Category: Motivational

Oxygen And Nitrogen Are More Than Gases.

In those days, during elementary school, we were thought that air is a mixture of gases. Oxygen is the most important gas, as all living things need it to survive. Yet, we were told that oxygen only accounts for 21% of air. Nitrogen, which on the other hand, wasn’t necessary for respiration accounts for a whooping 78% of air. I always wondered why this was so. At least, it was only logical for the ‘most important’ gas to be the most abundant by percentage!

But as important as oxygen is, it’s very combustible. If the percentage of oxygen were to be any more than it currently is, every rock that has been heated by the sun would spontaenously go up in flames. And this is where the importance of nitrogen comes into play: Nitrogen, due to its non-combustible nature, slows down the combustible activities of oxygen. Thus, oxygen can support both life and combustion, without things getting out of hand.

In life, we meet people with ‘combustible’ characteristics. They are the bubbly people that like to make things happen. They are usually risk takers. And they are an embodiment of life. I’d call these ones the ‘Oxygen’ people. On the other hand, we meet people who aren’t as charismatic as those aforementioned. They have a cooler approach to life. They could be overly calculative. I’d call these the ‘Nitrogen’ people.

The TRUTH is that God is a God of variety. David, Peter, Barnabas, Paul, John all had different characteristics. He made everyone to be unique and different from others. Imagine how life would have been if everyone were to be of the ‘combustible’ nature. The whole world be on fire. Literally! Conversely, if everybody were to be of the ‘cooler’ nature, the whole world would be dry and colourless. So, does this mean that an ‘Oxygen’ person is better than the ‘Nitrogen’ counterpart or vice versa? No. None of these things makes one category of people to be more important than the other. Instead, we are all required to act to the strengths of our characters and live together in unity.

7 Lessons From The Sons of The Prophets.

Elisha carried a double portion of Elijah’s anointing. He seemed to be involved in every miracle mentioned. However, in a rare moment of scintillating brilliance, the much less heralded sons of the prophets took the limelight in the opening verses of II Kings 6. Their actions are practical and applicable to our everyday living. The 7 lessons are:

1. Don’t be comfortable with your shortcomings: The sons of the prophets found themselves in a tight corner. Literally speaking. They were quite happy to be wining and dining at the feet of Elisha. But they didn’t allow that opportunity to blind their minds to the harrowing problem of limited resources of space they were all facing with Elisha.

2. Speak out: The sons of the prophets spoke their minds out. They didn’t cower in the presence of organized and recognized authority. They weren’t murmuring and grumbling in the background. They presented their thoughts in an orderly and respectful manner.

3. Think Big: The sons of the prophets were not scared of an avant-garde thinking. It is never a sin to think big. You see, it’s only when one thinks big that he’d get big things out of life. The sons of prophets were not afraid of embarking on a large-scale project.

4. Do not procrastinate: It’s nice to have good intentions, but it doesn’t stop there. The sons of the prophets desired to move out of the tight corner they found themselves in. They didn’t wait for good weather conditions. Or when the mood was perfect. They acted immediately.

5. Be willing to progress: The sons of the prophets had identified the problem of limited space. They were ready and had the right mindset to ensure the status quo changed.

6. Plan: The sons of the prophets laid up strategies that would help them attain their goals. They had a good idea of the land to build on. They knew how to get the human and material resources for their assignment. They didn’t have a haphazard approact towards their set goal.

7. Don’t forget the God-Factor: The sons of prophets didn’t assume that their plans, strategies and feasibility studies would get the job done for them. They didn’t think they could do it all. They understood the role God plays in our endeavours. They wisely implored Elisha, whose life oozed with God’s presence, to go with them. And they didn’t regret it.

These very practical lessons would spark a sporadic turnaround in your life. Please pass the knowledge on. Cheers!

Don’t Just Charge, Change!

Probably, you’ve heard a teaching or piece of information that tingles your ears and excites your very being. For the next few hours (or days, if you are lucky), you can’t contain yourself. You blow fire and brimstone. You think you’re ready to explode…

But you don’t. Instead, you implode!

So, your excitement drops back to sub-threshold levels. The energy’s gone and your ensuing coldness makes you cool with everything. You aren’t passionate anymore. You’re merely going through the motions…

Then you hear another one. And this one excites you. You are ready. Ready to start the cycle again. And again. And again.

See, you can get all charged up all you want. But if it isn’t backed up with the desire to change, it becomes as the creaking of an old rusty gate. Trust me.

Yes, you pray and read the Bible. And you’re excited when you do this. But don’t you know it is possible to continually abide in that state? Or even make the quantum leap to the next level of change on the spiritual ladder? This has happened to people before and it is still happening. Charging up isn’t the end of the matter. Change is.

What of an eye-opener regarding your career or life? You’ve heard it before. You’re hearing a similar one again. The good intentions are flowing all around you. Don’t let it stop there. Step forward and do something different than just charging up and running down.

Enough with the sinusodial lifestyle! Stop flunctuating between levels of excitement and those of cold indifference. Instead, let each excitement level be the springboard to the next stage of your journey to destiny. Don’t just charge.
Change!

Sowing In Tears

Life throws things that seem to buffet us all around. We find ourselves pushed to the the wall. We get frustrated. At ourselves. At people who surround us. At the circumstances. At God.

In instances like this, it seems God isn’t interested in us. So, we cry and cry. And cry some more.

Read this exerpt:

‘They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weeping, bearing precious seeds, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him’
– Psalm 126 vs 5 & 6.

Note that the secret in the joy at the end isn’t a function of the tears shared. No, joy is as a result of sowing. Yes, sowing is painful. It’d never be convinient. You’d even be tempted to eat your seed. But I say to you, when you sow, you’d definitely reap in joy!

Are you going through a hard time now? It wouldn’t last forever. In fact, it’s just an opportunity to invest in your next windfall of blessings. Don’t just cry. Sow. Sow seeds of prayer. Sow seeds of time. Sow seeds of love. Sow seeds of money. Just sow. Remember, if you sow tears, you’d reap tares. Sow something worthwhile. It’s well.

Sleepless Achievers: A Poem

Day unto day utters the speech received
from knowledge embedded in shadows of the night.

The valley is crowded like a sealed container of sardines
while there’s ample space on top of the mountain above all
The simply ordinary ones don’t know
or, rather won’t know,
so, they toss and turn,
receiving instant gratification, making
the rewards of the bed their own.

On the other hand, the sleepless
take their destinies into their hands and
violently press themselves into selection where it counts.

Generally, men sleep
and his enemy sows tares into their land
Yet, he gets into the land of the sleepless generals and can only
roar from a distance at the vigilantly sober.

The Father neither dozes nor slumbers and
His children follow His steps in the dark
as He leads them in a triumphant procession,
to the wide and spacious land only daylight reveals.

To The Pessimistic Ones

Pessimism is the uncanny ability to expect and see the worst in everything. In one of my earliest posts (Check out ‘Words Onwards’ on this blog), I mentioned that confusion, fear and its adherent complications arise from a thought. Many fail to see the tremendous amount of latent potential energy that is lying in a thought.
Our thoughts define our emotions.
Our emotions define our actions.
Our actions define our behaviours.
Our behaviours define our characters.
Our characters define our values.
Our values determine what we get out of life.
Take a look down the chain I just elaborated and you’d find that what we get out of life originates from our thoughts.

A positive thought doesn’t consume more willpower than is required for a negative thnught. Why then do pessimists afford themselves the luxury of dwelling on bad thoughts? After all, it’s the same effort it takes to have either a positively beneficial thought or a negatively harmful one.

Renew your mind and consciously make an effort to screen what you think about. Personally, I’m not up there just yet. I believe God would strengthen us all.

Walking Dead

‘Everybody wants to go to heaven, but none of them wants to die’.

For some, the macabre topic of death has become one that is discussed only at funeral services. It is talked about very briefly and in hushed tones. Death is one of the facts of life. In fact, living in a denial of death is the riskiest possible way to live.

The Syrians laid a seige against Samaria in 2 Kings 7. The seige induced a famine within the city. So severe that mothers boiled their babies to eat. Now, there were 4 lepers who were outside the city gates but quite far from the enemy’s camp. In those days, lepers were ostracized because they were ceremonially unclean and could contaminate anything they touched. So, these men had nowhere to go. If they returned to the city, they’d be stoned. Even if they were not stoned, they’d still starve to death. And if they had gone into the enemy’s camp, they could be slaughtered. Like chickens.

With time, these men became unsatisfied with the status quo. They were tired with life caught in the middle on no-man’s land. Besides, they were starving. They knew that there was nothing within the city. But what if the solution existed in the enemy’s camp? The way to know for sure was to find out. Even if it meant losing their lives. That was the point they became ‘Walking Dead’ men!

As discovered later, the attitude of the lepers paid off! They were the first to witness the miracle that God had wrought. This miracle consequently abolished famine within the very city they were ostracized from.

It started when the lepers became dead to themselves. They simply couldn’t die anymore, as they were already dead to fear that had initially imprisoned them.

We all should embrace this attitude in unpalatable situations. When we are comfronted with a need to change our circumstances. Note that unless we say like Esther, ‘…if I perish, I perish’ and brace up to face our situations head long, our circumstances would stubbornly not change.

‘Self-help is no help at all, self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self’

The Morning After

After our exams, the other day, I played video games to stupor. Whereas, a few other people went on to read inspirational books. They just couldn’t stop reading!
After the powerful church programme I had prayerfully prepared for, I went on a sleeping spree.
Whereas, my pastor just kept on praying like nothing happened. He just couldn’t stop!
What do you do immediately after a hard-earned success? Do you bask in the euphoria of completing a taskful assignment? Or you go back to the habit that initially brought the success to you?

After achieving success, the temptation is always there to relax and soak in all the comforts and adoration that success brings with it. After all, success is a product of one’s hardwork. However, the attitude to success is where the delineation between great men and exceedingly great men are made. While great men feel they have earned their rest after achieving success, exceedingly great men don’t do that. They return to the drawing board, restrategize and prepare to strike again. Habits die hard. And that’s why they are always ready to move to the next level.

The Secret of Greatness is The Mystery of The Morning After.

No Equilibrium

There are certain laws that govern the way things happen on earth. I’m not the laws of physics or chemistry. No, I’m talking about the laws of life. These laws have been established by God Himself such that their principles hold in the lives of any individual regardless of religious affliation, age, sex or race. An example of such law is the law of giving. Whoever you are, wherever you are, whatever you do, once you give, you would always receive. That’s how God works.

However, a very important law that its principles govern our activities in life is what I’d call the Law of Equilibrium. I’d state the law simply as, ‘There is NO equilibrium state in life’. That’s the law. And it’s true. The same way a see-saw would never remain at rest in a horizontal plane. In all of life’s endeavours, be it physical (such as working) or spiritual (such as praying), you are either having an upward trend or a downward trend. The moment you think you have attained equilibrium, be careful, you just might have started going down…

Ruminate on this: ‘…No man, having put his hands to the plow, and looking back, is fit…’. That’s the power of Equilibrium!

Bleeding Bland Blood

In the days of old, the eyeballs of the Medical Profession were at the patellas. All were in the darkness of ignorance, groping via trial and error. Dirty gloves were used and reused till they tore. Single needles used on multiple patients. Painful surgeries without anaesthesia. Surgery equipments were not sterilized. In fact, ‘sterile’ was accepted as standard medical practice as recently as the early 20th century. Thank God for advancements in science!

Bleeding was one of the crude practices carried out by the doctors of those days. They would usually bleed a terminally ill patient, with the hope that ‘old contaminated’ blood would be flushed out of the body! As you probably guessed right, these patients were usually bled to death.

The logic behind bleeding in those days was plausible, but was not practical for a number of reasons. For instance, blood is needed to transport materials such as oxygen, food nutrients and waste round the body. Bleeding a terminally sick patient was always going to make matters worse. Also, ‘flushing’ out ‘old blood’ isn’t going to do anything if the basic cause of the sickness was not found. Even if it could, it would take weeks, if not months for the ‘new blood’ to meet the required volume necessary to support life!

Thankfully, doctors don’t bleed patients nowadays. But as individuals, we should NEVER stop bleeding ourselves. Figuratively, of course!
We all have character flaws that we aren’t happy with.
We find ourselves in circumstances we’re uncomfortable in.
We all want a better quality of life for ourselves and loved ones.
But are we ready to bleed?
Are we ready to take a leap of faith and let go of whatever we already have in order to get what we are anxiously looking for?
Are we ready to release the old to make room for the new?
Are we ready to jump headlong into uncertainty?
I can’t answer these questions for you. But as you are pondering on these matters, I wish you a Happy Bleeding in advance.