JB Lifestyle

"Perception is reality", so the saying goes but there is also a wise quote thats says people's opinion of you does not have to become your reality. People are fickle as we know from the new testament, a few days before Jesus' death, he was hailed as king as he entered Jerusalem and soon afterwards he was condemned as a malefactor and sentenced to a most cruel death. People will always have perceptions and attitudes towards you or your life. Sometimes they may praise and be nice to you because they want something from you or because you are wealthy or smart or beautiful. Do not pay too much attention to peoples praise or ridicule of you as long as your intentions are just. What other people think of you is none of your business and you should not be moved to live your life so that you can please others. You cannot please everyone. Live your life well and treat everyone with kindness and respect. Let them talk. God bless you all!

In yesterday's Gospel reading, the disciples of Jesus ask him to teach them how to pray. He teaches them to pray with simplicity and humility, the "our father". In todays world, many people have given prayer a back seat and lost faith. When someone is in a hard situation, their first instinct is not to pray, sometimes people even look at you like you are crazy if you tell them to pray. In my opinion, its not right to take prayer for granted or only turn to God in prayer as a last resort. God loves you and he is always waiting for you but we need to make prayer part of our lives, like breathing, we do not need to think about it! The priest in my local church was saying people come up with all sorts of excuses not to pray, like they are busy and they do not know how or what to say! Those are just that, excuses! We have time to go to bars and casinos, parties, beauty salons and all manner of frivolous things but no time to pray? As for what to say, God is the best of ...

That is just half of a famous African proverb that says "if you want to go fast, go alone. if you want to go far, go together"! In the world we live in today, we are instead encouraged to live by "survival of the fittest" or "every man for himself". How selfish we have become indeed! Life is not meant to be lived like that! No man is an island (Britain). In the wake of Britain's exit from the EU, we should all realize how much we need each otner. I am not speaking just in terms of political alliances but starting with our daily lives. Cooperation is an extremely important aspect of life not just for survival but as a way to improve the quality of life. Every one has something that they can contribute to society not matter how small and no matter their station in life! Lets all try to get along with one another. There are always people who make it hard for us and circumstances which try our patience but we must learn to tolerate one another and ...

Yesterday's Gospel was a reading about how Mary ,sister of Martha chose to liseten to Jesus instead of worrying about food preparations and thus chose the better part! In life we are always worrying over certain things and circumstances but we need to ask oursleves, why the fuss? Our lives are often filled with choices and options and sometimes it even makes it  difficult to decide. Take the example of buying coffee. These days there are so many different types of coffee, it would make your head spin and people sometimes get pissed when the waiter gets the order wrong! (sigh) Mary chooses between all that nosense, so to speak and realizes what is useful and important and leaves the fuss to her sister Martha. The voice of God is the most important thing in life and we need to be silent in order to hear it. You cannot hear God speak when you are drowning in useless trivial pursuits. Mary chose the better part, what will your choice be? God bess you all!

We all have expectaitons about where we hope to be at a certain point in our lives or how things should go in our daily lives but how often these expectaitons lead us to disappointment and are never realised. Shakespeare is quoted as saying " expectation is the root of all heart ache." While some people may use that as an excuse for mediocrity, we need to undersatnd that many times our expectations are unrealistic. Many people also have trouble letting go of certain trivial things. Take the example of a lady whose day is ruined because she broke a nail, or your morning ruined by heavy rain or sweltering sunshine. We tend to expect that our days should be perfect or that people should behave a certain way with us and we get disappointed when things do not go the way we think they should. Life is never going to be perfect or easy! You may not be where you wanted to be in life today but if you wake up each day hoping it will be better than yesterday and working towards...

There is a song by the late lucky Dube about us being one people with different colors. A very maningful song indeed, especially in our times. I hope we have all been following the rise in racial violence in the united states of recent. Just last week in Dallas and minesota, two black men were killed by white police officers. (sighhhhhh) I thought that in this day and age we were making strides in the area of race and accepting people for who they are, especailly in the united states which is a melting pot of various ethnicities and cultures. Its sad to see that old prejudices still lie beneath the surface. Now the united states is tense and people of colour especially seem to be worried about being attacked any moment! Our prayesrs and thoughts are with the families of the victims. We cannot change people without changing ourselves. Violence is not the answer. While it is abhorrent and unacceptable that anyone would stoop so low as to hate and hurt someone else just because ...

In our times, healthcare is apparently a very lucrative business and has turned out to be exploitative. Yes indeed, hospitals and private clinics now charge exorbitant prices for treating patiens and consulting with doctors and those who lack insurance or cannot pay the fees are left to ponder their next move. (Silly me, and here i thought people got into the medical profession to save lives!) Truth be told, even doctors and other people working in healthcare need to earn a living. They work really hard and sometimes with minimal amounts of sleep and have to been on call to handle emergencies. I honestly empathise with them, its a tough job and you have to be a strong person to handle it. That being said, its not an excuse to exploit sick people. I live in Africa and honestly, the quality of health care here is appallling! Sometimes a patient is really ill and we have too many unlicensed medical professionals, especially in the rural areas who will prescribe the patient with pla...

We often do not think about how senstiitve people are. Human beings are like onions, we have so many layers and we sometimes pretend that we have thick skins but beneath the surface of those layers, we are all vulnerable. No one likes to be vulnerable, so we build walls to "ptotect" our fragile hearts from emotional abuse nad heart ache. I personally do not understand how some people can take pleasure or happiness in destroying someone's spirit. That someone can deliberately make it their goal to break you down, it leaves me speechless! Many people today do not care that they are leaving a chain of broken hearts in their wake. People were not meant to be used like things and then discarded. One of my favorite actresses is quoted as saying " the human heart wasn't meant to be put through the abuse of dating." This does not apply only to dating but to all aspects of our lives. We need to teach our chuldren to value people and not things. Our materialis...