samuelibraahim

Puppy Love

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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>J</b></span></span><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><b>ust a while ago, </b>I walked past a couple who seemed madly in love. They’d
come out of the cinema together and I had come alone. Seeing them made me green
with envy. I simply wanted what the guy had: a beautiful woman to hold and to
love, and, of course, to go to the movies with, hand in hand. Imagine, how more
enjoyable my time at the movies would have been in the company of someone I
loved. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">So it happened I became very restless about my predicament. For singleness
wasn’t particularly my thing, at all. Yeah, you could say I was one of those <i>helpless romantics</i>. Though I had just
suffered an unbelievable breakup barely three months earlier, I was already
eager to jump back into the game. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">I do believe my reasons were entirely justified. I thought life too
short to waste outside of romantic love – especially since I was a grown man
with a big heart. You see, I have always believed that God’s original and
intended plan for relationship and marriage is so awesomely sweet it takes only
experience to know it. Our imaginations will fail poorly trying to fathom all
the possibilities. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 107%;">But then I realized I had to cool my pipes. Quite nicely, it settled
upon my senses that I had never really asked God for directions whenever I
wanted to try again at a new relationship. I only remembered I had a Father in
heaven who could bless and protect my relationship when I'd already gone crazy and </span><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 107%;">lost in love
– like a puppy....<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: -0.4pt;"><span style="color: #741b47; font-size: x-large;">“Desire without knowledge is not good— how much
more will hasty feet miss the way!”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: -0.4pt;"><span style="color: #741b47; font-size: x-large;">– Proverbs 19:2 NIV<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Photo Credit: <a href="http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/teenagers-brooklyn-madden/">National Geographic</a><br />
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Character Christlikeness Fulfilling Purpose

Happy Father's Day: Reflecting On What It Means to Be Someone's Papa

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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">T</span></b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">oday is Father's Day, and it has been explained to me that it is
a day not only about fathers but men in general, for every man would one day
become someone's Papa. So it is okay, in all goodwill, to say to a brother like
me who's yet to father a child </span><span style="color: #2e75b6; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #2E75B6; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: lumm=75000; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent1; mso-themecolor: accent1; mso-themeshade: 191;">"Happy Father's
Day"</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Well, knowing my own mind, I do not agree
entirely with that sentiment but I do understand what's meant and intended.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Apart from statistics showing that not all
of us would have children in our life time for one reason or the other, I
think, like me, there are many who do not take lightly the responsibility of
having children.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">How can we feel otherwise, seeing the
heart-wrenching results of failed and dysfunctional homes due to the absence of
good leadership, largely on the part of the man-of-the-house?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">No man in his right mind, aware of the
value of human life and relationship and purpose would want to take such a challenge
without being prepared...at least to a considerable level. And I don’t
mean just financial preparedness. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">More than anything, I think becoming more than enough in character
to be the kind of mentor that can equip his children sufficiently
enough to face the world successfully is so paramount that it deserves all
honesty before the decision to want to have <i><b>"my own"</b></i> baby girl or boy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Basically, I am only saying, as we celebrate Father’s Day, we
(especially those of us yet to become fathers) should have always in our sight the
gravity of what it means to be a father. Our vision and determination should be
of our kids seeing the model of Christlikeness in our lives. From us they
should learn a thing or two from how we treat our wives, how we pray, how we
love God, how we work...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The world now is so wicked and ever
changing in its wickedness that we can’t take this duty for granted. It is a critically big responsibility!</span></div>
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<i><span style="color: orange; font-size: x-small;">Photo Credit</span></i>: <a href="https://www.cmcm.com/en-us/cm-launcher/">CM Launcher</a><br />
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Being An Instrument of Love Character Christlikeness God's Love Love Relationship The Love of God

Building Love Muscles for Maturity's Sake

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<b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 28.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">t
is now unbelievably overbearing. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Limits have been bashed and crossed. Both of
them now resort to counselling,</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"> introducing the third party they once vowed
they'd never consort with.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Donna says it's Jason's egomania that's the problem. Jason says she has no
sense of submission. To that, Donna would say, with rolling eyes, “Isn’t that
peachy,” and Jason would unfailingly follow with, “You see what I mean? She is
just insufferable.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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And on the go...making their union a despicable thing as if it is the only
option they have. The fact is there's is no other way seeable by the two.
They've each contemplated their predicament and arrived at the same conclusion,
that the other party is to blame for the lack of bliss and satisfaction in
their marriage.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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However, apparently unknown to Donna and Jason, is the simple fact that one of
the keys to accessing and maintaining happiness in our relationships is the
constant perpetual development of </span><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Maturity</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><br />
For the success of every relationship depends a lot on strong character,
fostered consciously by both partners. We must indeed advance ourselves in
character if we must prevail in defying the current norms about relationships.
Quite unfortunately, society is now bloated with reasons to doubt the
worthiness of marriage and relationships. Well, it
needn’t be like that. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Maturity, within itself has the power to enable us live above the relational
ills that continually distort the meaning of love, marriage and all that a good
relationship should be.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">However,
to advance in character, <b><i><span style="color: red;">gumption</span></i></b><span style="color: red;"> </span>is needed. We must all determinedly become builders, and in the process demolish old habits that have done nothing but block every
possibility of love’s wonder and enjoyment.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Now, if you ask me </span><b><span style="color: #385723; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #385723; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: lumm=50000; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent6; mso-themecolor: accent6; mso-themeshade: 128;">how</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">, I'd say it is more about simply
making a firm decision to <b><i><span style="color: #2f5597; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #2F5597; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: lumm=75000; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent5; mso-themecolor: accent5; mso-themeshade: 191;">love the God way</span></i></b><span style="color: #2f5597; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #2F5597; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: lumm=75000; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent5; mso-themecolor: accent5; mso-themeshade: 191;">.</span> Not disregarding
emotional love, it is important to know it takes more than our feelings to
sustain our relationships. The unrelenting, the unconditional and the
sacrificial type of Love that is from God is the perfect foundation upon which
all others should be rooted in to succeed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Based
on the veracity that God has already deposited His Love in our hearts
through His Spirit </span><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">(see Romans 5:5)</span></i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">, we do surely have the potential to
love the God way, and when we do, we would have already commenced our journey
to true maturity. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">So
our relationships are like workout places where we get to decide to build our
love muscles, through grace. Instead of being governed by our impulses, we’d
choose to live intentionally in love, so that when the natural thing to do is
condemn and criticize the other person, we’d rather choose to look beyond their
weaknesses and love them anyway.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Imagine
what it would be like when we get on with the business of being like our God who
is Love </span><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">(see Ephesians 5:1-2)</span></i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">. It would be something grand like
this:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #2f5597; font-family: Gabriola; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #2F5597; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: lumm=75000; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent5; mso-themecolor: accent5; mso-themeshade: 191; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">Love endures long….not conceited
(arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) <i>and</i>
does not act unbecomingly. Love (God's love in us) does not insist on its own
rights <i>or</i> its own way, <i>for</i> it is not self-seeking; it
is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of
the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong]…</span></span><span style="color: #2f5597; font-family: Gabriola; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #2F5597; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: lumm=75000; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent5; mso-themecolor: accent5; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-size: large;">.</span><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">Love bears up under
anything <i>and</i> everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the
best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it
endures everything [without weakening]. Love never fails…</span><b><span style="font-size: large;"> (Excerpt from I Corinthians 13:4-8) </span><o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">And
just for fun, replace “Love” with your own name in the above passage, and you
would get a clearer understanding of what maturity looks like when you roll
like it. <i>“…Samuel pays no attention to a
suffered wrong, He bears up under anything and everything that comes….”</i> Yeah,
it is definitely Maturity Time.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Please don't hesitate to share your thoughts below.</span></div>
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Love Purpose Relationship Relationship With God

Tis Better To Have Loved & Lost Than Never To Have Loved At All

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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">O</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">nce, in
youthful naivety, I thought myself the Sun</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> under whose radiance the lovely Flower
would bloom eagerly in response. I thought all I needed to do was shine as brighter as
I could. Yet, with time, through personal experience, I have been humbled
by the fact that it must take the two in a relationship to make it work. <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I
believe that no matter how much of yourself you pour into your relationship it
does not always guarantee its success, for the other party is also, like you, a
separate entity, with an array of feelings, dreams, strengths, fears, and flaws,
whose continuing agreement is largely dependent on their own will and
determination rather than yours.   <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Naturally,
love should inspire love, but life isn't often as simple as that. Like the
state of the human relationship with God, we choose to accept or reject His love shown to us. So likewise we cannot entirely determine how another person
feels about us for the reality that however emotionally influenced the decision
to be in a relationship is, it all comes down to <b>choice</b>. And even in the course
of a relationship choices are made every day to either be in or out of that
relationship. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">What
is important I think is the opportunity we've been given to love another. As I have
learnt from Scriptures, authentic love does not require reciprocity to survive.
You love simply because you love. To have been a vessel of that which <b>matters the most</b>, you see it as a
privilege and a life well spent with purpose and for something for higher than
yourself. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">So,
rather than just regret, I am grateful for the relationship that didn’t work,
for as <b>Alfred Tennyson</b> puts
it, <i><span style="color: #4472c4; mso-themecolor: accent5;">“Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have
loved at all.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i><span style="color: #4472c4; mso-themecolor: accent5;"><br /></span></i></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i><span style="color: #4472c4; mso-themecolor: accent5;"><br /></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000;">Photo  Source</span>:<a href="http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/sea-galilee/">National Geographic</a></div>
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Character God Inspirational Life Love Relationship Trust in God

Keeping The Foxes Out Of Our Relationships

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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ5oyJDUatLk1hZk8iQDzFIS6wQtMf4Ju0DBteZWO_mmYaGdhTQy7unasdFJG5G3jn0BPzyXeED4nJ6bgReC5z6wdaM9FMZmygDD5_9cMTQoQNYJ5TLUHUGV41BRrWPCwydrv9gA1hU4g/s1600/dancers-tango-prague_78164_990x742.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ5oyJDUatLk1hZk8iQDzFIS6wQtMf4Ju0DBteZWO_mmYaGdhTQy7unasdFJG5G3jn0BPzyXeED4nJ6bgReC5z6wdaM9FMZmygDD5_9cMTQoQNYJ5TLUHUGV41BRrWPCwydrv9gA1hU4g/s1600/dancers-tango-prague_78164_990x742.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #002060; font-family: Gabriola;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Our relationships, however strong, would always
require our keen and constant watchfulness in keeping away the little foxes
that ruin the vineyards. </span></span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #002060; font-family: Gabriola; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Sylfaen, serif;">Today, as I read Song of Songs I noticed how the inspired author, King Solomon, couldn’t
help but bring a little a bit of Proverbs into the Bible’s Book of Love. And as
always, he showed wisdom indispensable, even in Love. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Sylfaen, serif;">The 15th verse of the
second chapter bears a part of that wisdom in an exchange between the Beloved
and her Lover: </span><i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: red; font-family: "Sylfaen","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">"Catch for us the foxes, the little
foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom (NIV)</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: red; font-family: "Sylfaen","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">.<i>"</i></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Sylfaen, serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Sylfaen, serif;">To elaborate in a way
that I think it is applicable to our own lives, I believe our relationships are
like that vineyard in bloom, like a beautiful and colorful garden, imbued with the
sweet fragrance of the joy for having found the blessedness of being in love
with someone special. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Sylfaen, serif;">However, in the presence
of such bliss, there is a great need for caution, especially against being
completely carried away that we forget those incipient tumors that grow in the
midst of our relationships, usually in the form of <b>bad habits, bad choices and bad influences. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Sylfaen, serif;">They are the little
foxes that sneak into the life shared by two people who either out of naivety
do not see the paw prints on the ground or choose to ignore, with the hope that
the uninvited intruder would somehow find its way out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Sylfaen, serif;">Whatever be the case, we
can’t just hope that everything would be all nice and dandy. We have to be
alert, proactive and put up the hedges and make sure they are impenetrable for
the safety of what we share with our partners. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Sylfaen, serif;">Nonetheless, it must be emphasized
that it takes the couples agreeing with one another to succeed. For it always
takes two to tango, and to tango well they must be in sync, as one in thought
and purpose.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Sylfaen, serif;">Hey, the truth is,
almost all relationships inspired by true sincere love are promising enough
with the potential to grow strong. Regrettably, however, very few do thrive or even
survive because folks are just too lazy to put their backs into ensuring that
things work. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Sylfaen, serif;">They've got no fight at all,
hardly giving their relationships a chance in the face of a hostile world
system that seems bent on destroying any hope of their experiencing all that
Love is all too willing to bestow on them.  <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Sylfaen, serif;">So I plead, if only for
the value of what we have and the opportunity of pleasuring God with our
relationships, let’s intentionally keep the foxes away by being true and
enlightened to know what needs to be done.</span><span style="font-family: Sylfaen, serif;"> </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Sylfaen, serif;">And in knowing what
needs to be done, the Scriptures has proven immeasurably applicable to real life
challenges I have had to deal with for the sake of protecting my own relationship.
As an example, the admonition, </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: red; font-family: "Sylfaen","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“<i>Flee
from temptation” </i></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Sylfaen","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">scattered all over the scriptures,<i><span style="color: red;"> </span></i>has, on
purpose, always been at the fore of my mind. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Sylfaen, serif;">Though this may sound
funny and even childish, you won’t catch me exchanging phone numbers with
ladies I know I find somewhat attractive, especially the ones who show the
proverbial “</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #548235; font-family: "Sylfaen","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #548235; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: lumm=75000; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent6; mso-themecolor: accent6; mso-themeshade: 191;">green</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Sylfaen, serif;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #548235; font-family: "Sylfaen","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #548235; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: lumm=75000; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent6; mso-themecolor: accent6; mso-themeshade: 191;">light</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Sylfaen","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">.” I’ve got enough green light coming from my own woman who is
more than enough for me, and I value that, thus, the reason why the hedges must
always stay strong and intact. <i><br />
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<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Sylfaen, serif;">Finally, I will be
rightly considered out of sorts if I were to omit the <b><span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: large;">God factor</span></b>. There is no
better way to secure your treasured relationship than committing it in God’s
hands. Particularly, for the things you cannot control or are helpless about, God
is your Man. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Sylfaen, serif;">So in letting God
envelop us, and in playing our part, we are, borrowing the words of <b>Joshua 1:8</b>, actively involved in “making
our way prosperous and we are having good success”. There is no faulting that,
wouldn’t you agree?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Sylfaen, serif; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">Photo Credit: </span><a href="http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/dancers-tango-prague/">National Geographic</a></span></div>
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