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.