Flying Colors

Dear lovely people,

It was amazingly incredible but Samson was called up to the table of honor either to receive an award or to be decorated eight good times. He was named all-round student, best school delegate, best class delegate, best male science student, most organized student and the titles continued... Some of the parents at the ceremony, sat there gaping at him in total amazement.

Before the end of the day, Samson’s parents were equally called up and decorated parents to the most outstanding student and for playing a tremendous role contributing to the excellent performance of their son. All of them left the ceremonial ground shoulders high and admired by many. A woman walked up to Samson’s mother and told her how she wished she could take her place. Many are those who thought Samson’s father was graceful.

How many times in a year do you wish you should have been somebody else when they excelled in a particular field? How often do you actually invest the required time and resources to break such bounds? That’s where the issue lies, many are the time we see, admire and even crave outstanding achievements of others, forgetting completely the sacrifices underlying such outstanding achievements. When you see somebody riding a million dollar car or living in an expensive mansion, those are phenotypical expressions or symbols of great sacrifice that was invested at some point to attain such levels.

You just like them, have your own dreams and aspirations in life and nothing except yourself can hold you back from attaining them. The next time you come across such people, instead of craving to replace them which I think is futile, their achievements should rather inspire you and motivation you more to focus on your own dreams and to attain their status.

The only way to be talked about and admired in high places, is to pay the required price. You have to undergo the pain, the sacrifices needed and do the right things in their right dosage and at the right time to get what you admire in others. It never pays to be somebody else, it pays to emulate their good example in the spirit of working hard so you attain similar and even higher heights.

Know Thy Worth

Dear lovely people,

You must have read that the first step in any educational process is to know thy self as Plato puts it since ancient Greek times. Know thy self translates to Self-knowledge which is all-encompassing. What is learned on one scale of experience can be applied to all scales. It is the highest form of knowledge, surpassing all other knowledge. Self-knowledge is also timeless, which means that what is gained in one era, benefits all subsequent generations.

Ironically in today’s world, many people are having trouble discovering themselves. They are lost and trying to find someone or something to save them from pain, suffering and sorrow. Many are those who repeatedly fail to realize that in order for someone to discover self-worth, you must first look within and if you don’t take the initial step, why should you expect anyone to follow and help you?

For those of us on the quest for greater achievements in life, Allan Rufus admonishes “Life is like a game of chess. To win you have to make a move. Knowing which move to make comes with IN-SIGHT and knowledge, and by learning the lessons that are acculated along the way. We become each and every piece within the game called life!”

In other words, you have to know your worth. In life, it is you and only you who can allow people to treat you the way they do. Your energy, confidence and attitude is the currency that others will transact with. I come across men and women alike who have settled for less, and simply “accepted” cards dealt because deep inside, they don’t believe they deserve more. I’m sure you know of someone who seems to have it all together in their life, but when it comes to success or relationships, they just can’t seem to shake the habit of dating douchebags (men or women alike who have an over inflated sense of self-worth, compounded by a low level of intelligence. Behaving ridiculously in public with no sense of how moronic they appear).

I have a message for you: Self-knowledge could position you for the best especially when you follow Mandy Hale’s advice “When you refuse to settle for less than the best...the best tends to track you down.” Create your own lane. Run your own race. Life is not about keeping up with the Beyoncé’s or the Akon’s. Believe in yourself and live the happy life you want without thinking about what others will say or do. The late Michael Jackson didn’t think about what the general public would say about his Moon Walk - he didn’t care. Michael danced like no one was watching because he was 100% comfortable with himself. It’s all simple, strive to Know Yourself and to Know Your Worth in life.

All Is Not Lost

Dear lovely people,

While Sandas packed his belongings from his former desk, he concluded all was lost for him. It was the fifth job he had just been fired from for almost always the same reasons; late coming, patchiness, lack of concentration, lack of attention to details, deceitfulness and chronic procrastination. How could all of these find themselves in one person? The same person who believed he was working tooth and nail to get a better life for himself and his future family. It was however clear that Sandas was no stranger to his own behavior.

Three months later, Sandas was already in the red, with bills to pay and having been rejected from three job interviews. Time was not on his side any longer. On his way home one evening, he met a mad man on the road who insulted him, telling him how stupid, hopeless and dreamless he was. At one point, Sandas could not belief it was a mad man talking to him, he even thought that the man was some pretender purposely out to remind him of his unbecoming attitude.

The mad man’s words kept on resonating in Sandas head the rest of the night and the next day, “how could a mad man describe him so succinctly?” he kept on asking himself and so decided to retrospectively examine his life and his journey towards prominence. That is when he realized that there are times in one’s life when things are so bad it is as if all hope is lost.

Sandas realized how much of a mess he had been to his own growth path and because he decided to retrace the right path, he told himself it was time to examine each of the negative descriptions labeled him and to improve upon them.

For the first time again, Sandas was browsing through his Bible and stumbled on Psalm 25:16-17 “Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. Relieve the troubles of my heart and free me from my anguish.”

There is not a feeling we can have that God is not aware of. He knows when we are hurting, lost, lonely, and afraid. When we cry out to him in our affliction, he responds tenderly. While our troubles may not go away, his loving response to our prayers can help us face them with renewed strength. And as Hebrews 4:16 advices “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”