Let me introduce you to the natural things you already
know. At least I can always say that I have a way with normal common things and
I love twisting their commonness until you see them common no more. Life is all
about appreciating the little things we have; and they are those little things
that create the bigness that we desire to be eternally plugged into. Maybe learning
to practice these little things will make you start loving life and the many different people you meet daily. Here they
are;
1.
God
God is not tiny
and is not a ‘thing’, but He is the one of the most important things we love
taking for granted today. In my previous post “What is More Important”, I addressed as to why it may be highly possible that
today’s modern world has deviated from a way of religion (or reverence to any
form of piety) and instead decided to worship materialism. If God has been
taken for granted in your life (regardless of what religion you subscribe to –
but majorly if you are Christian, the God of the Bible), you need to catch up
with Him. You need to get hold of Him. Yeah, you need to. This is because you
are lacking a connection with the one who brought you into this world and who
is the only one that can fully define why you are where you are and when (and
why) you should be in the next place you go to. And not only that, but because
you need to reciprocate such a love He showed by selflessly giving out himself to
save you and me…
2.
A
smile
So many people
need your smile. They don’t have to ask you for it, but you have to live
knowing that, a smiling face is
friendlier than a gloomy one… a smile attracts people to you. Humor
attracts friendship. So, do you need friends? Smile. But if you won’t, then
expect nothing more, because no-one loves being around a fussy person…
3.
A
‘thank you’ or way of appreciation [both to God and man]
There are some
of us who never learnt the rules of etiquette or think that saying ‘thank you’
is being ‘soft’ or ‘nice’ or ‘wimpy’ or ‘less manly’ for the guys. You should
reverse what you were taught by the society you grew up in. If someone (or God)
does something for you which you were unable to do by yourself – or which you
were able to do and they did it anyway - (regardless of whether it is ‘small’
or ‘big’), a way of appreciation and gratefulness that is simplest is to genuinely look them into the eye and honestly
say, “Mun or gal or God, thank you for
all that. You made my day”. Let me tell you it goes along way…
4.
A
pat on the back or a compliment
No-one dislikes
being congratulated. Men love being admired – and especially by the lady he
considers most important from the rest; women love receiving compliments and
being flattered – especially by the man closest to her heart. If this is done
more often (and even friend to friend or husband to wife and vice versa), our
relationships won’t be that complicated. A
compliment drives out strife born by
being unsure of another’s affection…
5.
A
practical way with truth
Word has it that
your only best friend tells you the whole truth and nothing less. They will
care that you know it and deal with it. So aspire to correct someone (in a
loving way) so that they may not go astray; because it may be true that they
don’t know about (or they have not been knowing about) the (good or bad) consequences
of what they do or what they are doing.
6.
Honesty
or faithfulness
If you care at all, be honest; and
if you need your
friendships and relationships to last long enough, be faithful. Even the Bible
says (Proverbs 3:3: Let love and
faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the
tablet of your heart…). Be honest with yourself. Be honest with
others. It is that simple. Lies are abhorred both by man and God, and no one
wants a liar for a friend because such people smell of blackmail and
insecurity!
7.
A show of ‘petty’ kindness
Be gentle. Be kind. It is not a show of
weakness but of might and strength. Only the strong cry with others and sympathize
with them. Only the strong are needed for friends. Only the strong are reliable…
So no matter how that thing you were going to do is going to make you feel ‘drawn
down’ it may just be what someone is waiting for before they call you a true friend…
8.
A hug and a
heartfelt greeting
Give a hug to a lady as you give a strong
well-meant handshake to a man. Greet people you meet. Say, ‘hi’. Get in touch
with their worlds. Reach out to them.
Feel them. You may never know when
you are saving somebody my friend…
9.
A tiny build of
trust
If there has been occasions when your
friendship was doubted, build it with trust. Trust is a mechanism that makes
people say, “At least they (meaning you) won’t betray me even when worse comes
to worst…”. You need trust when dealing with God, and you need it when dealing
with fellow men; so go out there and make people believe in what you say, what
you do, what you desire, what you believe in, and how you do things. It is all
up to you, if you need tininess to
grow bolder and bigger by the day… cause someone to trust you, and aspire to believe
in people also…
10. Selflessness, a ‘little’ generosity and a ‘little’ sacrifice
One last thing is being that friend that
dies for your friend(s). Jesus has shown us that He is such a friend – one who
forsakes all the good He had in order to make us to later share it with Him –
He is such a selfless friend. We can learn that a friendship is of high quality
because it shows others the godliness in us, and that being generous (with the
much or little we have) goes a long way to stamp our concern, care, love and
affection towards others. Someone (even a stranger) needs your well-intended
selfless behavior, your generosity and your sacrifice in seeing that they are
well cared for…
I know that the world we live in has (or
may have) a very different way of seeing and doing things, but probably, the
best thing to do is to become a better people for the general wellness of
others. I think then, we will be driving our lives into accomplishing that
which God created us for… And for that reason, I will give you a new code of operation: "Thus take nothing for granted, because you never know when that which you neglected was (or will be) highly needed by your immediate or distant neighbor..."
Morris.
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