Tuesday 28 February 2012

On-Route (Njia): Reflections at Nomndeni

On-Route (Njia): Reflections at Nomndeni: Stream in the backyard At this present moment I am sitting in a workshop on the outskirts of Nelspruit, having the cool breeze drift i...

Reflections at Nomndeni


Stream in the backyard 
At this present moment I am sitting in a workshop on the outskirts of Nelspruit, having the cool breeze drift into the window beside me. How lucky am I that I got to wake up this morning, stand on the balcony and see the sun rise over the nearby stream and hear the birds chirping away.

I am amazed by how peaceful it is out here and how the air just smells crisp even though there has been no rain, everything is greener and I can see these little creatures on nearby tree branches with no concern in the world.

This tends to highlight the wonder of mother nature to me and how simple it all seems in this complex world of ours.

In this day and age we tend to make our own lives difficult with the constant demands on our time, the rush, the hurry and the digital wave where we go no-where without our Blackberry, Tablets or Notebook.

In all of this haste we forget to live and admire the beauty.

I urge you to take the time to enjoy the grass between your toes, to admire God’s creatures (big and small), to enjoy good food,  to take time to pray/ reflect, to love (just for the sake of it) and too live this life and not wait for the next.

Today is it, so enjoy it! 

Friday 24 February 2012

Let them dream, let them live


I see so many parents trying to mould their children into little versions of themselves, pushing their little ones into dreams that they themselves could not fulfil and forgetting that the child needs to find his/her own dreams in this world.

Kahlil Gibran says it perfectly;

Your children are not your children. 
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. 
They come through you but not from you, 
and though they are with you, yet they belong not to you. 
You may give them your love, but not your thoughts. 
For they have their own thoughts. 
You may house their bodies but not their souls, 
for their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, 
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. 
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. 
For life goes not backward, nor tarries with yesterday. 
Kahlil Gibran

So let us not use our children in this life to live our dreams but rather encourage them every day so that they know they can live their own.   

Let us let them dream! 

Monday 20 February 2012

"Gives good loving"


Freshly Ground - Pot Belly 

Regardless of how many times i listen to this song, it still gets me singing along after all these years :-) 


On-Route (Njia): Finding gratitude in the midst of my vanilla tea m...

On-Route (Njia): Finding gratitude in the midst of my vanilla tea m...: The last two weeks have been really crazy, hence I am sitting back today with my steaming cup of vanill...

Finding gratitude in the midst of my vanilla tea madness


My Vanilla Tea  :-)







The last two weeks have been really crazy, hence I am sitting back today with my steaming cup of vanilla tea to reflect on some of this madness.

Work has been a constant rush of meetings, deadlines, documents and excel spread sheets. The constant “hurry hurry” of it all just never seems to end. My days and night time dreams have been plagued by rushing from one point to another.

This week I am taking back my sanity, one step at a time. I am no systems slave and I refuse to sit here hating every minute of it.  From here on out I am focussing on my gratitude list, this week I am grateful for;

  • GOD who never forsaking my needs and knows my hearts desires better than I do
  • Family (as crazy as they may be),
  • LOVE that always seems to amaze me just when I think I have seen it all,
  • My home (that I get to share with the most loving man in the world, even when he gets on my nerves ),
  • My life experiences (because without them I would not be who I am today), 
  • Good food and wine (because it feeds my soul), 
  • People who have done me wrong because from them I have taken the lesson of truth and learnt to FORGIVE,
  • Good Education because with it has come a sense of liberation that I cannot even begin to explain.
I am also so very grateful for the many things that are still to come in this life; those planned, those surprises and those set out for me by a higher power. 

Thursday 9 February 2012

On-Route (Njia): MOM

On-Route (Njia): MOM: When I was younger I was very sure I was adopted cause I am nothing like my brother and sister but now years later and many moon wiser I r...

MOM


When I was younger I was very sure I was adopted cause I am nothing like my brother and sister but now years later and many moons wiser I realise that I am indeed my mother’s daughter.

A small tribute to my mom for the many years...

My mom is a bit of an eccentric
Her spirit is wild, free and her advice comes without a fee.
She has taught so many lessons;
about love, life and patience
about growth, forgiveness and peace

Her strength is unimaginable,
she has lived through segregation,
a broken home and an unappreciative husband
Yet her spirit is still intact
And her relationship with God remains a journey she takes on with a smile.

Her home has at some point been refuge
To the homeless and to the broken
She has cooked her meals with love
and with the little she has i have seen her feed every one of her family members.

My mom may not have changed the world for coloured girls like Oprah did, but for me my mom has led the way to greatness.

From her I take my poise,
I take my drive
and my open look on life.

From her I have learnt the beauty of life
and that being different is good
and being me is enough. 

Monday 6 February 2012

Serenity Prayer


God, give us grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.

Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,

Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,

Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.

The Full Original Copy of the Serenity Prayer
by Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971)