FULFILMENT

Life for so many people is summarised in strings of activities. I believe life can be lived with a sense of significance and purpose. Let’s consider these virtues this Monday morning:
1. Commit to a cause greater than yourself. You are not the centre of the universe.
2. Value people rather than things. Relationship is more important than silver and gold.
3. Give thanks for what you have instead of complaining about what you don’t have.
4. Celebrate your everyday life. Life is a privilege. Always find joy in what you do.

Commitment: “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, where you go.” It is the commitment to unrelenting pursuit of your cause that produces excellence in life. Every obstacle is simply a course for you to develop your achievement muscle.

Perseverance: Resolute and unyielding, holding on steadily on a course of action in spite of difficulties, obstacles, suffering or discouragement. “And let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us.” Perseverance is not just an attitude rather a way of life.

Practice regularly: This is the key to mastery. Trying means learning, learning means improving, constantly improving means you will eventually become good in whatever your passion resides. The truth is that we all have these virtues in us. Keep dreaming, believing, as you put in your very best, for fulfilment is knocking at the door!

PROCRASTINATION

Procrastination can be a hindrance to our productivity in life. When you procrastinate you are literarily saying two things to yourself, one “It’s easier to avoid this than to face it”. The other one is “It will be easier to handle this tomorrow or at later times” Both stance are not good enough.

There is a cost to procrastination. Procrastination causes problems. Procrastination takes a problem and makes it a crisis. The longer you wait to start, the harder it is to begin. Procrastination wastes opportunities. “If you won’t plough in the cold, you won’t eat at harvest.” When opportunity in life knocks, open the door! Take the advantage while you’ve got it. If you don’t, you’ll miss it. Opportunities lost may be hard to regain. We only have the first opportunity to make a lasting impression
Procrastination can hurt other people. Laziness can prevent us from being loving. Love requires commitment, energy, and work. A lot of people just don’t want to work at being loving; it’s easier to be lazy. Many relationships suffer because sometimes we are unwilling to make the effort necessary to save such relationships. This week let’s take a stock of areas we may have been procrastinating, make the necessary adjustment to live a more productive life

WHY WASTE TIME

The story is told in a Mexican fishing village where a tourist complimented the locals on the quality of their fish. He asked how long it took to catch them. “Not very long.” they answered in unison. “So why didn’t you stay out longer to catch more?” The fishermen explained that their catches were sufficient to meet their economic needs. “But what do you do with the rest of your time?” “We sleep late, fish a little, play with our children, and take siestas. In the evenings, we go to the village centre, see our friends, play the guitar and enjoy the evening breeze together.”

The tourist interrupted, “I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you! You can start by fishing longer every day, sell the extra catches. With the extra income, you can buy a bigger boat, then a second one until you have an entire fleet of trawlers. Instead of selling your fish to a middle man, you can negotiate directly with the processing plants and eventually open your own plant. You can then leave this village and move to Mexico City or even New York City and from there you can run your growing enterprise.”

“How long would that take asked the villagers?” “Twenty or perhaps twenty-five years.” replied the tourist. “And what happens after that?” Well my friend, that’s when it gets really interesting,” answered the tourist, laughing. “When your business gets really big, you can start buying and selling stocks and make millions!” Really and after that?” asked the fishermen. “After that you’ll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the coast, sleep late, play with your children, catch a few fish, take a siesta with your wife and spend your evenings with your friends.” “With all due respect sir, but that’s exactly what we are doing now. So what’s the point wasting twenty-five years?” asked the fishermen. The admonishment this week is for you to define where you are going in life and be sensitive enough to know when you are there, for where there is no vision human has tendency to be distracted by others opinions strongly swayed to accommodate what they think you should be doing. We are designed by God to become great in life, we are not human doing but rather human being. What we become is what we can see from the inside-out of our divinity.

MAKE IT COUNT

Life for so many people is summarized in strings of activities. I believe life can be lived with a sense of significance and purpose. Let’s consider these virtues this Monday morning:

1. Commit to a cause greater than yourself. You are not the center of the universe.
2. Value people rather than things. Relationship is more important than silver and gold.
3. Give thanks for what you have instead of complaining about what you don’t have.
4. Celebrate your everyday life. Life is a privilege. Always find joy in what you do.

Commitment: “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, where you go.” It is the commitment to unrelenting pursuit of your cause that produces excellence in life. Every obstacle is simply a course for you to develop your achievement muscle.

Perseverance: Resolute and unyielding, holding on steadily on a course of action in spite of difficulties, obstacles, suffering or discouragement. “And let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us.” Perseverance is not just an attitude rather a way of life.

Practice regularly: This is the key to mastery. Trying means learning, learning means improving, constantly improving means you will eventually become good in whatever your passion resides. The truth is that we all have these virtues in us. Keep dreaming, believing, as you put in your very best, for fulfillment is knocking at the door!

CONTENTMENT

The story is told of a store opened exclusively to women to assist them in picking their choice husbands. Among the instructions is a description on how to use the store. ‘You are permitted to visit the store ONLY ONCE’! There are six floors here and the attributes of the men increases as you ascend the flights. The rule binding here is that you may choose any man of your choice from a particular floor, or you may choose to go up a floor, but you cannot go back down except to exit the building!

A woman goes to the store to find a husband. On the first floor the sign reads: These men got jobs and love God. The second floor sign reads: These men got jobs, love God and love kids. The third floor sign reads: These men got jobs, love God, love kids and are extremely good looking. ‘Wow,’ she thinks, but feels compelled to keep going. Then she goes to the fourth floor where the sign reads: These men got jobs, love the God, love kids, drop-dead good looking and help with the housework. ‘Oh, mercy me!’ she exclaims, ‘I can hardly stand it!’ Still, she goes to the fifth floor where the sign reads: These men got jobs, love God, love kids, drop-dead gorgeous, help with the housework, and have a strong romantic streak. She is so tempted to stay, but she goes to the sixth floor where the sign reads: You are visitor 4,363,012 to this floor. There are no men on this floor. This floor exists solely as proof that humans are impossible to please. ‘Thank you for shopping at the Husband Store. Watch your step as you exit the building, and have a nice day!

The lesson for us this Tuesday morning is simply, at whatever stage of life we found ourselves as we in put the required efforts we must be grateful, be content with such that we have and learn to enjoy where we are on the way to where we journey. Things may not be as perfect as we planned but remember there will always be room for improvement.

THE ONE YOU FEED!

An old man told his grandson one day, ‘my son there is a battle between the two wolves inside every human. One is evil which gives birth to anger, jealousy, greed, resentment, bitterness, inferiority complex, unhealthy rivalry and competition, lies, deception and altered ego in us. The other wolf is good and gives birth to joy, peace, love, hope, humility, value, vision, kindness, empathy, truth and compassion’. The little boy thought about this riddle and asked ‘grandfather which wolf wins’? The old man quietly replied, the one you feed!

There is a growing battle in everyone to constantly draw the line between good and evil, to choose between what is right or wrong in every given situation. Everyone is confronted with the need to take decisions that can either make or break us. This is just an encouragement this Monday morning; we should learn to feed the wolf of goodness in us at every point in time so it can give birth to a life filled with joy, peace and fulfillment. We cannot afford to feed the evil wolf as the consequences will surely affect our health and emotional well-being. We can constantly feed the good to overcome hurts, disappointments, failures, betrayals, broken hearts and setbacks no matter how long we have held on to them when we learn to take each day as an opportunity to begin again. Paul says ‘one thing I have learnt to do, forgetting those things which are past, I reach out to new things’. Experiencing newness in life begins with a decision to leave the status quo (the mess we found ourselves). Make a decision today to start afresh by feeding the good in us so we can rise from the ashes of failure into God ordained beauty for our lives.

WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW

There was a story of a young man century ago who had a dream of going to the United States. He worked hard and saved everything he could to finally buy himself a ticket. The price took everything he had and soon boards a ship sailing for America. Throughout the trip, he would see people heading toward the dining room to eat. He knew he could never afford the cost of even one meal, so when he was hungry, he would go back to his room and eat from the paltry, dwindling supply of crackers and peanuts. Eventually he ran completely out of food, but he was determined to avoid complaining. He knew that in time he would soon get a job and eat all he wanted. Somehow he managed to survive the Atlantic crossing.

A couple of days before the scheduled dock in the New York Harbours, the ship captain asked, young man I have noticed that you neither come to breakfast or lunch or dinner. Is there some reason?” The young man responded, “Sir I must admit that I spent all my savings just to pay for this ticket and I didn’t have anything left over to buy any meal.” “My goodness,” the captain exclaimed. “I am so sorry that you misunderstood. The ticket includes all the meals! Some things the young man didn’t understand robbed him the privileges his tickets conferred on him!

Living a blessed life is what so many people have not reckoned with in our world. It has been said that we would all be remembered for two basic things, either the problem we were born to solve or the ones we created for others. We must begin from this Monday morning live consciously on the cutting edge and see life as a gift and a privilege. Too often, we tend to forget that those things we don’t reckon with have the tendency to affect us adversely. Offense, un-forgiveness can affect our emotional health. Living a life of joy, peace and fulfilments pays better than holding grudges. We must never allow those things we don’t know rob us of the opportunities to develop relationships with others. Remember, you can never become the centre of the universe no matter the opinions we hold about life issues. Make each day counts.

CORNERSTONE

Who believes what we have heard and seen? Who would have thought God’s saving power would look like this? The servant grew up before God, a scrawny seedling, a scrubby plant in a parched field. There was nothing attractive about him, nothing to cause us to take a second look. He was looked down on and passed over, a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand. One look at him and people turned away. We looked down on him, thought he was scum. But the fact is, it was our pains he carried our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us. We thought he brought it on himself, that God was punishing him for his own failures. But it was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore and crushed him our sins! He took the punishment, and that made us whole. Through his bruises we get healed.

We are all like sheep who have wandered off and gotten lost. We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way. And God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong, on him, on him. He was beaten, he was tortured, but he didn’t say a word. Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered and like a sheep being sheared, he took it all in silence. Justice miscarried, and he was led off and did anyone really know what was happening? He died without a thought for his own welfare, beaten bloody for the sins of my people. They buried him with the wicked, threw him in a grave with a rich man,
Even though he had never hurt a soul or said one word that wasn’t true. Still, it’s what God had in mind all along, to crush him with pain. The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin so that he would see life come from it life, life, and more life. And God’s plan will deeply prosper through him. Out of that terrible travail of soul, he’ll see that it’s worth it and be glad he did it. Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant, will make many “righteous ones,” as he himself carries the burden of their sins. Therefore I will reward him extravagantly the best of everything, the highest honours because he looked death in the face and didn’t flinch, because he embraced the company of the lowest. He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many, he took up the cause of all the black sheep. Happy Easter!

DISTRACTIONS

Disorder equals distraction. And clutter creates lack of clarity and dissipation of energy. Our ability to focus our energy, talent and efforts is paramount to our success in life endeavours. In the age we live, we are confronted with more distractions than ever before. Our professional and personal lives are somewhat intertwined. We must learn how to stand guard at the door of our very active minds. We will never achieve mastery in life by just doing which result in diluting and dispersing our valuable energy, time and attention. Organization may not equal clarity, but it contributes significantly to it. We live in an age that we are constantly being deluged with data. We have a large amount of “stuff” in our lives through the social network medium. Most of it may be good, but all of it also combine detracts from our ability to focus and drive our most desired results. We have to learn to keep tabs on what we allow in. Some may require close discipline all the way but developing checks through systems help to achieve an organized existence which gives us leverage in becoming more disciplined.

 Everything starts with the change in mind sets that clutter both the visible and the invisible kind SHOULD be dealt with. Disorganization is NOT your friend and never has been. Clutter costs a lot. It costs productivity while spending time looking for things that are out-of-place thereby causing yourself a distraction. Clutter also cost peace of mind because whenever you look at the mess, you develop overwhelming feelings which lead to fatigue. And contrary to what many people think creative people do NOT need to be disorganized. The more organization and less clutter we become the more we ALLOW creativity. You may not be able to go from clutter and chaos to order and organization this Monday morning, but you CAN start making the change today. Use your organisers, planners, calendars, technological devices etc. Clutter is toleration worth terminating. Commit this week to create more order and less chaos. Make consistent improvements in organizing your life around your work and life endeavour. Clean out some clutter each day. You can do it and you will reap the benefit of growing to become an effectiveness leader. We should learn to work within order to avoid chaos which most times results in crises. God admonished that all things in life should be done decently and in order.

LIVING FEARLESSLY

Have you ever wondered how animal trainers used to control a five-tonne elephant and keep it from running away? They did it by controlling the animal’s thinking. When a baby elephant was being trained, a rope was put around its leg and then tied to a wooden post secured in the ground. The elephant, which was not yet very strong, pulled at the rope but was unable to break it or to pull up the post. Eventually it gave up. From that point forward when the elephant’s leg was secured it believed it couldn’t get away-even though it was fully capable of escaping, and had been for a long time. It remembered its struggle. That’s one reason it’s said, ‘Elephants never forget.’ And we are like that too. Our thinking limits us, just as an elephant’s does. Usually it’s because of fear. The truth is fear can steal your dreams. You may be afraid of failure. You may be afraid of rejection. You may not want to make a fool of yourself. You may be afraid of trying because you believe you can’t succeed. If you give in to these thoughts and believe that you can’t achieve your dream, you’ll be right-and therefore unable to achieve your dream. Often what we fear has no connection to reality. But here’s the good news: Fear can be overcome. The first step to overcoming it is to believe God when He says about you: ‘…You are my servant; I have chosen you…do not fear, for I am with you…I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand’ (vv. 9-10 NIV).