SOLITUDE MOMENTS: ARE THEY BLESSINGS OR CURSES?

ARTICLE BY DR. AGNES BOATENG. BIOLOGY LECTURER, UK.

*If life throws stones at you, gather them together and build a castle with them.

*If life throws bitter lemons at you, gather them together and make a lemonade with them.

“Do not curse the darkness, find a candle.”

Solitude moments are the moments we happen to be alone and not having too much interaction with what goes on around us.

Many times, they are granted by God.

When God grants you solitude, He is telling you to use your aptitudes to enhance yourself and others. Some people consider solitude moments as lonely moments, but in fact they are moments God creates in our lives to make us think, pray, reflect and restructure our lives and thoughts. These are the times we should think constructively, pray more fervently to empower us, think of new ventures, think of how we can improve how we work, resesrch and learn new skills to better ourselves etc, etc.

Unfortunately these are the times some people moan about how unfortunate they are not to be with friends, husbands, boyfriends, wives, girlfriends etc.

Funny enough, these are the times some people complain of being tormented by the devil and blame withches and hence jump from pastor to pastor and from jujuman to jujuman! But in fact, solutide times are created by God to help us to better our lives and the lives of others. This is why God delays answers to our prayers. He wants us to pray, make positive moves and trust Him to enrich our lives when the time is right. These are not the times to jump from pastor to pastor and from jujuman to jujuman. They all depend on the same true God we all have access to. Even the devil himself depends on God as the overseer of spirits and humans.

All you need is to embrace your solitude moments as a blessing and pray to God to let them be.

Why is it that many scientific developments began with people who were deeply involved with religion? It is because they were people who could be alone for long periods of time and be able to pray and think constructively.

Genetics experiments were initiated by an Austrian monk called Gregor Mendel in the 1880s. In his solitude moments he mated peas of different colours and shapes and grew them in his garden to see the outcome in the offspring. Genetics is now a major scientific arena where many diseases and characteristics in humans, plants and animals are reseached. It all started with one man in solitude.

So, embrace solitude moments and use them wisely. They include the times we go on pension, lose a job, a spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend as well as working or studying away from your family and friends. You should not rush into new relationships. It may even be times when we are unwell. Use the time to better yourself. God knows why He makes these things happen. It is the time He prepares us to be better people in His appointed times. We may encounter hardships most of the time, but it is like walking in a tunnel, you will always reach bright light if you don’t stay at one place and moan for help. Witches may boast….”We are the cause of it all”…..But who is the devil himself when God decides to end your solitude moments when He knows you are matured enough to serve His purpose in life?

God’s purpose for the birth and the death of Jesus was to make himself known to the world as the creator and the sustainer of the universe and its natural components and more.

Throughout human history and the battery of man-made gods and natural objects deemed as gods, none has been able to stand tall and proclaim bringing the universe into being and sustaining it. We hear about sun-god claiming to be in charge of the sun etc, etc, however, none has been bold enough to claim being the architect and the sustainer of the universe, except the only true God manifested in Jesus.

This is the God we need to transform our world and our destinies which were pre-ordained but tampered with by the devil and his demons. To recover from our predicaments, we need to understand the concept of SOLITUDE.

When Jesus was buried as a man, it was God’s plan to put Him in solitude for three days without any interation with the world in order to reactivate Him to make God known throughout the world through His disciples and the people who would believe.

What would have been the difference between Jesus and any other human if He had not come back to life after three days in the grave, as foretold? The resurrection of Christ as foretold empowered the disciples to proclaim the word and this is why we believe and cling to Him!

Without the resurrection Jesus would have been nothing special. We have heard about men of God and men of god who have also performed miracles. However, we have not heard about any of them coming out of the grave after 3 days.

This makes Jesus a special man of God with a special message…..

“Renounce the worship of the created and worship the creator who is the only one with life to give to those He chooses and those who sincerely choose Him.”

Whether you are formally educated or not, God has a purpose for your life and you have a role to play in society to better your life and the lives of others.

“Your attitude towards your solitide moments, determines your altitude in life.”

We need time to be alone sometimes even though we are social animals. We need time to reflect and restructure our lives. Solitude moments should be embraced rather than feared. When God is quiet and not answering prayers, in our terms, He is doing something better for us if we are sincere.

God answers prayers by giving us what we need at any particular moment, not what we wrongly ask for or want, because they may be premature demands that may destroy our lives and His purpose for us in life. Think about a 6 year old girl praying for a husband rather than a story book or a school bag! Do you think God will answer such a prayer instantly? No. It will take years. Sometimes that is what most of us do when we pray. We pray for things that we don’t need at certain times in our lives, so God keeps them in our prayer bags and continues to keep us waiting.

God’s purpose for us is to keep us alive for His glory. He automatically supplies what we need to survive and be able to work for our other needs and wants without us having to pray for it.

Do we ever pray for air???????

The bottom line is that, we do not need to pray for the main thing that keeps us alive….OXYGEN…..we can only survive for 3 to10 minutes without oxygen. We can however, survive for hours, days and even years without most of the things we pray for. God supplies oxygen which is present in the air we breathe in to keep us alive without us knowing about it or praying for it.

With oxygen in our blood, we can have the energy to work for food and water which we also need to survive, but are not as crucial as oxygen.

Plants supply oxygen. As we grow crops and stop cutting down trees, we increase our oxygen supply.

We should cultivate the culture of growing plants for food and flowers for joy as well as trees in our environments as they serve important puposes.

To wrap up, use your time wisely rather than toing and froing aimlessly from pastor to pastor, jujuman to jujuman and whatever you do for miracles to happen, rather than finding something genuine to do for money.

In Psalm 90 vs 17, Moses prayed to God to bless the work of our hands. So what should God bless for you if you are doing nothing but daydreaming and building castles in the air, expecting manna to fall from heaven?

God is a hard-working God. This is why He was able to create a perfect universe. So work hard to better yourself wherever you are.

Life is not like lying on a bed of roses. So, don’t expect a good life without lifting a finger. Your problems will be more than those working hard day and night.

Ponder over these things and restructure your life!

A very Happy Easter and God bless you.

By Dr. Agnes Boateng.

Biology Lecturer, UK.