TAKE UP YOUR CROSS

I am listening to Morgan Heritage singing Take Up Your Cross. The song is on automatic rewind and I am loving it. The Body of Christ is getting beaten all the time. Christ's suffering did not end with the cross at Calvary, thanks to how you and I treat each other. What does it really mean to take up our cross? Does it mean we can choose and pick the kind of cross we would like to carry? Or are there crosses tailor-made for each one of us? And what exactly is this cross? 

The main reason we are here on earth is to help one another carry their cross by relating to them in a manner that shows they are special and they deserve only the very best. Unfortunately our work places and life in general is full of people whose Sunday is spent in fellowship in church while the rest of the week is spent putting others down. It is as if our minds are hellbent on adding more crosses unto others so they can remain downcast and forever yoked. There are people whose DNA seems to be having an urge to depress, downplay, backbite, back-stab and demean others. These are people whose sole aim is to ensure you and I don’t go anywhere. They are the gatekeepers who prevent access even if they don't get to sample what is there. All they want to do is sit at the high table, while you and I scramble for scraps with the dogs under the table. 

I think these are things we learn right from childhood and I think my sole purpose as a human being and as a man, is to make the children I meet in my work realize they are here on Mother Earth to treat others as a VIP. This means putting the interest of others first, uplifting others and ensuring there is absolutely no ‘mchongowaono’ because it is the worst form of discrimination against humanity. Mchongowaono demeans a person’s dignity and therefore deprives others of their basic human rights. 

The reason I discourage mchongowaono is because we don’t have a choice when it comes to the way we are designed. Nobody chooses, to borrow from a very good friend of mine who wants to remain anonymous, their DNA, their tribe, their skeleton, their hair and their place of birth. We just find ourselves having what we have and we should therefore treat others with dignity and respect. No one had the choice of choosing their mother, their ethnicity or race. No one chooses to be born white or black, tall or short, fat or thin, this or that. We just have what we have and we are who we are. It is a blessing to me that Kenya is made up of ethnicity who shrub (mispronounce) certain words in English and Swahili. I think it is for the sole purpose of humbling us, lest we hold ourselves in high esteem. I am yet to hear someone say they wrote an application letter to their mothers asking to be born this or that. 

I meet wonderful children in my line of duty and each one of them reminds me of why we are human beings and not animals walking on fours, or even crawling. I have had the privilege to meet children from all walks of life. I have met those who carry a part of their lunch so they can share with their mothers back home. I have met those who have so much they throw it away in the dustbin. I have met some who don’t have shoes on their cracked feet. I have met girls who don’t have panties to wear and they use pieces of old blanket as sanitary towels. I have met boys who have committed all sorts of crimes. I have met children who are so ashamed of being human beings they don't want to live. And yet they all have one thing in common: none of us chooses where to be born. 

So purpose to help a colleague at work to get a much deserved break. Put it in a good word for them even if they have better skills, better education, better looks or better talent and skills. Mentor them even if you never got the same from your role models. Help them advance even if they won’t pay you back. Seek out that cleaner at the office, yes the one who has a running nose and get to know their names and what makes them tick. Say hi to the security guard and learn how his children are doing in school. Seek out the new intern, yes the one wearing clothes that expose her belly, treat her as a queen and mentor her. Encourage the one with a lofty dream even if you gave up on yours, help them advance and tell them they too can make it. Look out for them and be their guardian angels as they seek to realize their dreams in life. Help them take up and walk with their cross. Who knows, this simple act could earn you the promotion you have been seeking for years. Helping others is a win-win situation. When we help others grow and advance, we grow as a result.

every human being needs a Simon of Cyrene to hle them carry their cross

And maybe, when you do this you may not even need to paste Bible verses all your desk to preach the Gospel of Christ. People will respond even without you breathing brimstone and fire upon their necks. They will just respond and want to know Jesus Christ from the way you treat them. 

Today I purpose to help just one girl and one boy realize the potential they have to change the world. This is not a distraction to me, it is my purpose. I am still listening to Take Up Your Cross by Morgan Heritage. I told you it is on rewind.