Category: ARCHIVE

Sowing In Tears

Life throws things that seem to buffet us all around. We find ourselves pushed to the the wall. We get frustrated. At ourselves. At people who surround us. At the circumstances. At God.

In instances like this, it seems God isn’t interested in us. So, we cry and cry. And cry some more.

Read this exerpt:

‘They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weeping, bearing precious seeds, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him’
– Psalm 126 vs 5 & 6.

Note that the secret in the joy at the end isn’t a function of the tears shared. No, joy is as a result of sowing. Yes, sowing is painful. It’d never be convinient. You’d even be tempted to eat your seed. But I say to you, when you sow, you’d definitely reap in joy!

Are you going through a hard time now? It wouldn’t last forever. In fact, it’s just an opportunity to invest in your next windfall of blessings. Don’t just cry. Sow. Sow seeds of prayer. Sow seeds of time. Sow seeds of love. Sow seeds of money. Just sow. Remember, if you sow tears, you’d reap tares. Sow something worthwhile. It’s well.

The Platinum Gift: Send Your Write-ups For Posting!

It’s more blessed to give than to receive. And as part of my birthday celebrations, I’d be giving back to my readers in my little way.

Starting from now, I’d be collecting write-ups for posting on this blog from as many that have something beneficial to share via this platform.

You can send your write-ups (not more than 500 words) and your name through:

A message to me on facebook at Promise ‘le Platine’ Tewogbola
OR
A direct message to my twitter handle @IamLePlatine
OR
An email to platinumdonmccoy@gmail.com

Please note that the duration of this gift would be dependent on the feedback I’m getting.

Thanks and God bless.

Number Of The Day: 21, aka ‘It’s Platinum Day Again, Folks!’

Yay! Today is my birthday!
And I just felt I should use this post to appreciate God for all He has done for me.
For His gift of life, favour, grace, mercy and peace.
For the family, friends and loved ones He’s surrounded me with, in His infinite mercies.
For the talents, spiritual gifts, heart, abilities, personality and experiences He has lovingly used to SHAPE me into who I am today.
For how far He’s brought me.
For where I am presently.
For the gloriously purposeful and fruitful future He has in store for me.
To Him be all the glory, all the honour, all the adoration, and all the praise!

‘Ember To Remember

My good friend Lola runs a great blog here:
www.belifteddotme.wordpress.com

She recently completed a series of great posts bearing ‘Ember To Remember. I’ve asked to ‘borrow’ this title and she graciously replied in the affirmative. So, there shouldn’t be any copyright issues, eh? Alright, I’m just kidding!

On this topic, Lola was mentioning a lot of things to be thankful for, especially during the last four months of the year. I’m also going to arrive at that same direction, though I’d be taking a slightly different route.

In my post, ‘Praising the devil’, I mentioned that Africans are the most religious people in the world. I also mentioned that Nigerians are the most religious Africans and Yorubas the most religious Nigerians. You see, in most societies, the last trimester of a year are the most enjoyable ones. You start making preparations for Christmas and the turn of the year, isn’t it? Not so with the Yorubas. They call the months in the last trimester of the year the ‘BA-BA-BA’ months. Shocking, eh? Well, according to their mentality, they expect this period to be one earmarked with a lot of misforturnes in the form of accidents and deaths. And because they expect these things, they do happen! Mostly due to man’s activities.

God is not the architect of a seasonal oubreak of evil. No! What actually happens can be explained as follows:

Towards the year’s end, it’s normal for people to want to share the festive periods with families and loved ones. As a result, there’s a lot of travelling during these periods. The transportation industry, especially road transport, sees this as big business. The players in this industry then calculate that they can make even more money if they can make more trips in a day. So, they travel at supersonic speeds. In addition to that however, as a result of corrupt leadership, very few good roads even exist. And consequently, a combinations of factors lead to accident and deaths.

But, I want to submit to you that it doesn’t have to be this way. God isn’t wicked. He’s a loving and caring Personality. He wouldn’t let His sun to shine on His people throughout the year only to prepare a season for accidents at the end of the year. Many have remembered this season as a result of the pain that a loss of a loved one has brought to them. This isn’t God’s perfect will for His own. His business with us is life. Abundant one at that! But should that be an excuse for reckless living? God forbid.

It’s God’s joy when we remember this season as one that brings to us love, fruitfulness, happiness and the good things of life. See to it, then, that you live life circumspectly with a due sense of responsibility. Truly, only then would it be an ‘Ember to Remember.

Sleepless Achievers: A Poem

Day unto day utters the speech received
from knowledge embedded in shadows of the night.

The valley is crowded like a sealed container of sardines
while there’s ample space on top of the mountain above all
The simply ordinary ones don’t know
or, rather won’t know,
so, they toss and turn,
receiving instant gratification, making
the rewards of the bed their own.

On the other hand, the sleepless
take their destinies into their hands and
violently press themselves into selection where it counts.

Generally, men sleep
and his enemy sows tares into their land
Yet, he gets into the land of the sleepless generals and can only
roar from a distance at the vigilantly sober.

The Father neither dozes nor slumbers and
His children follow His steps in the dark
as He leads them in a triumphant procession,
to the wide and spacious land only daylight reveals.

Life In Its Simplicity

To me, I’d say that a life lived in simplicity is one that the Holy Spirit controls from the most basic issues to the most crucial life-defining ones.

God talks to us all. In simple ways like dreams and visions and by nature. Still others get direction from The Word and their consciences. Some even hear an audible voice. The important thing is that God directs His people, regardless of the medium used. And yielding to His direction is The Way to The Simple Life.

A life lived in simplicity is one lived in peace. This is because there is a sense of purpose and direction in such an individual’s life. The person’s life is organized and well-orchestrated by the Holy Spirit. Such a life is never cumbersome because only the necessary and important things are done. Indeed, as a result, even unnecessary good habits are dropped if they are not important. Life becomes so simple that no decision is too trivial for the Spirit to decide. All decisions are met with either a ‘Yes’, a ‘No’ or a ‘Not Yet’.

Friend, we’ve been invited to live our lives in the simplicity of the Spirit. In that way, we can cast our cares and worries and troubles on His broad shoulders because they don’t belong to us anymore.

I leave you with this peculiar translation of a popular verse in the Bible:

‘Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me – watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you’
– Jesus (Matthew 11:28-29 The Message)

To The Pessimistic Ones

Pessimism is the uncanny ability to expect and see the worst in everything. In one of my earliest posts (Check out ‘Words Onwards’ on this blog), I mentioned that confusion, fear and its adherent complications arise from a thought. Many fail to see the tremendous amount of latent potential energy that is lying in a thought.
Our thoughts define our emotions.
Our emotions define our actions.
Our actions define our behaviours.
Our behaviours define our characters.
Our characters define our values.
Our values determine what we get out of life.
Take a look down the chain I just elaborated and you’d find that what we get out of life originates from our thoughts.

A positive thought doesn’t consume more willpower than is required for a negative thnught. Why then do pessimists afford themselves the luxury of dwelling on bad thoughts? After all, it’s the same effort it takes to have either a positively beneficial thought or a negatively harmful one.

Renew your mind and consciously make an effort to screen what you think about. Personally, I’m not up there just yet. I believe God would strengthen us all.

XOXO

During my initial forays into the social networking world, I used to see the word ‘XOXO’ at the end of many emotionally blissful status updates. Females are mostly ‘guilty’ of this. Being my usual inquisitive self, I googled ‘XOXO’! I saw that in online messaging, it meant ‘Hugs and Kisses’. Still vague to me, I ‘researched’ a bit more. Then I found it. Each ‘X’ stands for a person’s four limbs while each ‘O’ stands for a person’s head. Thus, ‘XOXO’ stands for two people embracing. Albeit an horizontal one!

If I was asked to summarize life in one word, I’d say: Relationship. With God. With man. With your family. With your neighbour. With your bosses at work. With strangers. Relationship! Relationship!! Relationship!!!

All of life’s problems are relationship problems. And all relationship problems bore down to love. Today, we speak of spiritual dryness in our worship centres. Why? Because we don’t love God and have a relationship with Him.
We speak of strife in our families and neighbourhoods. Why? Because people are not relating in love.
There are political tensions in every nation of the world. Why? Because the people and the leaders don’t have a working loving relationship with God and their fellow citizens.

So, how do you think you are faring ‘relationship-wise’? Good? Bad? Moderately okay? Whichever you pick, a healthy relationship with God and man is possible. Let’s make an effort to make our world a better place because it begins with you and I.

XOXO

We All Belong To One Race

When man was created, he was NOMINATED to be the choice of ALL creation. Alas, with our own hands, we have chosen to DENOMINATE ourselves into various divisions. Today, the talking point is about the Catholics, Anglicans, Protestants and the like. Tomorrow, it is the Negroes vs the Caucasians. The day after, we are talking about the caste system!

To be succinct, God created man to have dominion over the whole earth. Not over each other. All men were created as equals. Nobody is superior to anybody. And nobody was created to be less priviledged than anybody. However, for so many, the battleground is in the mind. So, some take their God-given dominion and place it under their equals. While some have an inflated self-image and enforce their dominion over others.

Instead, life should be seen as a race where everybody can be a winner. Everybody is eligible to run in it, irrespective of religious or social backgrounds. Life is a marathon race. Free for all, but dependent on endurance rather than speed. It is not how fast, but how well that would count in the end.

What’s the next step for you now? Lay aside every unnecessary weight that would slow you down in running the life race with endurance. You really don’t need the extra load of sin, bad habits, riotous living or traditional prejudices and unhelpful customs.

Race with purpose!
Race with intent!!
Race in God!!!

Dead Men Aren’t Supposed To Die, But…

3rd October, 2013.

Sad day for Nigeria.

It’s appointed unto man to die but ONCE, and after that judgement. Into eternal life. Or eternal damnation. I’m not one to judge the actions of anybody, but I believe God talks to us in diverse ways. One of them is by nature.

So, what happens when a plane carrying the remains of a dead man crashes? Coincidence? A Supernatural allegory? I’m not one to say. However, what I’m fully aware of is that God is not to be mocked, whatever a man sows, it’s the same he’d reap.

As I’ve said before, I’m in no position to judge anybody. It is however imperative to say this: In our life journey, we should strive to always fear God and love ALL men.

My condolences goes to the families of those that were on board on that plane. May God grant them the strength to bear their losses.

Peace.