MONDAY MORNING MEDITATION: The Puzzle of the Pieces But as for me, my feet had almost slipped ... when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. ~ Psalm 73 (Read the entire chapter) After daring to watch the gory pictures of the Islamic terrorists, IS, slitting the throat of a Christian woman whom they had stripped fully naked, and beheading hundreds of very tender Christian children in Iraq, I couldnt sleep last night. I woke with a heavy heart. Usually, I refuse to look at such pictures and videos (and Ill hardly do it again) but those pictures have added to my unsolved puzzles: What exactly do these people want? What god do they really serve - the same God I know? The throat slitting and beheading is also perpetrated in Northern Nigeria by boko haram against Gods people. What exactly does boko haram want? No one knows, but some Nigerian politicians might. ... Some puzzles can cost too much. Human history is besieged by such puzzles. Where was the world when Hitler was only a depressed little boy? By the time the Hitler puzzle was solved, more than 20 million lives, including 6 million Jews, had been wasted. If only he had a little psychological help, the Second World War may not have happened. ... What in the world is wrong with the Middle East? Why wont they let the rest of us move forward with civilization? Why do some of their communities have more AK47 and rocket launchers than food, hospitals and schools? ... Why exactly were otherwise peacefully coexisting natives of over 300 tribes coerced into a chemically unstable compound called Nigeria by the British empire? What motivated Gowons government to gerrymander and skew the country after the civil war? How in the world could Obasanjos government enact such an outrageous armed robbery known as the Land Use Decree that yanked our lands out of our hands and put in the hands of a few individuals? Why do the nations privatization efforts end up in the hands of the same individuals? Who are the so-called cabal in Nigeria? ... How could the cut-off mark for the same exam be 130 in one section of the country, and a mere 2 in another section of the same country? ... What happened/happens to Nigerias oil wealth - the country rakes in about $300 million daily from oil alone every day? Why does Nigeria import food when we are surrounded by millions of acres of rich, uncultivated arable land? How did the groundnut pyramids, the thriving cocoa plantations and the golden oil palms suddenly succumb to the oil and gas deposits of the Niger Delta? Would Nigeria still be one country if there werent oil? ... Why cant Nigeria ever grow beyond ethnicity and religion? Nearly 50 years of being called Nigerian, I still get asked, What tribe are you from? Why cant I be judged (and rewarded) by my character and contribution rather than where I come from? = Many other puzzles in our society = Why would a father use his little daughter for money rituals? Billions are in the bank, awards pour in at home and abroad, but maggots are wriggling out from daughters nostrils. ... Why would a Nigerian woman spend 8 or more hours of her fleeting life each day watching Telemundo? (Good grief, wake up, you dead woman!) Why would a Nigerian youth who earns N12,000 a month spend N60,000 on a cell phone? And why would he rather have his throat cut than pay N1,000 to attend a seminar or buy a book that will change his destiny? ... Why would a student cheat in an exam, attend a miracle center, or have others write the exam for him only for him to graduate as a half baked, unemployable individual? Why would you do that to yourself and complain that you havent had a job for 7 years after school? And I share this with Einstein: Why do you keep on doing the same thing, moving with the same poor crowd, reading the same gossip magazines, working the same boring job, year after year, and expect a different outcome? ... Why does Nigeria have over 80 million people who call themselves by Christ, and yet there is no visible salt and light impact of their collective faith on the society? Its only in Nigeria that over 10 million people gather in one camp for worship. Two thousand years ago, it took only 12 men to change the world, why cant 10 million change the city of Lagos? ... My personal life is also full of puzzles I can begin to list. Why have I hit road blocks several times, just when I thought I had it together? Why did my father and mother die just when they were to enjoy the fruit of their incredible sacrifice to train my siblings and me? Why do some of my prayers go unanswered? Why do I have alternating seasons of prosperity and drought - why cant things just stay happy? = Working the Puzzles = Well, puzzles being puzzles, you can hardly ignore them and make a headway in your life. Puzzles are given to be solved, or, at least, pondered. Thats where the walls around the spirit begin to collapse, if we dont manage our puzzles. Some people have died with unsolved puzzles in their soul. One womans dying puzzle: Why would a man who said he loved me stab my tender, undefended body to death? Honey, how could you be the one to do this to me? If an armed robber stabbed me, I could understand… but you, my husband? ... One of the most difficult puzzles is the betrayal of the one you call friend, or a family member. Some have interpreted that the valiant Julius Caesar would have fought back for his life. But when he saw his close confidant, Brutus, of all people, bare his own dagger and stab, he gave up. Et tu, Brute? There is a grave danger when you start working with the pieces instead of the puzzle, as most humanity do. The secret to resolving a puzzle does not lie in the pieces but in the puzzle itself. The pieces will distract you. ... When we were young, growing up in a village of farmers, fishermen and hunters, we heard legendary stories such as what to do when you are cornered in the forest by a vicious gorilla. Pluck an odd number of leaves and place along the path of the pursuing beast. Just make sure its an odd number of leaves - 5, 7 or 9. The legend had it that the gorilla would momentarily stop pursuing you and start pairing the fresh leaves. Its gorilla brain would say, This and this go together; that and that go… but what about this one? It would continue going over the same process, never able to pair the last leaves, and giving you time to escape. ... I never got a chance to test the hunters tip since I was never cornered by a gorilla in the forest. But life has played the gorilla on me. I cant seem to always pair the leaves life has strewn along my path … but I discovered a few powerful secrets! Yes, I did, including the puzzles of IS and boko haram! But because this meditation is already getting too long for you, Ill reserve it for the next meditation, Deo volunte. God bless and keep you as you work with the puzzles life would cast on your path this week. I love you. Be blessed. be healthy, wealthy and wise!
Posted on: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 05:30:59 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015