Happiness Comes From Within
You may get worn out by anxiety when you struggle to receive approval.
Happiness doesn’t come from trying to prove a point to others or trying to get people to like and approve of you.
It will come from doing the things that you love and connect with, without expecting accolades or approval.
Many times, your happiness gets tampered with when you become concerned with the accolades, approval and recognition – all external factors. (Psalm 128: 2, Ecclesiastes 2:11)
‘Extraordinary’ Isn’t Reserved For Certain People
Anyone can be extraordinary in one/more areas of their lives as they choose.
This is not about rank, status or money, though these may and should come, eventually.
Being extraordinary in this context simply means still being the ordinary you but far better than average (in one area) – someone who is excellent under objective scrutiny.
The greatest is the person who sacrifices and serves more than the others.
The greatest are the people who make the most sacrifices to serve and be of value in one/more areas of their lives.
Anyone can be great (Matthew 20: 25-28).
The sixth episode of The Chosen comes fully packed.
The miracles, the dialogue, the acting, everything blends together in this episode to make the character development and subplot unravel perfectly.
The two miracles we witness happen in controversial situations. Jesus could have easily walked away from healing them but defied the odds and showed them compassion.
This reiterates the fact that the love and mercy Christ has for humanity is indescribable.
One major scene in this episode is shot in Zebedee’s house and it features the healing of the paralytic.
It would seem like an ordinary scene with different components and conflicts going on but surprisingly, the chaos blossomed into a bursting delight.
We see through the eyes of Matthew and Nicodemus how the miracle they witnessed created a quest, a yearning for truth, much of which will be depicted in the coming episodes.
Indescribable Compassion portrays Jesus as a friend, teacher, the saviour and most importantly, the son of God.
PS: To watch this episode, download The Chosen app here.
Please read our review of The Chosen’s Ep 3, The Wedding Gift.
What exactly is so special about weddings?
Is it the attendant dining and wining coupled with the merriment characteristic of such events? Or the joyous ambience accompanied with noise or perhaps the likelihood of seeing new faces who are gorgeously dressed for the occasion makes the whole idea of this celebration so fascinating?
No matter our opinion about weddings, you would agree with me that it is one of the happiest moments in the couple’s life.
No doubt Mary the mother of Jesus, played by Vanessa Benavente, was definitely excited about the wedding she had been invited to by her best friend. We see the glow in her face as she arrives at the wedding venue.
Another guest who had been invited was Jesus, Mary’s son and you can be sure he took his friends along for the event. Is that not typical of some of us? At the feast, there was something different about this ordinary guest who had been invited as time would later tell.
Just at the time the wedding was getting interesting, a mishap occurred. This was something that would bring shame and humiliation for the couple and their families, more daunting was the fact that it was going to leave an indelible imprint upon a supposed glorious day.
In such a situation you would do anything to avert such a heavy cloud of disgrace on yourself, and of course, the solution for averting such catastrophe would be the best wedding gift anyone could ever give to you! And indeed it was for this couple. You would want to see their reaction.
In this same episode, Peter receives a call. This ordinarily should be fine for a bachelor who only had to look after himself but how do you explain this when you are a family man with mouths to feed? How do you tell your wife that you are leaving your source of income to follow a man you just met to a destination shrouded in mystery? What reaction should we expect from every wife? Is this call a gift or a burden?
Episode 5 of The Chosen’s Season 1 tells us how we can share in other peoples joy as well as their pains through the simple act of giving.
Watch Season 1 of The Chosen from their app here.
Please read our review of The Chosen’s S1 Ep4: The Rock On Which It is Built.
Desperate times calls for desperate measures and this is the situation Peter finds himself; owing taxes and defaulting on the deal he made with Quintus, the Roman Praetor. However, the toughest challenge is telling his wife, Eden, about his present situation. “Maybe God will get your attention now!” These are the words Eden tells Peter as tears run down her cheeks.
But how did he get here? How did he put himself in a mess only God can pull him out from? Will he be able to save his house and family, how will he pay his taxes? Don’t ask me; watch this 48-minute packed episode!
The series of events in this episode builds up to the beginning of Jesus’s ministry; the miracle of the fish and selection of Jesus’ core disciples. Andrew is shown running with a burst of excitement to tell Peter that he has seen the Messiah; the man they have been praying for but he (Peter) is unbothered and has lost his faith in God. The only thing on his mind is settling their debts.
Peter sets out to the sea, troubled, and with no hope, he needs a miracle and he is desperately counting on it. With no fish caught, Peter and his friends head to the shore where they meet Jesus. The moment he tells Peter to cast his net, Peter explains the ordeal he faced all through the night but Jesus did not flinch, so he cast his net and he couldn’t believe his eyes! (Yes, no spoilers).
Peter, a man who needed a miracle to save himself, got one of the most referenced and talked about miracles when all hope was lost.
Do you find yourself in a similar situation, don’t fret, God is still in the business of doing miracles!
PS: The miracle of the miracle of the fish is one behind-the-scenes video you should watch. You can find it on The Chosen App here.
Please read our review of The Chosen’s Ep 3: Jesus Loves The Little Children.
The third episode of The Chosen starts slow and quiet. We meet a curious little girl and her wary friend who stumble on a wood craftsman all by himself in a sparse, middle-eastern forest.
This episode gives a graphic background to the passages of the gospels; describing a time when Jesus spoke to the little children. Jesus’ human side was well depicted as the children increased in number with every visit, helping him work as they asked him numerous questions.
In their big, sincere eyes, there is a childlike wonder that seems familiar, they draw the viewer in to their conversation with Jesus and it leaves us asking for more. The episode felt rather solemn; the quiet way he spoke, it was almost sorrowful to watch as some of us could see ourselves in those children and yet remembered all we had read and thus, what was to come.
The signature way the character who plays Jesus, (Jonathan Roumie) introduced himself by quoting Isaiah 60 takes one’s mind back to the time Jesus stood in the temple and did the same thing.
This episode showed that children are much better followers of Jesus than we adults; they asked questions and were open to corrections and learning new things. We loved the serenity of the episode and it ended with a simple gift to Abigail that showed God’s premeditated love for us through Christ.
Have you seen The Chosen yet?
All episodes are available on their app which you can download here and watch for free.
Please read our review of The Chosen’s S1 Ep 2.
How would you feel if the President of a country, whom you hold in high esteem pays you a visit uninvited? Especially when he passes by other houses and decides on your unspectacular house?
Sounds unbelievable?
That is exactly how Mary must have felt in Episode 2 of The Chosen when the doctor who healed her of her infirmity without collecting a dime showed up at her doorsteps for Sabbath. More important was the fact that she did not invite him, yet, He found her.
I want such an August visitor, who wouldn’t?
But just before Sabbath, we witness the events of the day in the lives of Mary, Nicodemus, Simeon Peter and Matthew. We observe as Matthew display a matchless level of courage before the Praetor of Judea, Quintus, from whom he went to confirm if Simon Peter and his brother’s taxes had indeed been waived by the Roman Officer as alleged by Peter in exchange for a job for the officer.
Read The Chosen’s S1 Ep1 Review
Matthew learnt that their taxes had been waived for a job which required Peter to spy on his brethren and bring names of those who worked on Sabbath and were tax evaders. An act considered as betrayal and greatly disapproved by his brother, Andrew.
In the same episode, Nicodemus to his uttermost dismay got information that Mary Magdalene upon whom he had earlier performed religious rites to deliver her from demonic possession, though unsuccessful, had been miraculously healed, a task which he had earlier deemed humanly impossible. He embarks on a quest to find out how this came to be.
They all seemed to have had a busy day but what was much more interesting about these characters was how they celebrated Sabbath.
One had so much friends all around for the events. Isn’t that what we all want? Another chose money above his family, the one who wanted to spend time with his family was not wanted by them while Mary had an august visitor! From all these, what can we learn?
So what makes Sabbath so different from every other day and how did these people prepare towards it?
How should we celebrate what we consider to be the “day of rest” in our society? Episode 2 offers us the requisite answers to these.
Download The Chosen App here to watch the series for free.
Watch Season One’s trailer here.
This feeling of inadequacy is clogging up fears In my throat I’m struggling to breathe in ENOUGH air for a day
I’m struggling to see the light my ART shines in dark tunnels
I’m struggling to see the FREEDOM bursting like light in many hearts
I stare at the stage and wish I were behind the pulpit
Spewing sleek words that must have been dry-cleaned for years
I yearn for the cameras to click on my face as I sashay even though I know my art isn’t a hundred percent
I forget I’m enough at where I am because I take my lessons
That I don’t have to prove a point, I only have to study and write my tests so every day, I can look at the score sheet, at the improving grades
And thump my chest, knowing, believing in the goodness of this PROCESS.
Everyday, I’m enough
I’m enough as who I am and who I’m evolving into
Ifiokabasi Okop
© 2020
Christ a poet 