Beware of being lulled by the comforting tones of complacency. They will keep you sedated and persistently out of touch with your true capabilities. Like a lion having slumbered too long you may wake one day to find that the food chain has shifted and your prey has higher leverage against you. So is the life of a Christian, we were given a spirit of power, love and a sound mind.
The purpose of which is to take dominion in key arenas and be beacons of positive influence within them, speaking up for those who cannot themselves speak, extending grace and mercy to those who are lost and still being found as well as exercising emotional intelligence in wise pursuit of happiness. What happens though is that every once in a while we get caught up in the bright noise and blaring city night lights and we begin to lose sight of our true selves. We fall asleep at the wheel of our lives and wake up horrified to see how much time has gone past and how banged up we are from the ride.
Who doesn’t want to sleep-in?
As winter approaches, it’s all too difficult to rise on time because of the agonizing cold that likes to pinch you the second you get out of bed. It makes your feet drag as you lug your suddenly heavier self to the bathroom to freshen up and start the day. As you’re freshening up your mind involuntarily starts mincing through the tasks and anxieties brought about by the new day. You grudgingly have to step out of the hot water to be further attacked by this relentless cold as you get dressed.
At your dressing table are all the little bits that help you to start the day fresh so you routinely pick item by item putting it to its usual or unusual use. Life can feel like this as well sometimes when the seasons have changed. In the winter of your adulthood you find that misery seems to frost your efforts to enjoy life and so you find a cave in which to hibernate hoping that you can weather the season and be better when it breaks. The problem arises when the season finally changes again and the ice caps melt off causing a flood of undealt with dramas among other things that you may have swept under the rug during your slumber.
The dangers of a little too much slumber
Firstly let me say that sleep is not an enemy here, it is merely a means to rest and rejuvenate after a hard day or hard days of work. I’ve never really been an early riser myself, I tend to rise when I feel that I have meaningful input to add to the day from my being awake at a certain time. Unless ofcourse its work or an event which is predetermined that I need to be up earlier. I’m mainly referring to a sleep of hopelessness, conformity to the doom and gloom of the world around us and a disengaging with your purpose. I spent a sizeable amount of time on sleep mode.
As the years went by I rose and fell with the rhythm of what I thought was my portion. When I came back from Uni in 2012, I job hunted and by grace was employed at a popular radio station as “Director of First Impressions”, while I was there I had access to resources to make something of myself as a media personality, but I never took the opportunity. I was so convinced that there was nothing for me there and so focused on conforming to some idea that everything had to go my way or the highway, I was asleep to the possibilities (being such a personality could have propelled my designing).
So after a fun year I left to design jewellery full time and that was a colossal mistake. It wasn’t the fact that I had taken a bold stand for my dream, it was more of the fact that during the time I could have been preparing for such a move, I was asleep to the possibilities (I spent hours complaining about formal employment instead of gearing up for self-employment). Needless to say I was back on the job market fairly shortly after that and again grace came to the rescue and in 2015 I got a job as a receptionist for an Emergency Room and just as I was about to shut my eyes again and climb into the sheets of a life headed to miserable conformity something delayed bed time.
I arose and He began to make me shine
Being unemployed and depending on your younger siblings for amounts as menial as $5 teaches you a thing or two about pride. It is a silent killer and if you ever make the mistake of making it your master asking for such amounts may prove costly to your ego. Yes I said it..I had prideful ego from here to Mexico and I felt entitled to my family’s support whether they had warned me of the trouble I was now facing or not. Whether I had cockily walked into avoidable mistakes or not and that day at River of Life I met a God who quickens the spirit and causes dry bones to come to life again.
So I took responsibility for all I had done and made things right at home. From then on I continued the journey that has led me to ink these pages with my story. My dreams of being a writer and singer re-awoke in me with a desire to share the message that was deposited in me from the womb. My once sleeping mind jolted back to consciousness with new ideas, inspiration and a strength that I now understand is found only through Christ.
By following his guidance I became a better Human Being, I was able to be kind and loving towards others and make the meaningful progress I had always wanted to make in life, just not my way. Where I used to be a Human Doing, always doing what I thought would make this genie make my wish his command, I realised that I didn’t actually know what was good for me and I could not save myself better than he has saved me.
If you have been sleeping through life, understand lion cub that you are still a lion and your position is that of the head and not the tail, but you must arise and wash the sleep out of your eyes. Take a shot of God ordained caffeine and see if you remain supressed by woes of the food chain. Yours is the Lion of the tribe of Judah and his are you so clear your throat and prepare to RRROARRR to life again.
