President Uhuru Kenyatta (left) and President of the Supreme Court, the Lord Chief Justice David Kenani Maraga, represent Kenya’s creme de creme both are amazing family men with stable family.
By Silas Nyanchwani
Memo No. 6 From The National Desk of the Welfare of Men.
SUBJECT: Why You Need God in Your Life
The German language is often considered rich, mainly because it is super inventive in capturing certain aspects, certain emotions, certain concepts about life in a way the English language is severely limited.
One word with German origins that has become all too common is Angst. This is a a situation where you are deeply anxious, afraid, for some reason you can’t tell about your situation in life and what is going on around the world. I can add, there is a helplessness about it because sometimes you can’t control your fate. The word was first used in 1800 and its use peaked in the 2010s, just goes to show how helpless we have become in the world we live in.
I have noticed that most men are deeply anxious. Full of angst. Something just ain’t right. Something hasn’t been right for quite sometime.
Granted, much of the anxiety is Covid-19 related but even before Covid, things were not working. Part of the problem is economical. Because without means of sustaining ourselves and our families, life becomes meaningless. And the Jubilee government has really done a number on us. No moral, economic, social, political or spiritual vision. As in there isn’t a single person in the government who inspires any sense of hope or belonging. And this deeply affects us, because we are like people stuck in a road cut off by rains and we don’t know when we will ever get home.
But I have noticed that even among better off male friends, they are just as anxious. I don’t remember in recent times meeting someone who was comfortable, happy, and relaxed. Men are edgy. Unsure about everything.
There is a pervasive feeling of emptiness. Alcohol is not filling this void. Use of hard drugs is not fixing it. Material things, good cars, fancy furnishings in their houses hasn’t filled the void. Marriage hasn’t. If anything, marriage seems to make many men miserable. Sometimes I meet married men and marriage seems to have drained all the passion out of their eyes. But neither have the mistresses they keep and meaningless sex filled the void. Temporary pleasure, yes. But often I meet a man who after seeing off a hot, nearly virginal 20 year-old lady with curves to die for, he is just as frustrated. Not the calming effects that the comfort such an encounter can bring can placate them.
I am there too. Lately, I have suffered a lot of paralysis. Many a day, I can sit for hours with no motivation to work or do anything, or even return that call. Even trying to read an interesting book sounds like a chore. Often I have cancelled a meeting because I felt I had nothing to say when I finally get there. Ever wanted to sit in front of a waterfall and just watch the water fall for a whole day?
Why is life so empty?
I have noticed that each passing year our relationship with God weakens. Even before Covid-19 nearly all my male peers had stopped to go to church. It has become pretty common to argue that ‘God is what is in your heart’. Many increasingly are questioning the conception and composition of the modern church. Rightfully so, if I may add. But it is not the church that is the problem. We have become too absorbed by the world to spare a day and a time we should dedicate to God. We are consumed by meaningless tasks, like work mails, shopping, commuting, watching, or nursing some nasty hangover after drinking Kariobangi brewed Hennessy.
We spend less time praying. We spend less time seeking God. This is made worse by a proliferation of literature that tries to replace God. Nice movies, nice books, nice ‘uplifting’ music, nice novel concepts like Yoga and meditation. All good, but they take us away from God. Because, most of these YouTube gurus and motivation books encourage us to look inside ourselves for help when real help can only come from above. Yet human intelligence is limited. We can learn from each other but human knowledge is fallible. God’s wisdom does not perish.
Hence the feeling of emptiness. I have tried so many things in life, none has given me clarity and contentment than when I look up. The answers are never instant. Sometimes there aren’t answers for every predicament that I face. But one thing is constant, every time I have let Jesus take the wheel, life takes a different sweet turn. And this is not some motivational stuff. It is evident. Every time I try, it works and I always feel sorry for myself because sometimes I carry such heavy burdens, yet there is Someone who can do the work for me.
I urge all troubled men here, no matter what makes you anxious, turn to God. God doesn’t ask too much of you. Just pray regularly. Read your Bible consistently. Work on your relationship with Him regularly. Do the right thing. You will start feeling better and even the problems you face every day, you will get new energy to confront them.
I leave you with this paragraph I read in a blog.
“Relationship with God matters a lot. And it gives clarity to one’s life. Life is too mysterious that you can’t just say you came here all by yourself and the world somehow created itself with animals just forming themselves and stuff. It’s too hard to believe that all these things started happening randomly without original design. Which is why it’s paramount that one builds strong relationship with the creator.”
Have a happy week folks as you renew your engagement with God. Normalise it.
Never walk alone
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