to life and the poor are hearing the good news. Luke 7:22

And with that, I proceeded to put my nose back into my neighbour’s business. For almost all things in our lives, we probably need miracles but when it comes to wealth, it isn’t a matter of miracles, it is a matter of principles. That’s why the poor were preached to, they were educated. We need to understand and follow the basic principles of getting wealthy. And being wealthy is not about having a truck load of cash, it’s a lot of things. It is having money without the mafia on your case, with loving family to enjoy it with, sound health to savour it and long life to make life meaningful. Throughout the Bible, I found out that being wealthy is a function of giving. Giving our tithes like God commanded, not less. Giving our first-fruits, giving our offerings, giving to the poor (The Bible says it is like lending to the Lord). It’s not just giving what you don’t need anymore but giving to change a situation in someone’s life. The giving that will make your banker shudder. We give, we get back. That is the principle. It is giving kindness, showing some compassion here and there, lending a helping hand even when you are short on time…it’s all these beautiful things.

*True giving is giving your only winter jacket to a homeless guy.

*Going back to the line of fire to get that soldier that was hit.

*True giving is sacrificing yourself to protect an entire nation from ebola outbreak #Adadevoh

*Giving your lunch to that classmate who always comes to class without lunch.

Giving when it is convenient isn’t the type of giving that provokes wealth. And this principle just does not apply to Christians alone. The best part about this is that, whatever the race, gender, religion, political or spiritual standing, giving works for anyone. It’s a life principle, whether it is convenient or not, give anyways. And it is not something God needs us to do for Him, He needs us to do it for ourselves.

photo credit- imgur.com