Recently I was watching a video which was talking about dreams. How often do we get inspiration from our dreams? If I look at how we live today, we tend to be busy and running from one thing to another. Dreams have a long history and as can be seen in the Bible. Remember the story of Joseph in Genesis 37:1-11. This was when Joseph told his brothers about his dream.
From verse 6, Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. He said to them, “
Listen to this dream I had: We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.” His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.
Now as most of us know the story, it came true several years later and Joseph was elevated to the level of Prime minister after being sold as a slave to the Egyptians. He went through many trials and tribulations in Potiphar’s house and was thrown into prison after being accused of raping his boss’s wife, Mrs. Potiphar. He later received help because he interpreted the dream of one of his cellmates and the man forgot when he was released from prison. The man whose dream was interpreted worked for the king. He recalled that Joseph had interpreted his dream in prison and Joseph was asked to interpret the king’s dream which was about a famine. The dream came true and his brothers ended up in Egypt – this marked the fulfillment of Joseph’s dream many years before that.
There are three lessons I draw from this:
1) Dreams do come true. We may not know how fast that will happen though.
2) We should share dreams with those whom we trust as associates, we should be wise on how we share our information.
3) We should be helpful to people whenever they have a problem. We should help people not because we expect something in return but because we know we are always favoured.
How is this related to writing?
It is related to writing because I believe everything starts as a dream. As children many of us wanted to pursue certain careers such as being a writer and there are quite a number of us who have books in them. I have seen this with many people. Today we generally don’t write much due to technology, so most stories will only end up in social media platforms where we simply see them as fun points yet there is so much to learn from those stories.
My devotion today is dedicated to us not to give up on our dreams. We may not know how to execute the dream but have faith that the dream will come true. I urge people to take a leap of faith and the first step of walking into their dream. It may not be easy to write as probably the last time one wrote was a high school composition where we had all the idioms, metaphors and other figures of speech. To write one does not have to be like Phillip Ochieng or PLO Lumumba with difficult language that requires either a dictionary or a student’s companion by your side. Simple English can be used creatively to communicate a message that will assist many people to grow.
Monetary reward should not be the main motivation in writing
Generally in Africa, we are brought up to think the main source of inspiration for doing something is monetary reward. The truth is that whenever we do something with our sole intention being the money we will make, we tend to be living from a survival mode. Some will then ask but how am I to live if I don’t earn from my writings, will someone else support my livelihood? There are many ways to kill a rat, would be my way of looking at it.
A good example is those people who had day jobs to make a living and in their free time would ensure they write an article. I met one such man who used to work as a Barista. Before that, he had been a journalist and had his own production unit. Unfortunately, his offices burnt down and he had to find a way to fend for his family. He once told me that each day he makes Kes 1,000 by writing an article before he gets to the coffee shop. It must have been hard for him to work at the coffee shop but he always carried a smile on his face and had many ideas. Since he had been in that writing world, his English was always on point and so was his customer service. What am I saying? In a nutshell, when life gives us lemons, we should turn them into lemonade.
Conclusion: The story of James Allen
I will conclude with the story of an author called James Allen. He is a writer of the Victorian age and his story is very similar to my Barista friend in the previous paragraph. He grew up at an age where writing was generally for a few elites. He worked odd jobs initially and his career change came when he started working in a library and wrote several books. Among them was the famous book, As a man thinketh and it has inspired many people. The writers those days were very deep theologians too and this contributed to their drive to write. They were quite exposed and wrote solid books. I therefore ask that you keep writing daily, even though it may seem futile on some days, at one point that work of art will be of great use to someone. Like the song that was written 35 years ago called firinda and is now famous in Kenya. God is always working His miracles but they can only work through a man or a woman.
My appeal to you today is, keep the dream alive, keep writing daily and fan your writing calling. When the opportunity comes at God’s perfect timing, you will be ready.
About the Contributor
Alexander Muchugia has spent time from his personal and career experiences to help his clients overcome health care issues (as a pharmacist) for over 14 years. He has provided them with the support they need, preferring to use natural solutions and medicines only when necessary. His focus is on health care, from a personal perspective where the client is able to come up with his or her healthcare solutions and maintain his or her health over the period of their life.
He believes in unique solutions for each individual he meets, so he continues to educate himself on emerging therapies not limited to allopathic medicine to provide the most comprehensive program that works for each of his client’s individual needs.
He received his education at Rhodes University with a Master of Science in Bioinformatics. He also holds a Bachelor of Pharmacy from University of Nairobi. His main interests are in the area of health, writing and real estate development. Writing has always been a passion from his days in high school where his interest was mainly in the area of poetry. However today his areas of interest in writing are mainly in the area of health, the mind and psychology, religion amongst others.
Muchugia is currently in private practice in Nairobi.
Connect with Muchugia:
Email: mucugianganga@gmail.com
Blog:mucugianganga.wordpress.com
Phone: 072291515/0736971515
