May 7, 2020 – Osasu Oviawe

The body is designed to take the path of least resistance.

This is the foundation of procrastination, which we are all guilty of in one way or another.

A short story:
I was having very irregular sleeping patterns for about a month. No matter what time I retired to bed at night (09:00 pm, 10:00 pm or 11:00 pm), I was always waking up at 01:00 am, tossing and turning repeatedly, trying to go back to sleep. In most cases, sleep never found me till 04:00 am. By 04:00 am, going back to bed will leave me feeling more tired than if I just continued my day. This lack of sleep ultimately ensured that embraced every day with low energy.
Then I decided that whenever I wake up at 01:00 am, I will jump right into some work. On this occasion, I decided I will jump into completing my book. Instead of tossing and turning at 01:00 am, I would get up from bed and just start working.
From the day I made this decision, I have slept like a baby until between 04:00 am and 05:00 am.
On Day 1 of this observation, I thought it was a fluke and that I will return to my usual programming the next day, but it has been 1 week and I have been sleeping like a baby, every night. My body just decided that it would rather sleep longer than work on my book, which is quite a funny feedback.

My learning:
When faced with a decision that your body seems not willing to support, maybe it is wise to provide an alternative that presents a larger resistance.

– Osasu Oviawe

John 13:16-20
Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. I am not speaking of you all; I know whom I have chosen; it is that the scripture may be fulfilled, `He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’ I tell you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who receives any one whom I send receives me; and he who receives me receives him who sent me.”

Homily:

This is very relatable. We treat people in different ways, depending on who sent them to us. The messenger becomes an extension of the sender.

We even treat gifts differently, depending on who gave them to us, not necessarily based on cost.

It is thus instructive how we treat those that God sends to us. Whether the messenger is a priest, family, spouse, friend or neighbor, do we treat God’s messengers like an extension of God or as a hindrance to our desires?

The parable of the tenants, told by Jesus Christ, describes this even better –

“A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed. “He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ “But the tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. “What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” – Mark 12:1-9

Day: May 7, 2020

An interesting trick

God’s messengers