Reformation Report

Glued to the tube

The average American, according to the A.C. Nielsen Co., “watches more than 4 hours of television every day, which translates to 28 hours per week, or two whole months of nonstop TV-watching per year!!! In a 65-year life, that person will have spent 9 years glued to the tube”!!!

Spending a 7^th of our lives watching television seems like a lot of authority we give to different voices to plant seeds of thought into our minds. These seeds will ultimately shape and mold our personal belief systems. Our value systems are shaped by the voices and ideas that we are constantly assimilating from our environment. According to these statistics television is a very big influence in our modern society.

As you watch your favorite show this week, ask yourselves, ‘what am I learning from this television program?’ Ask yourself, ‘how is watching this benefiting me, is it adding value to me? How does this help me achieve my goals?’ These are very important questions that we seldom ask ourselves.  As reformers we have to be intentional about everything that we allow into our minds, because what we meditate on and think molds our perceptions and thoughts, and therefore ultimately influences what we believe. The Bible tells us that, “As a man thinks so is he.” In other words, we are what we believe and we believe what we think.

As we ask ourselves hard questions, and face the answers we may not want to ‘hear’, we are better positioned to direct our time as we really want to. You need to know that the outcomes of your engaging in this sort of analysis are life-changing, and far outweigh the effort you invest in doing them. 

1st Anniversary

In October we celebrated the 1^st anniversary of the blog. As I look back on the past year, I cannot help but appreciate every one of you who have been faithful readers from the very first post. We have discussed wide ranging issues, from Cholera to politics, Religion and Relationships. The post about Saint Valentines remains one of the most popular to date. All of these are key in the reformation of our societies. Your responses have been overwhelming.

Seeing different thoughtful contributions from all around the world inspires and encourages me to continue this blog. My hope is that you continue to benefit from the fascinating issues that we discuss weekly.  The more we talk about changing our world the greater our chances of realizing that transformation.

Thank you all may God richly bless you.

 

 

Influence

If we are going to bring about reformation of societies and nations, we first have to have begun the process of transformation ourselves. As we start this process, we can start sharing our understanding with those around us. We only need to be one step ahead of someone else to help them get to the same step. The critical thing is to start now with whatever we have learned. I say that, because as men and women we make decisions every day. These choices influence our actions, and it’s the actions of men and women, like you and me, that changes the course of history, for good or for bad! Reformation is change for the good of everyone. Scales of economies can be changed, institutions transformed. That takes place as we apply the principles of transformation in the places where we live and work.

We all have a sphere of influence, whether we realize it or not. Each of our lives has a purpose and we need to know that our lives touch the lives of those around us.

Even when we face painful challenges in our lives, it’s our response to those situations that can turn the pain into a positive or a negative outcome. There need not be any wasted step in our lives, if we see that everything we do is for a greater cause. As we stand in our spheres, and take up our posts, choosing to live, think, decide and operate on the principles of reformation rather than on the latest popular belief, we will see positive outcomes beginning to take place.

We need to remember though that these principles will build our characters as we take up this responsibility for our spheres. The hardest choice is to stand by those principles with the right attitude, when they are opposed.

This is part of the reality of the principle that, ‘It’s easy to obtain but hard to maintain’, which applies across the board in life. It’s easy to have a child, but much more challenging to maintain the needs of that child. It’s easy to start a business but harder to keep it sustainable. The outcome though is always worth the effort! Reformers live today with the future in mind. 

Are you from Epworth?

A few months ago I visited a township called Epworth on the outskirts of Harare, Zimbabwe. Although this urban community has a population of well over 100 000 people, there has never been electricity or running water, despite numerous applications for them and efforts to install them.

The access to clean water is a basic human right according to the United Nations. But not having water didn’t stop the residents of Epworth from “dreaming”. They dug wells for themselves without government support, built houses, clinics, schools and thriving small enterprises. They didn’t focus on the problem, they thought of solutions, implemented them and survived.

We often face many challenges in life. There are many things that we “have to have” and if we do not have them, we become miserable or discontented.  Thoughts like, “if only I had money,” or, “if only I had …” – we can each  finish the sentence. Sometimes the answer we choose hampers us utilizing our own initiative. Chances are, that most of us and our families are better off than the majority the people who live in Epworth. Sometimes we focus on our problems so much that we forget what we can do. Let’s not make what we have in our hands be the bench mark of what our dreams can be, let’s think big, dream bigger, see and catch the opportunities and watch the God of the impossible enable us as we not only envision but build our worlds.