FATHERS DAY 2017 – FOND MEMORIES!

I was just telling my colleague how dad went to be with the Lord on a Father’s day of 2015. For sure dad will always be remembered by us all as a family and friends. No one can understand the gap we feel like now, but the fact remains, dad did a lot for us in a way we cannot express merely with words.

Many might know him as Kapepe, Kata and all manner of names he was called, but to us, dad was a very special person, full of wisdom and humour. He had his weaknesses but it is in those weaknesses that we were perfected as his children. I had and still have a deep desire to know God in a deeper way and this was because dad gave that environment that made me seek God on a personal way. For sure, dad sacrificed for me to be what i am as much as he is not here with us to see me as a living testimony.

I fondly remember dad for many things, but there are these two things that I will always remember him for, one, for being my earthly father and secondly, the person who ushered me to the job I am currently in. One day, dad came home with this jovial mood and turned my world by asking me to apply for a job he had seen in one of our Daily’s. This happened when i was a first year student at St Mary's Secretarial College Isiolo, where i applied for a job he had seen advertised in the newspaper for a post of Copy Typist. He really wished me so well despite that I did not pass well in my KCSE because I was sick when I did my exams at Mulango Girls High School in 1993. Obeying his advice, i applied for the post using my first year results as the post of the Copy Typist needed the papers I had obtained in my first year training, which were stage I’s (ones) and II’s (twos). - This is a language known by trained secretaries. Today, i am a Senior Assistant Office Administrator in the Government of Kenya, courtesy of my dear Dad Jasper Gatobu Mariene who wished me so well and wanted me to be someone in the society as opposed to the words he used to call me when he was not sober. I picked the positive aspects and moved on. For sure dad was a HERO in his own way and that is so special to us, as a family. Those who knew dad, knows him very well for his love of alcohol which finally resulted to his demise. But that is not my point. My point is, he was my Father despite his weakness and I am here to celebrate him two years after his demise. Dad died on the Father’s day of 2015 and thus every time we celebrate Father’s day, I always feel we all celebrate him whether we know him or not.

My father will be remembered always because all my brothers and sister including me, God has blessed us with children whom we have named after and thus his blessings came in FULL. I remember in his last days, when our last born brother brought his girlfriend home, dad was very excited and happy for him. He even became happier when this beautiful lady gave birth to a baby boy to crown his legacy! Of course this boy was also named after him and thus we have four children named after our father! What a blessing? :) His remark was, “Now I can die in peace because my last born son too, has given birth to me”. For sure dad did not live long after his remarks, as the sickness weighed him down so fast and finally succumbed to his sickness and went to be with the Lord.

We miss dad so much but at the same time, we celebrate him because he left a legacy that can never be lost nor fade away. Celebrating all what he did positively makes me feel so joyous and happy that, God gave us an earthly father who lived with us for over seventy years and loved us for who we are and gave us the best he could. We also celebrate our Heavenly Father who is all in us and we cannot forget to thank him for the many years He gave us to celebrate with our dear Father Jasper Gatobu Mariene here on earth. All glory and honour goes back to Him because he is so good to us the MARIENE’S. As we all sing - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqybaIesbuA

God bless you all for reading my tribute to my dear dad. Rest in Eternal Peace Dad, till we meet again!

Fondly remembered by your dear wife Teresa Tirindi Mariene, your daughters, sons, son’s in-law, daughter’s in-law and grandchildren, Rose Gatobu, Caroline Gatobu, George Gatobu, Isaac Gatobu, Basillio Nthiga, Caroline Mugure, Caroline Bundi, Collins Munene, Calvin Muthuri, Innocent Gitonga, Ethan Mutuma, Roy Mwenda, Christine Nkatha, Silas Waiguru and Hubert Mwirigi respectively.

YOU ARE AS IMPORTANT AS ANYONE!

In the eyes of God we are all equal and thus the Bible tells us that, God is not a respecter of persons. In the past used to walk so down cast because I felt not worthy. Most of the time when one is insecure, they would feel everybody and everything is against them. I will agree with that opinion because, I suffered so much of rejection which has never stopped to date.

But I got this secret after many years of suffering, that, you can never please everybody. You can only please yourself and a few people who will appreciate you for who you are. This great breakthrough came to me when I once listened to Pastor Joyce Meyer, a lady I love because she has taught me so much from her teachings. Joyce suffered so much because of the abuse she received from home. I will not delve in her story, but her story is not very different from many of our stories and thus God put her there to encourage us.

For you to be accepted you have first to love who you are, it does not matter how people look at you. Just a few days after I shared about myself and how people take me, call me and say about me, I visited this place and a lady looked at me directly and told me, I looked familiar. To help her, I told her, I am a staff in the institution we were at, though working at a different working station. She recalled me and said “yeah I remember you, you were in this section some years back, I wondered where you went, and just the other day, I asked someone about you and they said you left to another station. I told her, “Yes it is true I was transferred. Not long, another colleague came in and made the same remark that I looked familiar. Reiterating, I told her I am one of them. She asked me my name and I told her my first name “ROSE”. She was very excited and told me that, she could see I am familiar but she could not really get where we had met. Immediately she shouted, after I said my name and said, “by the way, now I get it, you are “Rose the Thorn”. Shocked and not believing she just said that, I laughed out loud just to make it look like a joke and we all laughed hysterically.

Pretending, I was not that amused, but just put the show to get more information why I was called that, I asked this lady why I was called “Rose the Thorn”. She told me because, from the outside I am a very beautiful lady like a Rose but inside me there is a thorn. True, Roses as in flowers, have this description which is a fact about them. Then I asked her politely and trickily why people said that. She said, “Because you are very tough and I do not entertain nonsense. If someone brushed you the wrong way, they will face the music in terms of the thorn inside you.” I got it. For sure, do not meet me when I am angry because you will doubt if I am a child of God. I am saying this because those who have experienced my thorn can attest to the statement. But this is not the problem because as I have always said, I can never pretend to be what I am not. I am always so real to a point I do not mind anyone branding me any name when I am in my worst state. The point is, do you go looking down about yourself because of those two or three weaknesses/flaws you have and you always think you are good for nothing?

I will not lie to you, after I got to know I am “ Rose the Thorn” I went asking myself, really? Am I that bad that I am called all these names? I went really reasoning with myself and asked God to just reveal to me what is this that makes people call me names. Some names are good others are so bad. I will never forget when I was in class four; there is this boy who used to call me “typewriter”. I never understood why, but one day I got guts and asked him why he called me that. He told me, it is because I talk one hundred words per minute. For sure, I have lived knowing my talkativeness is a very bad thing and thus I hated who I was.

Today I love who I am because, God had all the reasons to create me the way he has and I do not need to get any negative approval from any man because God loves me just the way I am. If God was qualifying people because of how good and perfect they are, then I do not think anyone in this world would qualify. So, why would someone pin you down using your weakness to prove a point? Please do not agree to that. If we will appreciate who we really are and love ourselves for who we are, then we will not have all these problems around us about competitions, gossiping, jealousness, backbiting, slandering and my list is endless. You are fearfully and wonderfully made and thus no one should define who you should be. You should not fake it to make it as I hear many people say. They justify this statement that, in order to survive in this world; you have to fake it to make it. THIS IS A BIG LIE. Do not forget this will not last for long because at some point your real self will come out and you will pay the price for all what you have been faking to be all the years you have faked it and especially if you have been gaining wrongly.

Someone said in Swahili, “malipo ni hapa duniani.” This means, “Nothing will go unaccounted for on this earth”. I want us to know, we were all created for a reason and a purpose on this earth. One should work on pursuing more of their purpose than listen to the negative voices that come our way to dis-value us. It is unfortunate today to fit anywhere; you have to have a show so that you fit it. My motto is, I will always be real even if you take me to be a fool. This is because, I tried to be a people’s pleaser in the past and I never won anyone. In any case, I suffered so much trying to; to a point I was left like a pauper who has to go begging for approval. Having a personal relationship with my God has given me so much peace of mind that today; I do not mind how people see me or call me.

You are there and you feel so down cast because people have tried to weigh you down, they say you are good for nothing; they call you names that you cannot really relate with? I want to encourage you and give you hope where there is no hope. Do not mind about the frogs in the river. If you are thirsty, go and drink your water. The noise the frogs are making should never scare you because, frogs are created to make noise day in day out. If you will listen to the noise of the frogs, then you will die thirsty.

Believe in yourself; prove to the world you are not what they think you are. This can never be achieved by faking it to make it, but to be real. It is in your realness that you will know exactly who you are, and then you work on your flaws. Do not be cheated by anyone there is anyone who is perfect in this world. We are all in a process of being made every day we wake up. We learn our lessons every day and we become different as the day dawns.

Today I wanted to encourage you and call you by who you are that, you are chosen, you are unique and nobody will be like you ever. Love who you are and work on your weakness and embrace your strengths.

DO YOU HAVE A LOG ON YOUR EYE OR A SPECK?

Sometimes, when we think others are very wrong and you want to reach out to them, rethink and look at your weaknesses because you may be the cause why they are behaving the way they do and look so wrong.

What am I talking about? When someone genuinely loves you and cares, do not take them to be desperate. When someone wants you to take a bold step of faith, what they are doing, they are helping you to stop depending on yourself and stop fearing to make more mistakes as they do not love you because you are perfect. Please depend on God and not your failures nor your strengths. So, stop telling them they are helping God to help you make your mind to make a certain decision. When one is vulnerable to you and face you boldly by saying things as they are, they are not trying to belittle you or undermine your ego, but they are trying to make you be responsible and very decisive amidst all the mistakes you have made because they love you either way. In any case, they wish you well and even if things do not go well, they will stand by you. If things go well, they will celebrate you and celebrate with you your victories. So, man up/woman up.

When someone wants to know whether you are reading from the same page and you respond like you are being pushed, then, the thing here is, stop wasting people's time as time lost is never recovered, so be real it does not matter what, because you will never meet an angel as angels live in heaven and you are not one of them either. People are hurt more by actors but real people hurt for a short time as when reality dawns, then you will respect them for who they are, as you are never better than them but a compliment.

When those you have hurt run away from you, it means they are looking for space to heal and move on with life because life is not about you, but what makes them happy and also note that, they have not backslid but they have made a better decision not to sit and wine over their loss, but open a door for those who embrace them for who they are.

My point today is, please stop removing specks on other people’s eyes, but remove the LOGS in your eyes FIRST!