Random Posts: Love Fought. And It Won.

Love fought. And won. 

There's a battle - there are battles - in every soul.

Such battles are never easy.
They are never easily won.
We fight for control,
We fight against the grizzly.
We fight with a brawl,
We fight against the beastly.
And in most of our fights, we fight with our backs against the wall,
Yet we mostly fight cunningly, treacherously and unscrupulously.

We sometimes pick the wrong fights.
It happens to the best of us.
We beat air, we stuff our minds with empty despair.
We stage rings and make plots.
We wait for our opponent with a joint of a flair.
Then when they come, we put on our fighting lights.
Then we fight.
We fight like it's our share.
We fight as if the world plus all we think we're fighting for will ultimately pull us out of our plight.
Sometimes it turns out alright, Sometimes it is unfair.
But we still fight.
We fight our wars until our breath seems to lose its flare.

But there is One I know,
I'll tell you about Him.
This One, after I had fought all I can,
And after I had thrown in every blow,
Even after I thought, "Aaah, I know I can. I can make a win", and eventually lost,
He chose to pick the biggest of all fights.
He picked not ONLY my biggest fights,
But He picked all the fights I "could" and couldn't fight because, yes, I was not able to.
For He said this to the Holy One of Israel after everyone else refused to pick my fights, "I'll go fight for him. Send me, I'll go."
He is the only man that faces battles instead of running away from them.

So He came crushing in, yet stooping low.
He came knowing who, why, how and when to fight.
He had the right experience and His battle had already been declared won.
He came and fooled His opponent.
Babies can't fight, right?
This baby we're celebrating today couldn't fight, could He?
This made His adversary think, "Aaah, this war, I've already won. Babies can't win a war."
He didn't know what was coming to him.
His opponent had no idea of what was coming to him.
He fought not like men fight their wars,
Not like we fight our wars - with mortal strength and soaring, nor with shouts and oars
He came down and staged His own ring
This was his battle, so the devil had no idea what was coming to him...

Yes, He picked one eternal battle and won it for eternity.
When I still didn't know I'll ever need to know how to fight,
Before I even knew there was a war that needed fighting,
Before I even had guts to fight,
Before I even knew about wars and losing and winning and brawls,
He picked all my fights and won them all into eternity.
See? That's how love fought, and it won.
He came down, fought, and won.
He is not like me. Not like us.
He didn't fight aimlessly.
He didn't fight like us.
This was His battle, His war, and there was no way He was gonna lose it carelessly.

That's the One I'm celebrating today.
I'm celebrating the fact that He could see my battles and win them before I even begun fighting.
Jesus Christ is the man I'm celebrating today.
That He could come and fight on my behalf, and win on my behalf.
Not that He needed the victory - because it was already His,
But because I needed THAT victory - because it had never been mine.
Without Him, I cannot even win half of what I face.
I am counted to have won because He won. See?
That's why He is the One I am picking on to teach me the art of war.
Because before his opponent even thought there was a fight, he had already beat him down.
Who doesn't want such a tutor?
And, again, who am I that He should fight my meaningless wars?
What a Savior!!!

Merry Christmas people!!

He came. He fought. He won.
Love came. Love fought. Love won.

Cc

1. Hillsong Worship - Love On the Line 

2. Chris Tomlin - At the Cross (Love Ran Red) 

Bonface Morris.

Nanoreflections

It is the holiday season again, and with it (never depending on which side of the coin of life you are), comes a whole bunch of possibilities.

Yeah, of course, most of us will say that it is time to relax, party and have a good time. We are right. We should all have a good time in a season like this. It is appropriate as long us our engaging in bliss is neither harmful to ourselves, God nor to those around us. It is acceptable.

But for me, unlike any other Christmas season I've spent, I have decided to take time this season and "nanoreflect"; meaning, piling up pieces of endless thoughts on how life was this year, and how I'll need to be "armed" for 2014.

And that does not mean that I'm not going out or "spoiling myself". Nah. It actually means that as I plunder bliss, my mind will not be left idle and wanting. I'll be thinking of all the places my life can possibly be, all the places I've already been to in 2013 (and years behind it too) and all the places I would want those around me to be in the coming year.

I've chosen to grow up just a little bit more: 2014 is going to take me further into the world of a saved young adult, and I'll need to place everything (and everyone) in my life right where they belong.

Mostly, I've realized that I've been childish as far as relationships are concerned (both with God and with mankind), so part of my reflections are hovering around how to deal with THAT boy in me that won't just grow up. (Yes, every man has THAT boy in him that needs to have boundaries and a legitimate MoU to operate by; unless we all want to hate the ACTUAL man that he really is).

One resolution I already made concerning this is: I'm not going to be in a relationship (read, engage in anything serious or even slightly serious with any female species) with the aim of making them my fianceè and/or wife-to-be. I am going to cool down (just as I have done for a while) and focus on myself.
Literally, I'm handing over all my "relationship keys" to God. They'll be safe in His hands... :-)

Another thing I'm pondering about (or asking myself) is, as a leader, what have I done that has changed where I am? Have I been influential enough as a leader? Have I, in the slightest sense of the word, changed a life or helped change a life?
I am thinking that if I've not done so, then my leadership in the year 2013 has been fruitless, and I'll therefore need to go back to the drawing board and ask God to help me do something about it. Yes, I'll need to do that.

Leadership may not be easy (but it's actually never that hard - it all depends on how you do it and the source of your motivation and strength), and in the course of leading, there are lessons you learn that have a relevance that is unmatched.
People have helped me understand [other] people. That's leadership. Issues have helped me deal with [other] issues. That's leadership too. I have learned to attack situations, pull some, leave some alone, ignore many, delegate duties... That is leadership.

With leadership comes an understanding that you always have to believe in people and in the vision and goals you create as a team. Everyone becomes a friend - even your enemies constitute to the mutual success of your team and prescribed goals...

Then along that chain of thoughts, I am realizing that most of us who are conscious about the "to's and fro's of life" are going to be preoccupied with some or most of the following thoughts (even as the partying and gathering continues). We are going to think of;

1. The many times this year that we have given out our heart(s) and effort(s) only to be betrayed and downtrodden by the other party(ies). We are going to imagine the hopelessness we felt during that time, but now that we are stronger by the strength of God, we will hold our heads up high and probably sing Never Would Have Made It (Marvin Sapp) or Imela (Thank You) by Nathaniel Bassey.

2. The regrets that fill our hearts for making all the wrong decisions this year. Wrong decisions are always a thorn in the flesh - a reminder of your once-stupid-self... And maybe we now are going to blame a few people (and/or even God) for these decisions - our own wrong decisions. SMH. How we're going to deal with such thoughts will determine whether 2014 will begin on some sort of quagmire or on solid ground. Yeah.

3. The many expectations that were fulfilled in the course of this year or several more that never even tried to germinate. Probably we never started that project we had promised ourselves to begin this year. What about our service to God? Perhaps, we had promised to serve Him more earnestly this year, but, yes, but, the year has just "disappeared" and we're still not that much of "faithful servants". What of our businesses that failed to pick up? Or the unfulfilled promise(s) to our spouses/fiance/fianceé? What of the other promise(s) we made to our mom(s)/dad(s) last December? They're still waiting for us to fulfill it/them...
All these are going to either cloud our excitement for 2014 or altogether wipe it away.

4. "Maybe a start-over in relationships?" we may be found thinking. Or going to the gym to trim that fat that has accumulated over time due to increased consumption of junk food? What about our friendships? Who needs to be cut away, and who else should now be fully "adopted" to ease our match into the next season of our lives? What of going back to school to improve our skills and enhance our relevance at our places of work and in our careers? Push it to next year, maybe?

And the more I think of all we are likely to be "nanoreflecting" about this season, the more I want to lean on this chair and just say, "Lord, because life is such a mystery to me and that only You are already wherever I am headed to, please lemme just play the background (of course as inspired by Lecrae in "Background") as You lead my way... I don't want to pretend to be wiser than You are in all matters of my petty life... You are allknowing, I am retarded in my knowledge of things... Have Your way..." Then I'll sit down and keep going - His way...

More and more, I think that this is a season of pulling out detentes towards all our "enemies" (probably created in the course of this year) in some sort of "getting our plates clean", and practicing forgiveness.
Guys, we need to start 2014 on a clean page. No baggage. No debts (mostly debts of love). No hypocrisy. No pretence. No grudges. No double standards. No unfulfilled promises. No false promises either.
All we need for this season is gratefulness for our past; and about this coming year (2014), all we need is just me/you, Jesus and that new year.
Yes, just that.
(Methinks.)

Bonface Morris. 

Posted via Blogaway

Of Weddings, Fashion and Christmas Gatherings

Hi guys!
The festive season is here, and with it will come all kinds of fabrications, swaggafications and complications. Save your breathe for another day, because you may or may not like what is going to be happening around you in those paintings of fabrications, swaggafications and complications; but it will happen anyway...  with or without your approval.

As always, we are going to witness the meanest and most weird kind of behaviour amongst the various people(s) we will meet. The main agenda will be about feasts, weddings, travelling and partying; boasting, mimicking, ranting and paranoia; it may end up boring or thrilling you – and for that I don’t really care – all to the sovereignty of intermittent bliss. In sortof short, people will be yelling into your well-bred ears about things you may never want to hear, things that you may end up wishing had been shouted louder before somewhere in January when darkness looms over people’s pockets, or in the depths of February when Valentine is whispering good nothings into lovers’ lame ears... and you may or may not end up being the same person you were in November or in early December... A surge of fluctuating interests is going to be torrential within you, and you may (or may not) pretend to be concerned, but well-the-more you are going to be consumed in its fieriness...  

So in that concern, I will only play around with the fun in a few of those so-called weddings, ‘fashion shows’, shadows of fun and Christmas gatherings... zingine utajijazia...

To begin with, let me tell you something about my take on weddings because as a refresher to my trifling dislike for them, I attended one last Saturday. Yes, I attended a wedding.

Side note: I don’t dislike weddings as in ‘dislike’, but I just get bored that I should attend them or be involved in them... Weddings are good... they are of God...what is of God is GOOD...
Weddings may bore me (Wololo! Um just a man, sawa?) but weddings are most interesting. Weddings have things only shared with funerals – crowds, pomp and over-extended emotions. From weddings you are likely to gather up things you may never gather in funerals though; like over-fetched and almost hysterical happiness.
Weddings have always made me promise myself that I will wed one day. I choose to promise myself like that because I have no liking for gatherings where people meet to look and gaze at two people they've been seeing for a long, long time all along as if they had just dropped as a perfect bundle from heaven - and all in the name if celebration!
But I honor weddings. They are an epitome of the rapture. They have their origin in God. That makes them cool: because they are inspired by God.
Ok. Maybe weddings are done differently where you come from, but they can be quite disgusting to the fashionista or the pious ‘style’ fanatic who may accidentally stumble upon one from this side of the earth. So, if you are fashion sensitive and have a liking for order and civilization, I beg you, yes, I beg you not to attend my wedding or any wedding from these sides of the world.
But to solve that, lemme show you on how to do this wedding thing my ‘civilized’ way.

Here's my take:

About gifts, you may just send me the gift you had for me via my innovative channel, where I will only accept cash [solid cheddar] rather than those funny and rugged maua gifts people waste good money on. I’ll be introducing M-WEDDING: a great way to send gifts (especially money) to a wedding couple... haha. This service will not be in collabo with any network but just a simple way to get your precious money (which will then become my precious gift from you) into my ever-receiving pockets... Also don’t bring me plates, cups and so on... I’ll already be having enough... hehe but please, I beg you, ask either for my bank account number or my M-PESA number direct from me for easier and less hustling transactions, sawa? Please don't attend the wedding with those funny gifts, I beg you... Amen? Please say "Amen!" Thank you.
About fashion, allow me to do my thing. If you ever will be attending, please allow me to make my so-called steam of youngsters to wear the fashion of my liking: no funny ties, no weird colors, no oversized coats or dresses, not mismatched clothing, no oversize shoes, no rugged fabrics (as if we all may be going out to slaughter hens after the wedding). Allow my wedding to be cute and swaggarific, I beg you, sawa?

About food, bear with me that we won’t be cooking all that funny food you are used to in weddings... hehe... Why should we cook you such food anyway, huh? If you aspire to eat such food, come with your own packed lunch or go buy yourself lunch...!! *Hiding*... But there will be lots of cakes, sawa? Cakes and conscious food. This is because a wedding is a celebration, and celebrations need ‘conscious’ food, not blubbery...

In addition to these boring weddings, there are also these so-called ‘family get-togethers’ where you meet flabby people of different cultural likings pretending to like each other's company, meeting somewhere in a remote place in the name of family - ultimate shadows of ‘like’ and ‘love’. This is what you may witness when you will travel upcountry like myself;
Most of the time after travelling upcountry, town-bred tomboys with hawky eyes will move around subduing the whole village into swaggarific stupors. The locals will always hate them and spread unruly gossip about them... And after evening creeps in, an analysis of eating behaviour, sleeping style and clothing [read fashion], fluency of language and lack of electricity will emerge... always done in whispers lest the walls announce the deadness of such moments...
Then you will bury your face in pretence when you hear such things like;
While using town-bragga, a town-bred lass will go something like this: "Kwani hawa wasee wanaishi aje kwenda bathroom in the open?" Then the ka-relative of hers sitting quite close will go like, "Tutakaa huku mpaka lini? [and while smirking] Sijui mom alifikiria nini kutuleta huku...!!" “Umeona vile wanakaa kama pumpkins kwa hizo nguo zao?”, she will rant... and the other will look boringly at her and not say a word...
Yet still, on a table next to them will be an elderly lad and a younger one conversing: "Dude, ati tuna-share kikombe! Hawa watu walizaliwa wapi?" And the other holding a smartphone with a dying battery will go like, "Nimeenda hiki ki-tao/centre chao na hata charger ya phone yangu hawana! Kisha ati wanataka ku-charge my phone [also smirking] [my phone!] na car battery...!!" hehe...
Before them, in that dimly lit room, will pass one of their so-called relatives in funny shorts, and they will look at him with owl-like eyes, Googling the whole of his stature with their eyes, and in the end feeling "Yaaaaaaak!"
Their "village comrades" also out of swaggaphobia will be hiding under a shack somewhere whimpering and whispering terribly hot gossip... [While speaking vernacular]
"Wanadhani wanaown hapa kwetu? Eish! Wakwende huko!"
"Wanadhani tutawaabudu? Eish! Wakwende huko!"
Another one will go like, "Nitawamwagia maji kwa bed. Nitawashow sisi ndo wenye hii place!"
Yet another one will go like, "Na kile kingine [referring to one of the innumerable tomboys] kinaonyesha nani tumbo? [Because she will be wearing more spaghetti tops and bare-backs]. Tumbo imejaa minyoo utadhania kina mimba! Kesho morning nitajifanya ni accident nitakapokimwagia maji kwa nywele...!"
And the ranting will go on and on for 7 good days... you can only imagine how those so-called get-togethers are a relief to many after ending...
Imagine I've not talked about the different cuisine and "maendeleo-ya-hapa-na-pale" talk amongst the elderly in those get-togethers; and the way "things should be done" code appearing and re-appearing here and there whenever the shaggs people will be correcting the town-bred ones . Oooops! It really gets hefty. Quite hefty my friend.
In short, I beg you, yes, I beg you, not to attend those gatherings. They will spare you a lot of stress, pride or low self-esteem... hehe...

Have a grateful festive season people... and go enjoy yourself somewhere...!!

Morris.