A Positive Quote for Now

"We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty."— Maya Angelou


When I Joined My Catholic Church Youth Group

A True Story
by
Copyright ©
Picture related to the title of the story
With permission, I've extracted this picture-quote from AZ Quotes. All rights reserved worldwide.

In December 2005, a month after finishing high school, I joined my hometown Catholic Church youth group and became its piano accompanist. Besides the singing we did, we shared many moments together, some happy, some sad.

Some of the happiest moments we had were when we gathered for meetings. And some of the saddest moments we had were when we went to offer our condolences to bereaved members.

As for the meetings we had, I became rather outspoken when I aired my heretical beliefs. But the good thing about the youths was the way they listened to me without passing judgment.

I however have to admit feeling shy during most of the meetings. I particularly remember one meeting we had in December 2005 when I failed to shine socially as a fella called Tony gave out folded pieces of paper randomly.

Whoever received a paper was required to unfold it and answer the question in it aloud. The questions were about youth issues. One youth received a paper that asked her to tell us about her sex life.

Perhaps because the youths were in a buoyant mood that day, I feared Tony would pick on me, so to speak. I must have even wished the meeting would end soon. Luckily, he didn't.

Oh, I also felt shy when acting as a soldier in the nativity plays we staged on Christmas Eve. Peter Munene, a fellow youth who acted as King Herod, sent icy currents of fear down my spine as he asked us how many boys we had murdered.

All in all, I enjoyed being part of the youth group in which I formed lasting friendships. Some of them have asked me whether I still play the piano. I do.

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RECOMMENDATION: If you've enjoyed this story, you might also enjoy "How to Build Self-esteem".
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From Rivalry to Brotherly Love

A True Story
by Thuita J. Maina
on Sep 13, 2019
Copyright ©
Picture related to the title of the story
This is my brother Paddy with his wife when they were dating.

One day in 1999, Dad pinched me as Paddy watched from a distance. And lo! Paddy teased me about the pinching later on. Whenever I did something that displeased him, he would tell me that was why Dad had pinched me.

A few weeks or so later, I heard that a pickup driver slapped Paddy as he walked home from school. Reason? For hanging on the pickup as it drove by. It was my kid brother who told me so as he was with Paddy that evening he hung on the pickup.

I must have been delighted to hear that because I remember making up my mind that if Paddy teased me again about Dad pinching me, I would remind him of the slapping he had gotten from the pickup driver. But he was a clever teenager, for he never mentioned the pinching again.

That however didn't stop him from teasing me. The following year when he realized I had fiddled my school report form, he kept confronting me about it, even telling me he asked my classmates what position I was in class.

Fortunately, I improved on my scores in the KCPE exams I sat for in November 2001 and made it to Starehe Boys' Centre, the then top-ranked high school in Kenya where Paddy was a student. When I reported to the school on a Thursday in January 2002, I probably thought Paddy would shun me given the way he liked teasing me.

How wrong I was if I thought so! He greeted me from where he was seated in the assembly hall when the whole school converged for evening assembly that day. After the assembly, he took me for a walk in the school and introduced me to his friends as his brother.

And he told me it would have been better if I had reported to Starehe on a Friday instead of that Thursday for a reason he didn't explain. It wasn't until I had been in the school long enough that I realized Fridays were more exciting than Thursdays.

On Fridays, all teachers attended evening assembly, and during the parade that followed, the school band marched on the quad, playing music. What made Fridays even more exciting was the supper we ate: cabbage stew and cornmeal cake (ugali) - my favorite!

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RECOMMENDATION: If you've enjoyed this story, you might also enjoy "Sibling Shenanigans".
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Bible Quote

"Always be full of joy in the Lord; I say it again, rejoice! Let everyone see that you are unselfish and considerate in all you do... Don't worry about anything; instead pray about everything; tell God your needs and don't forget to thank Him for His answers. If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand."

~Phillipians 4:4-7 (TLB)

About the Author

Name: Thuita J. Maina
Marital status: Single
Lives in: Kiserian, Rift Valley, Kenya
Mission: To inspire the world to godly living, one person at a time.

Just for Laughs

There was this drunkard called Azoge who loved drinking at Josiah's Bar. On being told a certain Hon. Nanga was flying to America to be conferred a law degree so that he could be admitted to the bar, Azoge replied, "Why fly all the way to America to be admitted to the bar while you can get into Josiah's Bar any time?"



The 7 Deadly Sins

  1. Pride
  2. Envy
  3. Gluttony
  4. Lust
  5. Anger
  6. Greed
  7. Sloth

Author's Note

I am learning to treat life as a journey, not a destination; I have therefore given up the things that weighed me down and I am now living my life to the fullest because the tomorrow I had always hoped to live my dreams may never be mine.

Fun Facts

  1. The fear of having no cell-phone service, running out of battery, or losing sight of your phone is called Nomophobia, reportedly affecting 66% of people.
  2. A single Google search needs more computing power than it took to send Apollo 11 to the moon. The Apollo computer was less equipped than a modern toaster.
  3. Besides being some of the biggest names in the tech industry, HP, Apple, Google and Microsoft share another commonality. They all started in garages.
~Extracted from Codingforums.com

Health Tips

"So many of us take for granted the wonderful construction of the human body and the workings of its various parts. Some of us even expect it to function efficiently with less than the minimum care and attention. Learn the much you can about your body and how the care of it can help give you that greatest blessing of all - good health."

~From Your Body (A Ladybird Book)

Wonders of the Modern World

  1. The Simplon Tunnel
  2. The Sky-scrapers of New York
  3. The Boulder Dam of Colorado
  4. The Panama Canal
  5. The Golden Gate Bridge
  6. The Taj Mahal at Agra in India
  7. The North Sea Oil Drilling Rigs

The Kind of Leaders We Need

"My life in politics was a joy. I loved campaigns and I loved governing. I always tried to keep things moving in the right direction, to give more people a chance to live their dreams, to lift people's spirits, and to bring them together. That's the way I kept score."

~Bill Clinton

Scientific Marvels

  1. Space travel
  2. Heart surgery
  3. Fibre-optics communication
  4. Concorde
  5. Radios
  6. Computers
  7. Anesthetics

My Supreme Desire

To borrow the words of Elbert Hubbard, my supreme desire is to radiate health, cheerfulness, calm courage and goodwill. I wish to live without fear, hate, guilt, worry and jealousy; to be honest, natural, confident, clean in mind and body - ready to say "I do not know" if it be so; to treat all men with kindness; and to meet any loss, failure, criticism and rejection unabashed and unafraid.



Greatest American Presidents

  1. Abraham Lincoln
  2. George Washington
  3. Thomas Jefferson
  4. Franklin Roosevelt
  5. Theodore Roosevelt
  6. Woodrow Wilson
  7. Andrew Jackson

Making Peace With the Past

"Dwell not on your past. Use it to illustrate a point, then leave it behind. Nothing really matters except what you do now in this instant of time. From this moment onwards you can be an entirely different person, filled with love and understanding, ready with an outstretched hand, uplifted and positive in every thought and deed."

~Eileen Caddy

Toughest Colleges to Get Into

  1. MIT
  2. Princeton
  3. Harvard
  4. Yale
  5. Stanford
  6. Brown
  7. Columbia

Why You Should Trust God

"Men and women who turn their lives over to God will find out that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities and pour out peace."

~Ezra Taft Benson

The 7 Greatest Scientists

  1. Albert Einstein
  2. Isaac Newton
  3. Galileo Galilei
  4. Nikola Tesla
  5. Aristotle
  6. Archimedes
  7. Charles Darwin

You Matter

"Always be yourself. Never try to hide who you are. The only shame is to have shame. Always stand up for what you believe in. Always question what other people tell you. Never regret the past; it's a waste of time. There's a reason for everything. Every mistake, every moment of weakness, every terrible thing that has happened to you, grow from it. The only way you can ever get the respect of others is when you show them that you respect yourself and most importantly, do your thing and never apologize for being you."

~Unknown

The Most Industrialized Nations

  1. United States
  2. Japan
  3. Germany
  4. France
  5. United Kingdom
  6. Italy
  7. Canada

Keys to Success

"...in his effort to withstand temptation, to economize, to exercise thrift, to disregard the superficial for the real - the shadow for the substance; to be great yet small, in his effort to be patient in the laying of a firm foundation; to so grow in skill and knowledge that he shall place his services in demand by reason of his intrinsic and superior worth. This is the key that unlocks every door of opportunity, and all others fail."

~Booker T. Washington

The 7 Social Sins

  1. Politics without principle
  2. Wealth without work
  3. Pleasure without conscience
  4. Knowledge without character
  5. Commerce without morality
  6. Worship without sacrifice
  7. Science without humanity

Cherish What You Love

"Cherish your visions, cherish your ideals, cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts - for out of them will grow all heavenly environment, of these if you but remain true to them, your world will at last be built."~James Allen

The World's Largest Cities

  1. London in England
  2. New York in the United States
  3. Tokyo in Japan
  4. Berlin in Germany
  5. Chicago in the United States
  6. Shanghai in China
  7. Paris in France

Benefits of Optimism

"In terms of success, optimistic people out perform their pessimistic colleagues. Research shows that they are consistently promoted higher and make more money while working fewer hours than those who think pessimistically. Optimists also contribute more significantly to social progress. It is the optimists who start and run successful companies, who win elections and carry out reforms, and who make breakthroughs in the realms of science and technology."

~Pepe Minambo

The World's Greatest Lakes

  1. Caspian Sea in the Commonwealth of Independent States, C.I.S. (formerly U.S.S.R)
  2. Lake Superior in North America
  3. Victoria Nyanza in Central Africa
  4. Aral Sea in C.I.S.
  5. Lake Huron in North America
  6. Lake Michigan in North America

Demonstrating His Love

"Take your communication for instance - the way you address others. It ought to be with loving, gracious and edifying words. Never talk people down. Never use words that hurt and demean people. Communicate excellently with others without destroying their self-image or making them feel sorry for themselves. Talk to people in a way that they never forget the excellence of your words, the love and grace of Christ that you communicated. It's how God wants us to love."

~Dr. Chris Oyakhilome

World's Longest Rivers

  1. Missouri-Mississipi (U.S.)
  2. Amazon (Brazil)
  3. Nile (Egypt)
  4. Yangtse (China)
  5. Lena (Russia)
  6. Zaire (Central Africa)
  7. Niger (West Africa)