Fikeveni

We are encouraged to dream big from an early age. Unfortunately, this leaves us unable to make the first step because we either don’t know what that step is, or it is not as glamorous as where we would like to end up. In some cases, the dream is so big it results in paralysis. Another challenge nowadays is that a lot of the world is obsessed with global matters, i.e. politics, the news, big corporations, non-governmental organizations, social media, etc. Although the state of the world and our participation in it is important, we seem to have forgotten that change starts in our  hearts, households, and that it starts small. We have dreams of being CEOs, board members, or wealthy, without the realization that everything worth doing starts small, starts close, and requires us to start at the bottom.  We have to start small because most of us do not have the capital, both human and monetary, to afford something big. We need to build the network and contacts that will eventually l...

When we get on social media or turn on the news, we are bombarded with all that is wrong with the world. Most of what we have come to understand as news, is bad news. There is a tremendous amount of polarization and accentuation of our differences. Nowadays, we do not get on social media to learn about others and to find common ground, but we get on to tear each other down. We have moved from the truly liberal mindset of embracing differences and celebrating similarities to a culture of taking sides. If we were to believe the news or social media, then we would think that the world is in the worst possible state. As humankind, we have to move past the echo chambers to find unity. We need to embrace the truth, which is, that we are more the same than we are different. We have to shut out the noise of social media and the news, and go out to experience real life. When you visit the outside world, you will find that we have a society filled with good people.  We all have needs and wan...

At the end of the day, we are all just trying to be happy. There’s been countless songs and even movies with the pursuit of happiness as the main theme. Christians, especially those in service to God in an official capacity, tend to believe that the pursuit of happiness is not part of God’s will for their lives. We are raised to believe that we should not pursue happiness but pursue joy; as if joy and happiness are different. It is true that we are called to pursue a simple life, one centered on God. This means that we can be happy because simplicity brings happiness nine times out of ten. I propose that the pursuit of happiness is good. We should just make sure that we understand the difference between pleasure and happiness.  The word of God warns us about the enslaving nature of pursuing pleasure. Esau lost his birthright and blessing because his main driving force in life was pleasure. Esau didn’t want to be happy, because if he did, he would have honored his father and mother ...