The Last Valley

Dear lovely people,

“The moment you realize that you can have everything you want in life. However, it takes timing, the right heart, the right actions, the right passion and a willingness to risk it all. If it is not yours, it is because you really didn’t want it, need it or God prevented it.”

At dawn, Jobo was far into his journey. He was determined to experience this exceptionally beautiful land as the first from his community such that he could retell the story to the others. It was not an easy journey, the terrain was difficult with twists and turns, rugged lands, difficult woody valleys and hills to go through but Jobo was unyielding.

On the fourth day of nonstop trekking through the most difficult terrains one can imagine, Jobo was almost at his destination. He came out from a thicket with all expectation to set foot onto the ‘promised land’. Just a distance ahead was his destination but one last major obstacle separated him from that joy, that expectation of self-fulfillment. In front of him was what seemed like a bottomless gulf stretching the length of the horizon and about a kilometer wide.

Jobo came to an abrupt stop, convinced his journey had come to an untimely end. True, his destination was clearly in view ahead. He could get the fait sounds of singing birds from the distance and could tell there was abundance of life on the wonder land but how was he ever to get there after four days of trekking and the craziest risk taking?

Jobo sat there dumfounded. What was he to tell his waiting kindred on return? What about his ambition of becoming a hero, the first man to get to that land? One thing he was already sure of was that he could not cross such a frightening gulf all alone. He told himself that even if he got to the bottom of the gulf, there he was not sure to climb out the other way alive. There would certainly be wild animals; carnivores or some mysterious creatures down there just waiting have him for lunch.

You realize that Jobo was driven by a dream that propelled him forward but along the line, just when he would attain his goal, he let secondary discouraging thoughts take it away from him. Doesn't it make you wonder what could happen to your world if you listened to your heart and followed your Big Dream to finish?

Maybe your Big Dream is telling you to start a farm (because that’s where the future you seek resides). Perhaps it is telling you to start a charity organization (which will then help the lives of many).

Your Big Dream is what wakes you up in the middle of the night whispering to you about the screenplay you want to create about your life. These dreams in our hearts, they are waiting just around the corner for us yet if we don't step forward, sometimes blindly with trust, we don't see them standing there awaiting to celebrate our arrival as we round the bend. Do you wonder what will happen if you don't walk around that corner to meet the moment that is beckoning you?

You get the point? I know that inner reality creates outer results. I equally know that our willingness creates the transformation of our world. I know this because life gave me an early life of suffering before joy. Jobo’s Big Dream was short-lived because he did not round the corner owing to what he thought were laws of limitation due to historical pain and so he couldn’t step onto the “promised land”. He stood in agony on the other side across the land that epitomized his dream and separated from him by a harmless valley with a mirage of clouds and imaginary weird sounds.

In all circumstances, I can only attribute the success of any venture to a supernatural assistance from Grace, along with a resolute belief that it was possible to succeed. Jobo should serve as a teacher to many, teaching us that no matter what the dream, if our heart and soul is not in it, the limiting laws of this world will stop us from reaching the summit.