“When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of TRUTH and LOVE have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it–always.” ~Mahatma Gandhi~

WWN Reflection 02.19.2014: “There were dark times in our history; when twins were thought to be evil and murdered in ‘evil forests’, a time when blacks were slaves and ‘properties’ of their owners, when women couldn’t vote, wear pants, inherit property, young girls were crudely mutilated and circumcised, when widows had to be punished with gruesome acts if they outlived their husbands, (such as drinking the water used to bathe the corpse, sleeping overnight with the corpse!) And the horror is that some of these practices still persist in some places across Africa, even till this day!

I remember an incident that shocked us as a nation in the 90’s when a man was brutally beheaded in Kano, Northern Nigeria. Even more crudely, his head was paraded on the streets, as a sort of effigy, on a stick, with a crowd chanting in glee, all because of prejudices based on faith/creed/tribe. And there have been many, many such unbelievable incidents since then….

It is interesting that to this day, people still use MIS-use biblical/quoranic verses to support their ‘beliefs’. The danger of thinking that another human being is ‘less than’, breeds a society that is disconnected from decency and such environments are fertile grounds for darkness to reign supreme. Nothing good ever comes from this fallacy. And so today, more than ever, we must be careful not to make laws and treat people based on hate/fear/prejudice. To disagree with someone’s choices does not give us a license to degrade, punish or destroy.

Perception is projection and what we are, is invariable what we see reflected back at us. And the biggest ‘devil’ that we should fear is the shadow that lurks within each of us and clouds our sense of justice, love and forgiveness. We create the society of our dreams or nightmare, the choice is ours. 

Often, we are quick to take on the role of God and become quasi-judges of others and in so doing, we make our lives difficult and complicated. We forget that the most important teaching and role that we are called upon is really simple: To love God and to love our neighbours as ourselves. We forget that it is in love were we all created, with love were we moulded and through love were we redeemed.

We sometimes depict closed judgemental values and see others as different, separate or less than we are. This is at the heart of our dis-connect and pain as a society. And yet, perhaps, the more universal truth is that we are all connected, grace abounds to all and we each have the capacity to heal, share, connect, create, tap into and bear witness to God’s love in our lives.

The power of UN-conditional love gifts us with the ability to be free and also free others around us. We are all invariably connected and we are called to hold SACRED SPACE on behalf of one another. May love find you willing, ready and open. The freedom we enjoy now, is but an answer to another person’s cry, sacrifice and prayer from the past. Someone dared to stand up and fight for the path we tread today.

Whose path are illuminating with your light? Who are you standing up for? How are you spending your money to uplift the world around you? Who are you lending your time to? What are you expending your energy on? And who are you offering prayers for? The answer is ALWAYS to love and if that fails, simply choose to love even more!”

Have an abundantly blessed day. Remember to sow seeds of love, service and value.

In the words of my beautiful friend Shelley Lundquist : “If you think with your head, there are many answers BUT if you think with your heart, there’s only ONE.”

——————————————————————————–

The preceding is a guest post from Juliet Ume, MBA –Strategic Interventionist, Wealth Management Consultant & Leadership-Coach at Whole Woman Network. Juliet is the author of the upcoming book: ‘UN-Locking Your HeArt of Leadership.” She is an avid Life Connoisseur and a passionate advocate of WomEntrepreneurship, Leadership Training, Investment & Financial Literacy for women. Her mission is simply to engage, educate and empower women (and men), regardless of their levels of income or background, to return to ‘wholeness’ and live Healthier, Sexier, Wealthier Lives using Faith-based, Scientific and Universal (Common-Sense) principles! She shares her daily reflective posts on: www.facebook.com/wholewomannetwork. Follow her on Twitter: @wholewomaninc, @julietumeinc