Out in the dark

On one of the mornings I had to rush out earlier than usual (I had to drop my sister off at the park and pick something up before going to work), I left home at 6 A.M, it was still dark, dawn had hardly broken.

I drove out of the gate and behold right in front of the neighbour’s house, I saw two children seated outside, a girl and a boy who couldn’t have been more than five or six and three years old respectively. Surprised, I called out to them and asked ‘what are you doing here’ and the girl responded, her voice rough either from lack of enough sleep or being upset at having to wait out there in the dark. ‘We are waiting for our school bus.’ I was stunned, at that time? So many questions ran through my head. I asked another question, ‘where is your mummy’ and she said ‘inside’. I do not mean to be judgmental but I wondered, how cruel could a mother be? What school bus comes to pick children at this time, instantly I looked at my clock and it 6:07A.M. 

Lost in my thoughts, my sister’s voice brought me back to reality when she asked ‘where is your school’. From the little girls’ response, the distance from the house to school could not be more than fifteen minutes at the maximum. It is certain that the school bus would have a round of pick ups but 6A.M I thought was too early to put young children outside while the adults stayed comfortably inside. It was dark, there could be creeping things, and anything could happen to those children. My sister and I deliberated on asking them to go inside but we decided against it. Who knows? That could be normal to them.

Since I had those children on my mind as I drove on, I deliberately looked for children in cars and I saw so many, some asleep, some looking like they were sulking but for one who chatted happily away with her father.

 

The search for truth

When we pray sometimes, we expect answers sent to us in a certain way, we pray with a fixed  mindset but it hardly works that way. Sometimes God comes through for us and in ways we don’t expect, it could be better than we thought or it could be painful, really painful. At other times, He may simply be saying not yet or this isn’t for you. But in all, God knows us and wants good for us so He won’t grant us evil to destroy us. We asked anyway, so He answers.

There are times I feel like God is so far away from me, but a friend of mine’s status message read a few days ago if God is far, who moved? He is the same, He hasn’t and will not change but we always do.

Now, do I sound like I am preaching? *Laughing to myself *

 

'Religion' is a sensitive issue and is generally not advised to be discussed in order not to stir up trouble, I am treading carefully and do not intend to offend anyone who reads this. If you have any misgivings about what I have written, please feel free to leave a comment.

 

The search for truth and a connection to spirituality leads people to believe in different things. Many of us are born and raised to know a certain belief, but as we grow older, we go on a quest to know more of what we want to believe in or not to believe in anything at all.

 

I am not sure if I want to be bothered with ‘religion’ as it is practiced today. I love God, I seek Him and His word is what guides me, and that for me is the essence of whatever/whoever anyone believes in.

From my observation, there is so much dogma with what people believe in and that has infiltrated the truth of what should be.

 

In Christianity, there are different sects/factions (what would be the most appropriate word): Methodists, Protestants, Catholics, Pentecostals, Anglicans, Baptists, Jehovah witnesses and more. 

Sometimes, when people ask, are you a Christian and I say yes, the next question will be what exactly? Pentecostal, Catholic e.t.c? Why should that matter anyway? As I like to say, I am christian and that's it. The word Christian came about from people who acted like Jesus Christ so they were called Christians - Christ like. I would say the goal of being a Christian should be being like Jesus Christ.

We have created so many divisions in Christianity that I wonder sometimes if at a time when we all need to unite for whatever reason, we will be able to come together as one putting all the supposed sects/factions aside to achieve the goal that needs to be achieved.

 

Pieces

A bond so strong, the ability to just know, the feeling of insecurity when a lie is told. One ‘simple’ lie could spoil a relationship built over time. Somehow, more lies have to follow to cover up the ‘simple’ one that was told.

In relationships of whatever kind, someone once said that when you lie, you lose one thing which you may never get back: integrity. It reduces you in the eyes of the other person especially when it is someone whose opinion matters to you.

Sometimes there may be things known all along but you might be waiting to hear it from just one person, giving a last chance to save whatever integrity the person has.

A song I like says ‘you can play on broken strings, you can feel anything that your heart don’t want to feel…’ We can interpret that in many ways but in all, we choose not to let go so many times when need be to our detriment. Letting go is extremely difficult but in doing so, you give a chance for more and maybe better things and people to come in.

There are times that things come up and others feelings are thought of to be protected. How that can be handled without lying or hurting anyone, I wonder… It becomes inevitable, for the truth to be told, it just might hurt and in honesty, some may take it with such grace that you are left wondering what the fuss was about.

We all have been hurt sometime; felt some form of betrayal by someone we trusted so much. Sadly, some people don’t recover, but on the other hand, others do, and very quickly.

Honesty is costly…it has to be. But lies… they cost so much more.