Between Humility and Arrogance

".. .Unfortunately sometimes, other people feel superior to others and treat specific classes of others as being little more than human.  Especially, I have noticed that this happens to some individuals as soon as they can append Ph.D or M.D after their names.  In their mind, it is as if the degree or title elevates them above others.  Yet, no matter how famous they become or how much they achieve, we do well to remember that they are still the same peole they were before they had the degree after their name." Ben Carson in "Think Big" p. 194

There's just a very thin line between humility and arrogance.  We are all born humble but develop the traits of arrogance by what happen to us in life, some of which are: the kinds of trainings we receive from our parents, the leadership examples imbibed from our parents, the kinds of group we keep, the positions we hold in our offices, the grades we make in our academic exploits, how successful we are in our marriage and/or  business endeavours, how knowledgeable we are and so on.  All these are matters that influence who we are and how we behave - not that we were born with them.

For instance have you seen a day old baby arguing or puffing up before his or her parents?  No. It cannot be. Indeed most children don’t really show signs of arrogance until their teenage years when they suddenly discover that they are as tall if not taller than their parents or when they, through peer pressure, the begin to exhibit strange behaviours that are alien to their home background.

Many challenges bordering upon arrogance  are easier to combat, except ‘riches'.   The Bible says: “A rich man answers harshly” while poor man is humbled by his poverty.  What gave the rich guy that 'impatient'  attitude?  It his realisation that he has financial capacity more than others to meet certain demands, if not he would be as humble as the rest.  Let’s all admit, unless Christ indwells in us, it is impossible to be rich and yet be humble.  Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit will constantly remind us that even though we are rich, we are not an inch better than other people who are not and will constantly tell us ‘come low, come low’, or ‘humble yourself’. 

Therefore, when God begins to bless you, always remember, it is a grace.  Also remember that members of your family or your friends who are yet to hit their goldmines have their own 'appointed' time to do so.  

So in your behaviour, you should always ‘come low’ to the level of everybody (educated or illiterate, rich or poor, high or low).  Respect elders and let those junior to you be motivated so that both categories of people can see the glory of God in your life.  Let your poor friends realise that you're still a human being like them who have affectionate feelings. 

The thin line between humility and arrogance is that  voice (Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit) that reminds us to ‘come low’. Obey that voice today and always! And it shall be well with you continuously.  Remember anyone staying away from Jesus finds it difficult to be humble.  

Good morning.

Please do not forget to use the reading guide on the right hand side column of this page. 


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You Can Inspire (or Kill) People!

We are all differently gifted. On the positive side, some people have the gift of giving, some of speaking, some of teaching, some of visitation, some of making people happy, some of preaching, some of good counsel, some of turning stones to bread!  There are some people, who, no matter how down one is, their presence or appearance, even without necessarily uttering a word, lifts the spirit!  Such people need to be present in many places to inspire people!

Likewise, on the negative, some are sorrow carriers,  gossipers while some have evil viruses that infect anyone they come in contact with.  Some are just impossible people and they enjoy being just that.

Positive or negative, it is a matter of which side of the coin we want to belong. We can always change at will. Someone on the positive side, might suddenly change to the negative while those on the negative might decide to go the other way.

There was this lady colleague of the writer. She was very aggressive, uncooperative. She can look at anybody, not matter his or her status in the face. If the environment had been peaceful, the moment she came in, it would turn uneasy.

One day, as we were discussing she told us her story. She said she started out life being humble, quiet and very enduring. Indeed she was a very shy person who could not look at anybody in the face. But that one day she just decided to become bold, aggressive, and so on. Unfortunately the time she did this was a crucial stage of her life when she needed to be well-behaved so she could receive favour from the network of people she related with both for marriage and career development etc. Unfortunately, people were scared by her attitude such that promotion, marriage etc eluded her!

That's to say that we all have the tendency to change. But it's a matter of choice. Which side of the divide are you today? If negative, choose to change to the positive. If positive, choose to remain consistent. YOU CAN DO IT! JUST DO IT! IT IS BENEFICIAL FOR YOU TO DO IT.

Remember to read your Bible and pray today. Have a nice day.

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You Are The Head

God's purpose for our lives is to be head in everything we lay our hands upon. (Needless however to say that we should not lay our hands upon evil!)

The promise of God for His children who are students is for them to make 'A's in all their subjects. If it is below, it is because they did something wrong or omitted to do what to do e.g. study hard, pray, and develop self-confidence to attain that height. Solution: Go to God to claim the 'A's that rightly belong to you.

The promise of God concerning marriage is that it be fruitful and peaceful. If the reverse is the case, those concerned need move closer to God. The husbands should be truly "loving and caring" while the wives are "submissive". Then joining their faith together, fruitfulness and peace will reign in their families.

It is not the will of God that people should fail in their careers and businesses. If this is the case, then we must have done something wrong (e.g. cheating our employers, manipulating our ways, using false scales to measure, disregard to moral and work ethics, outright defrauding our employers, selfishness etc) to deserve what we get.

If children are disobedient to parents, that's not the will of God. The parents might have been disobedient themselves in the first place by not implanting in the children when they were very young, the words of God which are the only things capable of softening children's hearts - especially in their teens.

If we retire into penury, that's not God's will. Surely we must have strayed away one way or the other during our hey days!

In whatever way we look at it, God is and cannot be at fault concerning us. Only we need to review our ways and come back to Him for direction, in whatever we do.

Good morning.



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Help Your Husband

Culled from Pastor E.A. Adeboye's  daily Devotional "Open Heavens" of

Wednesday, December  30, 2009

PULL HIM DOWN PARTNER

Memorise: "Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands" (Prov 14:1)

Read: Ecclesiastes 9:7-10

In Malachi 2:14, God said that He is a witness in the dealings between husbands and their wives. In other words, marriage is so important to God that He personally observes what each partner does, either to build or to destroy the home. "Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands" (Prov 14:1). God's original purpose for a woman in the life of her husband is to be a suitable helper. There are two broad categories of partners: They are the Pull Him Down (PHD) partners and the Build Him Up (BHU) partners. Every married couple falls into one of these. A PHD wife is one who takes away something good in her husband, reduces his worth or contributes in any way to dethrone him from where God has placed him. One area many wives have pulled down their husbands is by denying them sexual satisfaction. Some temptations are as a result of sexual starvation while others are as a result of lust.

When a man looks outside because of denial of sexual intimacy, that is sexual starvation. But if after being satisfied by the spouse, the fellow still goes out to sleep with another person, that is pure lust. It is a foolish pastor's wife that will starve her husband sexually. In the make up of the human body, the woman was designed to exercise greater restraint in sexual pull than the man. However, it is pure wickedness for a woman to use such strength to the disadvantage of the man. Quite a number of husbands are sexually starved. From their lustful look at some women, you can tell they are starved. To some sisters, love-making once in one or two weeks is enough. It is not enough! Remember, one major reason for love- making is for oneness. Even after child birth, you have to continue your trip to oneness until your last breath. For the first 35 years of marriage, it is suggested that couples meet at least 3 or 4 times per week. It could be more but should not be less. As the marriage grows older, adjust according to your needs and stamina. Whatever grace you will require to satisfy your spouse, ask the Lord for it and He will give you and bless your union. Sexually starved partners become depressed, resentful, revengeful, uncooperative, bad leaders. They are prone to sins such as masturbation, fornication and adultery, rape, divorce, loose morals, and lust. If you are exposing your partner to such risks, you are a PHD partner.


Action Point: The Christian wife or minister's wife who is nonchalant towards her husband's sexual needs, believing he cannot be unfaithful, is foolishly daring. To avoid disappointment, meet his needs from today.

The Surest Way

to Perish

The Bible says:

“My people are destroyed

for lack of knowledge”

“Because you have rejected knowledge,

I also reject you as my priests...”

(Hosea 4:6 NIV)

Rejection of knowledge

of the word of God

And failure to key into

our God-given talents

To turn them to wealth

Are the best attitudes

To live emptily

And meet one’s heaven empty.

Does God Answer Prayers?

Does God

Answer Prayers?

When you dial a number correctly

Do you doubt that the call

Would go through to the recipient?

Know this well

The same certainty

with which you regard

Your phone call to be answered

by the receiver

Illustrates the certainty

Of God answering our prayers

Happy New Year Expect A Wind of Change

The Wind of Change

Welcome to 2010.  The wind of change is blowing in our lives every day   You ask me how?  And I will explain it this way:  negative as it may be or whoever or whatever is the cause, the present meltdown virus that has infected every facet of human life is a wind of change.  First it nullifies all the claims by man that his wisdom can accomplish anything without God.  

Secondly, it re-affirms the Supremacy of God in our lives and that without Him we are nothing. Isaiah 40 

Thirdly, that nobody can be equalled to Him because all the gods of man failed to rescue him from the hands of meltdown.  How?  Look at the entire global system.  Look at all the industries, especially the Banking and Financial Sectors of the world economy which are thought to be financial ‘witches’ or ‘wizards’.  All of them crumbled when the wind blew and it exposed the so-called experts.  Instead of getting credit, they got blames.  The so-called “mighties” fell.  Indeed, things fell apart and the centre no longer held.

I want you to do something that the writer did. He wanted to see how the previous winds of change had affected his life. On the negative, he observed that his businesses were affected adversely, particularly in 2009. When he looked at the challenges for 2010, they appeared overwhelming.  

However on the positive side, he traced his ancestry from slave trade period to 2009.  Prior to, or about that time, his great grand-parents were slaves in Ilorin. The wind of change blew and they were set free.  But they returned home abject poverty  They missed education. They missed all forms of comfort of life. But when the wind of change blew again, the next generation of theirs enjoyed education through the visitation of God that brought (Christianity) to Africa.  Today the families (paternal/maternal) have produced Graduates and qualified professionals in many fields.

Time was it in the families when ownership of a bicycle was a big deal.  Home ownership was a big deal. But when the wind of change blew, all these became history.

When viewed from these positive perspectives, all the writer could do is to appreciate God.

As you enter into 2010, whatever your situation is today, it is better for you to review your life and see the progresses being made instead of lamenting on things desired but not yet attained. This way, you will appreciate God, express thanks to Him and be inspired to have faith that the same God who did what is can do what is to come in your life. That is, God holds your future and through Him your future is certainly going to be better when He causes the wind of change to blow. 

Trust in this Lord.  Have a fruitful 2010. Good morning.

   

Want to know the fuller details about the writer’s life so as to increase your faith in God, please click here to read his autobiography.

The Value of Daily Devotionals To Your Life

"From my primary to Nigerian Law School, there was no subject or course content called "Unforgiveness". But in my spiritual education as a Christian, it was, it is, and it will remain a CORE subject!"

What will make you a millionaire, make your marriage work, make you excel in your career, guide you through to success in whatever endeavour you undertake in life, most often, do not form part of the subjects you are or will be taught in any formal training school.

Your success and how fast you attain it will depend upon how much information you are able to gather here and there and how well you are able to convert them for profit.   These pieces of information are to be gathered  here and there because they are not stored in one place.  They are stored in books and in people with whom we network on daily basis.  Therefore, to succeed, you need people and a good reading habit.  

On the people's side, making friends is very vital. Therefore those complimentary  cards you receive from people and give out to people yourself are very vital.  If properly managed, they are treasures that will draw you closer and closer to your success.  So keep them safe and make reference to them as the need arises.  Indeed develop an Excel database where you will extract to and store such vital information contained in these complimentary cards for immediate and future references.

On the right hand column of this blog-site is featured a write up (please read it often) on why an average person should cultivate a good and balanced reading culture, how to do so, where to source what to read  and how to read them.  Let me say at this juncture that anyone who is not reading is like a dead body whose bones has dried up.  There's no substitute to continuous acquisition of knowledge and it is a life-time project worth pursuing by everyone who is desirous of finding answers to the issues of life. Knowledge is power. Knowledge is money. Knowledge is recognition or fame.  Knowledge is safety.  Knowledge is security. Knowledge is the key to success.  You cannot afford to be lazy about it!

There's nothing that happens to us that has not happened to someone before.  Such people have solved such problems and when they are happening to us, we need to know how they did it so we can, , apply such validated principles to solve our own problems.  It's only a fool that will want to re-invent the wheels when solution is already available. For instance Books by the reknowned writer Ben Carson offer practical solutions to many issues of life ranging from medicine, faith, temperament, parenting, love, unforgiveness,  peer pressure, womanhood, student-teacher relationship, courtship, marital relationship, God-man relationship,   etc.  A colleague, Mary, once read my autobiography titled "Better Tomorrow" (click here to read it free) and concluded that it is surely in the ranks of Ben Carson's "Gifted Hands" both in context and in content.  When I read that book and the others written by Bennie, I could not but agree with Mary.  You may wish to find this out yourself by reading Bennie and Yemi's autobiographies. What book for instance can equal the Bible in giving us practical solutions to all that bother us?  The book of Proverbs for instance is a must-read for anyone who is seeking for wisdom.

Daily devotionals are one excellent source of gathering useful knowledge on how to handle some vital issues of life affecting us.  Let me explain.  Sometimes in the 1980's I had an encounter with a colleague who offended me so much that I concluded within me that no amount of persuasion, pleadings or spiritual maturity would change my mind.   She was a colleague in the office who was so rude that I felt the best thing to do was to take vengeance myself instead of allowing God to do so Himself.  With my knowledge of the law  I carefully reviewed the case concluded that I had a very good case and very bright chances of winning it.  I decided to pursue it to its logical conclusion.

I initiated a case against her. The matter dragged on for so long.  When it became obvious that she was losing out and it was very certain that she would lose her job, I began to receive emissaries both senior and junior colleagues, pleading for clemency on her behalf.  I stood my grounds.  It did not bother me whether she loses her job or not.

One morning, about the time a decision was to be reached on her case I picked up my daily devotion (then Daily Bread).  What stared me in the face was a case very similar to mine.  I read it and saw how the person offended amicably resolved it and the lessons that followed, I was moved.  Till date, I still remember the concluding sentence in that passage sentence says:  "It is human to err but divine to forgive".  This golden statement hit my heart, my mind and my conscience put together.  I was melted! I went straight ahead that morning to withdraw the case against my supposed 'adversary'!  After this action, I felt relieved deep down me.  All those who were pleading on her behalf  (to whom I had earlier given wrong signals) thanked me and life went on.  I wasn't even interested in whatever happened thereafter.  I was so hit that only 'forgiveness' and nothing more mattered to me and I forgave her.

I thank God I took that Godly decision and I am the better for it today. There and then I decided never to hold anything against anybody any more in throughout my life.  Today I am a strong advocate of FORGIVENESS.   From my primary school to Nigerian Law School, there was no subject or course content called "FORGIVENESS". But in my spiritual education as a Christian, it was, it is, and it will remain a CORE subject!  Yet this topic is so vital that if not permitted to reign in our daily lives, it can make nonsense of our lives altogether whatever achievements we may record.  

If I did not read that daily devotion, I would probably not have forgiven that lady and it would have counted against me before God and man. This is how important daily devotions can be.  They have helped me on several occasions in the effective management of all stages of my life.  Today I use Daddy Adeboye's "Open Heavens".  Through it, God always opens my mind to see how He wants me to behave in any situation.

I therefore strongly advise you, dear readers, no matter how busy your schedules are, please ensure that you not only purchase but make it a (consistent) habit to read at least one passage from any daily devotion of your choice.  This should be in addition but not a substitute to the recommended daily readings stated on the right column of this page! It will be a nice and meaningful way to make your 2010 and the years ahead fruitful.  By the way, DAILY ENERGISER, is a Daily Devotional Material! Read it every day!  Good morning.

Grab your copy of my book "Purposeful Parenting now!  It's only N500  (subsidised price) hard copy and N200 soft for the e-version. . It is available at CSS Bookshop, Lagos. or better still   Text or call me on 08034465225.You can mail me at treasuredynamics@gmail.com It's part of the search for knowledge!
Click here to read Chapter 1

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Does God Exist?

Have you ever asked?

If God really exists

Don’t be alarmed

I had myself asked deeper questions

At one time or the other in my life

Once, I asked myself

If there’s God,

Then Who created Him

Who created the Creator?

Who created the Creator’s Creator, ad ifinitum?

What I got in return

Was more confusion!

During my study of the Law

One golden rule was drummed into us

When you are tracing

the validity of Laws

The moment it leads you

To the Constitution

Of your country

That is the safest spot

To stop asking further questions

It is called “The grund norm” –

The embodiment and source

Of all legality

It is the creation of the people –

The social contract

Signed and subscribed to by them all

Through their elected representatives

At the national parliament,

Or state houses of assembly.

A reasonable Lawyer therefore

Would no longer waste his or her time

Having traced the law

To the constitution of the country

It makes no more sense

To probe further

Just as a good Lawyer

Would stop asking questions

Beyond the Constitution

 Of his nation

Let us wisely stop asking questions

 About God’s source

Beyond the  Bible.

If we want to unveil

What precedes the Bible,

Then at that very point

Our foolishness will manifest

I was once such a fool,

Lost in my thoughts

Until born-again

And soaked in the Word

Returned to reality

Happily unscathed!

Cultivating Reading Habit

It is a well-worn joke

In the Western world

That if you want the (educated) black man

To lose a Treasure

You should hide it

In a written book

Because he will most likely

Never read it

As he hasn’t the reading culture

He is enamoured with certificates

Having left the four walls of the University

He feels self-sufficient for ever, literarily

What a folly!

But the ugly trend

Is taking a turn

For the better now

Although the change itself

Is not fast or encouraging enough

But the truth is:

The more we read,

The better our exposure

The more we have non-fictional,

Emotion-free

and less superstitious answers

To the various issues of life

A person who does not read

Is like a stagnant water

Without freshness

No fish will survive

In such an environment

He is like a baby

Without capacity for growth

He could never bring joy

To his parents

He is like a locked up room

Whose air becomes stale

Which cannot sustain life

Our three-tier school institutions

Are meant to open us up

To a world of life-long research and study

Whatever level of knowledge we acquire

Fizzles away soon after graduation

Without nurturing

So, education is for life

Is a mandatory undertaking

For everyone who can read and write!

Culled from "Positive Flashes" by Yemi Omogboyega




Anyone staying away from Jesus is missing a lot! Don't be one of them for Jesus Loves you.

Why Do We Preach When There is Destiny?

Dear Subscribers to Daily Energiser, 

For some time to come, as I post new topics on your favourite Daily Energisers, I have decided to share with you side, by side, some thought-provoking materials from my book titled "Positive Flashes"  So today, I am sharing the above-topic copied from the book unedited. I will not be posting all, so if you are interested in the whole book, you can just send me a mail at joent2002@yahoo.com   

To move on in this turbulent world, we all need to be, encouraged, ignited or better still, energised. You may waking up someone's dead spirit by simply sharing "Daily Energiser" with them.  So please do not hesitate to freely  share it or give us their e-mail addresses so we do so.   Happy New Year in Advance.  God bless you. Amen.  Yours most sincerely. Yemi Omogboyega

Why Preach?

While relaxing after an important vigil in November 2004, my wife, Mary, suddenly posed this question to me:

Why do we have to preach when everything about man is predestined?

I replied: “Without preaching, many people whose lives would have been changed by it would not be able to attain their God-ordained destiny in life. 

“Think of a man who was destined to become a Pastor but was drawn into becoming a notorious armed robber.  He was eventually caught, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.  In the prison yard, a group of believers came to preach to him.  As a result of which he accepted Jesus Christ. Later on, he received a presidential pardon and was freed into the civil society.  Before long, he became an erudite preacher of God’s word, winning souls to Christ and thereby affecting his society positively.

“Indeed, you know of a junior colleague of mine who was destined to serve God and whose case was widely reported in the newspapers sometime in the 80’s..  She had not born again and was used to reading all sorts of literature like horror books as well as watching dirty films on the counter.

“One day she went to hospital for treatment for a minor illness.  She was injected.  The injection went wrong and she became paralysed from her waist downwards.  She ended up at Igbobi Orthopaedic Hospital where she spent many months without improvement.

“One day some members of the Deeper Life Bible Ministry came to minister to the sick in the Hospital.  As prayers raged, her disapproval was contained in her grumble, “these people have come again”.

“But, suddenly as the prayer warriors came about her, she started feeling some sensations in her legs and before long, felt some movement in her legs.  Finally, she stood up and walked!

Today she is a very active member of the Deeper Life Bible Ministry.  The Holy Bible and Christian Films have replaced all the horror books and disagreeable films she was used to reading and watching.

“In each of the related cases, if there had been no preaching, the armed robber turned pastor would probably have died in the prison while the girl that walked would most likely not have received Jesus Christ as her Lord and Saviour.

“Factually, evil and good thrive together in this world.  Just as the Church, the law, the police, the courts, the prison, our conscience, the mosque, good public policies, morality and so on exist to checkmate the escalation of crime and bad conduct in society so that people can reach their God-ordained destiny in life.”

That is how, my philosophical wife often positively challenges me rather eschatologically!

Anyone staying away from Jesus is missing a lot! Don't be one of them for Jesus Loves you.

Merry Xmas & A Happy New Year In Advace

Here comes another Xmas.  Here goes another

• 1 year called 2009 or one concluded Chapter of our lives' history or 
• 365 days  blank sheets (pages) on which we all wrote some things (good or bad) or 
•  or 8,750 hours (or paragraphs)  
• or better still 525,600 minutes (or sentences)
• or 31,536,000 seconds) characters which computer professionals called 'bytes'

2009, in the next  6 days, will be signed sealed or delivered and it becomes history

Recommended readings for today:

Spiritual Development: Read   1. Prov. of (today's date e.g  if today is 21st, read Prov. 21) . Others: 1 chapter each in : Gen., Psalm  ; & Matthew.  Read them progressively until you cover the entire Bible. 

2. 1 Ben Carson's "Gifted Hands" or Yemi Omogboyega's "Better Tomorrow" click here to read the latter FREE. (It can also be any other book of your choice!) .  Finished these two books?  Go for another one of your choice. 

3. Read at least 1 of today's newspapers; add /or a magazine

I'm too busy to read all these! It is not impossibe to do so. Do your very best. Ignorance can cost you everything, including your dear life! But knowledge will preserve them all.

Action points:    If this article has benefited you in anyway, please share it by sending our link www.dailyenergiser.blogspot.com to your all your contacts AND  advise them to sign-up to receive it regularly.   Better still, send us their contact addresses, we shall (introduce ourselves through you) and approach them to subscribe.  Send us minimum of 50 contacts  at: treasuredynamics@gmail.com now, and receive a e-copy of my book "My Life Is in My Hands" FREE.   Send 100 and above  to receive a copy of "This Thing Called Marriage" (if single) or "Now That You Are Married, Make It Work"  (if married). Send 200 and above and receive both books!

Quote of the day:  "Hormones significantly influence white cells and the body's ability to fight disease.... people who become very depressed do not do well in recovering from disease." - Ben Carson "Think Big" p. 148

Anyone staying away from Jesus is missing a lot! Don't be one of them for Jesus Loves you.

What Roles Are You Playing Concerning Your Children's Future?

"Unfortunately, many people do not realise that almost nothing is ever accomplished by anyone without their having spent some time at it, thinking about it, and analyzing it.  Most people won't stop to analyze.  Some do not even know how to do it well.  Those hwo have trouble with self-analyzing probably need to get someone they trust to help them.)  - Ben Carson (Think Big) P. 158

Whether we are conscious of it or not, before they manifest in reality, everything we do in life is ruled by visions. By the way, what is a vision?  A vision is simply a mental picture of what one wants to be or achieve.  This means that there's always a mental picture of anything we do before we actually do it.  So let's take a situation like these:  "I want to travel to Ibadan".   This is a simple statement made after I had given at least a random thought over what I want to do. The next thing is that I begin to picture Ibadan in my mind. Then I will begin to make preparations towards Ibadan.  I will ruminate over its geographical location, where to board the vehicle or flight (if I can afford that), when to go, my ultimate destination in Ibadan, the purpose for which I am travelling, the duration of my stay, and all sorts of arrangements.  Then I will take practical steps by venturing to go to Ibadan and shortly, am in Ibadan.  What I have simply done here is that I have developed a vision and have taken practical steps that landed me in Ibadan.  Therefore whether we want to drink, eat, travel, school, choose a career or a hobby, write a book, fly,  swim, walk, marry, give birth, work for a particular organisation, we want to commit a crime, set up a business, build a house,  etc whatever we desire to do in life, believe me none of these things happens without first having developed a vision. Without a vision, there is no achievement whatsoever.

Be that as it may, let's ask ourselves, how do we develop a vision.  There are only two ways to do so:  First, it can be developed by the persons concerned themselves or they be assisted to develop it.  A child sees a Legal Practitioner in his full regalia. He admires him and wants to be like him.  Then he comes up with a statement, like this "I'd like to become a Lawyer when I grow up".  From that day his eyes become opened to everything legal practice and therefore gathers more information that helps him to reinforce his belief in becoming a Lawyer.  Eventually, unless he changes his mind along the line, he will end up becoming a Lawyer.

However, there's another child, almost completing his basic education but really has never given a thought to what career choice he would tailor her readings to when she steps into a University.  (Can this be?  Yes this does happen, especially these days when youngsters hardly develop their own visions).  But someone somewhere (who knows the nature, the character traits, the strengths and weaknesses, the talents, and so on  e.g. parents, uncles, friends, brothers, teacher, religious leaders, etc) of the child in dilemma may counsel that child towards choosing a particular career path.  If she buys into it, then she begins to self-analyze such advice and gradually picks up several reasons why she should follow the counsel (or reject it).  If she buys the idea, then she works at it and eventually becomes successful in that chosen path.

Ben Carson in his book "Think Big" at p. 159 has this to say, "This (self-analysis)  is what people must do, regardless of their socio-economic background.  To make the most out of life, all of us need to stop, think, (and analyze) , and use the talents God has given us."

There are less problems with those who are able to develop their own visions and naturally and passionately pursue them by themselves.  They are already fired towards a particular direction and it will be very difficult to talk them out of such paths.   The issue, however are those who are unconscious of who they are and hereby are unable to develop their own visions.  Such persons (whether our children, relatives, friends, colleagues, etc) surely need proper help to be able to develop their own visions and work towards actualising them.

However, to do it successfully, a word of caution is needed.  It should be done based upon the full knowledge of the total personality traits (e.g. unique talents, demonstrated academic or vocational ability, natural instincts, etc) that will without push, ordinarily trigger off the person being assisted.  Advise must not be given based on the personal aims and ambitions of the Counsellor or his or her likes for the person being guided.  Bennie rightly summarised with the story of a particular parent who got it all wrong while their smart child got it perfectly right!  The story, which I think is highly instructive for us in whatever capacity we are acting (parents, friends, relatives, colleagues, religious leaders, guidance and counsellors, etc) is quoted below:

"I want to point out one big mistake I have noticed particularly among the rising middle- and super=middle-income families.  The parents who themselves never achieved try to take over the lives of their children and decide their future for them.  The same is true for families that push their children into areas of study in which they themselves have achieved, assuming that their children must follow the same occupation.   In both instance,s the parents are pushing, trying to channel the youngsters into areas for which they may have no talent.

For individuals to take a stand against that pressure is not easy.  Immediately, I think of my friend, Hamilton, Mosses II - we call him Chip Moses.  His great grand-father, grandfather, and father were all Harvard-trained lawyers.  Quit naturally, the family fully expected Chip to be a Harvard-trained  lawyer, too.  Chip did go to Harvard but bucked the system.  Instead of law, he chose medicine - and the family was not happy with his choice.  

This man who stood against family expectations ia a highly talented physician today.   He also "happens" to be vice-president of Johns Hopkins Hospital.  In the area of medicine, Chip has excelled because he recognised that his talents lie in the scientific sphere.  

Chip is the kind of individual who declares, "I will not be channelled by history or family pressure into a certain area.  I will stop and recognise my own talents and then use them appropriately." 

I think we all have some great lessons to learn from the above story.  Good morning.

Recommended readings for today:

Spiritual Development: Read   1. Prov. of (today's date e.g  if today is 21st, read Prov. 21) . Others: 1 chapter each in : Gen., Psalm  ; & Matthew.  Read them progressively until you cover the entire Bible. 

2. Ben Carson's "Gifted Hands" or Yemi Omogboyega's "Better Tomorrow" click here to read the latter FREE. (It can also be any other book of your choice!)

3. Read at least 1 of today's newspapers; add /or a magazine

I'm too busy to read all these! It is not impossibe to do so. Do your very best. Ignorance can cost you everything, including your dear life! But knowledge will preserve them all.

Action points:    If this article has benefited you in anyway, please share it by sending our link www.dailyenergiser.blogspot.com to your all your contacts AND  advise them to sign-up to receive it regularly.   Better still, send us their contact addresses, we shall (introduce ourselves through you) and approach them to subscribe.  Send us minimum of 50 contacts  at: treasuredynamics@gmail.com now, and receive a e-copy of my book "My Life Is in My Hands" FREE.   Send 100 and above  to receive a copy of "This Thing Called Marriage" (if single) or "Now That You Are Married, Make It Work"  (if married). Send 200 and above and receive both books!

Quote of the day:  "Hormones significantly influence white cells and the body's ability to fight disease.... people who become very depressed do not do well in recovering from disease." - Ben Carson "Think Big" p. 148