Your match to greatness can start now. You can make a new beginning. That you made a mistake and failed yesterday is not a guarantee that you must fail tomorrow. It is alright to make mistakes. They are integral part of our existence. We learn from them. If you are afraid of making mistake, you are already making a mistake. No man ever became great or good except through many and great mistakes. Successful people know that failure or making a mistake is an important part of the learning process. Do not try to defend your mistake, it is no crime. When you make a mistake and then make an excuse for it, you have made two mistakes. Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom of making mistakes. If we study history, we will find that all stories of success are also stories of failure but people don’t see the failures. They only know of the end result and think it was got on a bed of roses. Even if they know of the past failures, they will praise you for your courage and persistence.
No matter how bad your past might be, believe that your future will be good. You are entitled to every good thing. Therefore expect nothing but good. Don’t let regret of yesterday replace your dreams of tomorrow. The past is past. The incontestable fact is that the past cannot be changed. All that matters is from this moment onwards. No matter how long one had lived in scarcity, abundance is still possible. Again, no matter how long one has been on the wrong road, he always has a chance to make amends. If you think your past disqualifies you from moving forward, then you have not understood the grace of the Most High. He always has more for you today than you lost yesterday. A man’s mistakes cannot frustrate the Creator’s plan for his life as long as that man is willing to redress his steps. No matter how much one has messed up and missed it, he can still make it if he means it. Our need is our only claim on divine mercy. Stop taking your life journey into the past. Keep your eyes on the road and use your rear-view mirror only to avoid trouble. Many have proved that failures plus more effort may be equal to a great success; because in every defeat there is a lesson showing you how to win the victory next time. Seeing the past may help you to find answers about the past with the hope of securing the future. Experience does not cancel capacity. Your ability is never limited to your experience. You can do more. The more you do, the more and better you can do. Mistakes increase experience, and experience decrease mistakes. Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do the better. What we have to learn, we learn by doing. Life is very interesting; most of your experiences today become your strength tomorrow. Pain is that which comes to us when we are in error, and through suffering we are turned back to the path of truth. An inventor was asked why he failed six times before succeeding, he answered, “no, I did not fail rather I learnt six methods that did not work. What you call failure to me is the price I paid for my success”.
As a human being, you will make mistakes in arriving at truth. Be happy that error has disclosed truth. Don’t allow your errors to erode you. Failure is not an event but an opinion. Let the scientists tell you what they mean by scientific experiments. Whenever you fall, pick up something. He that lost anything and gets wisdom by it is a gainer by the loss. The things that break your heart are the things that open your eyes. So, in telling of your mistakes, avoid the phrase “if only” and use “next time” and your mistake will become a stepping stone for a greater height. By a positive mental attitude you can find the advantage that is always present in every disadvantage. A failure is nothing but an experiment that will help you find out what is true. Missing a road makes us to know the road well next time. Mistakes increase experience and experience decrease mistakes. But as true as this can be, it pays to be meticulous in all your actions. Let ‘precision’ be your guide. Every time a boxer swings and misses, he expends more energy than when he hits his target; so he learns not to beat the air. Nobody is created to be a failure. Those who fail are those who have not discovered their own way of success. Never accept failure as your portion in life. Your destiny is glory. Your position is at the top. If you will believe, all things are possible to him that believes, but that all things are possible does not mean that they are easy. What is possible at times may be difficult to achieve. Another way of saying “success” is “breakthrough”, meaning that it does not come easily. You have got to break the hard shell before you can eat the nut. The Creator gave Israel honey in flint rocks. No easy road. No free meal. No “free of charge”.
Every great man is great because he desired to be, planned to be and made an effort to be great, and none had found it easy. The bread-seller of today could with greater determination and divine assistance be the best baker of tomorrow. The largest room in the world is the room for improvement, it can never be filled. Do you want to move to the top? Making a move now may be all you need to succeed, and unless you start going you cannot be there. Don’t stay where you are, always be moving. That is progress. Don’t sit back and take what comes, go after what you want. There is a time to let things happen and time to make things to happen. The first grain of corn was created by the Creator; from this initial grain all other grains were made. The first grain produced many grain and the process has continued till now. If the Creator has given you a grain or some grains, it is left for you to do the work of reproduction that you may have many grains. But if you don’t labour to reproduce, you may soon have none. To him that has, more shall be given, but to him that has not, even that which he has shall be taken from him, and he shall become hunangry. It means being hungry and angry at the same time. There is no harvest for him who did no planting. If you want a bumper harvest, make it to happen. The Creator supplies but we apply. Providence gives enough to men to make them do something, but not surplus to make them do nothing. He wants us to be producers, not idle consumers; it leads to prodigality, and you know that profligacy is sin.
Noah did not wait for his boat to come in,; he built one. River Jordan did not dry until the feet of those priests touched it. Neither did red sea divide until Prophet Moses hit it with his staff, nor did the wall of Jericho fall until Israel went round it thirteen times. If you touch the trigger, the gun will sound. Don’t wait for a miracle to happen; cause it to happen. Every block of stone has a statue inside it, and it is the task of a sculptor to discover it. Michelangelo said, “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set it free” Nothing happens unless it is made to happen. The time to start action is now. Tomorrow is the only day in the year that appeals to the lazy man. Procrastination is enemy of success. Nothing is as far as an hour ago, you can’t get to it. Tomorrow is nearer. If there is a hill to climb, don’t think that waiting will make it any smaller. Among those who have the ability to succeed, the one greatest cause of failure is procrastination. To waste time is to waste life; and to waste life is to be a failure. The best way to keep good intentions from dying is to execute them. A good plan zealously executed now is far better than a perfect plan not executed. Well done is always better than well said. An acre of performance is better than a whole world of promise. The key to success is doing the right thing at the right time and in the right manner; time can never be recovered. If you miss an opportunity today, can you tell when it will come again? I do not agree with those who say that opportunity comes but once. There is abundance of opportunities but they differ from each other. Every exit is an entrance somewhere. Beware of wasted opportunity.
If you give idleness today, it will steal your tomorrow. The best insurance for tomorrow is doing your work well today. What the failure is waiting to do is what the achiever had done before waiting. The lazier a man is today, the more work he is going to do tomorrow. It is painful paying today for the bread you ate yesterday. But you will not remain in debt. Don’t leave today’s duty till tomorrow. Success comes to the man who does today what others are thinking of doing tomorrow. It is a lazy man that waits until tomorrow. Whatever you can, boldly begin it now. Begin with the possible, begin with one step. Don’t allow what you cannot do stop you from doing the one you can do now. A journey of a million miles must start with a step. And a step taken no matter how weak it may be has made the great journey a step lesser. High hills grow less as we ascend them. Signs and wonders follow only those who are moving. Footprints in the sands of time are not made by sitting down. Start where you are; Use what you have; And do what you can. If you don’t have the best make the best use of what you have. The best way to predict the future is to create it. Give your dream a trial. Everything we enjoy is a result of someone’s hard work. Start your own work today. NO PAIN, NO GAIN
It was Columbus that discovered America. When he and his team were ready to travel in search of the “new world”, the queen of Spain, Queen Isabella in biding them farewell, said: “Columbus, I do not believe that the land you are going to search for do exist. But I do believe that even if it does not exist now God will create it and keep it there in honour of your faith” and so it was, and the new world America was discovered. Take a step of faith. The Almighty will honour it. It is easy to achieve success, perhaps what is difficult is to have faith. But faith as small as a mustard seed is enough. Maybe your own problem is lack of action. Take action today. If you cannot run or walk, start crawling. Just start anyhow. Time used appropriately may bring a man to glory in this life, and if wasted may keep him in obscurity, regret and sorrow for the rest of his life.
He who is waiting until all conditions are favourable can never sow seed. If you spend your whole life inside waiting for the storm to be over, you will never enjoy the sunshine. Every year starts with a tick of the clock. Every life starts as a seed. A task begun is considered half done. And when you start don’t quit and you must get to your destination. And until you are there, don’t be tired. Great things start small like a grain growing into a big Iroko tree. Don’t be discouraged if your beginning is small. At times it takes you doing the uncomfortable in order to achieve success. Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises. At times it is the ridiculous that leads to the miraculous. When you think of quitting, remember why you started. And go on little by little, for many littles will make a great whole. GOLIATH WAS NOT A GIANT WHEN HE WAS BORN BUT THE GIANT WAS IN HIM. He grew into a giant. You can grow into greatness. Grow at your own pace. Avoid cut-throat competition. Often the real leaders of men have come up from the common people. Do not estimate a man only by his present situation, because where a man is going is more important than where he presently is. The Almighty uses the hopeless, the helpless and the useless. He makes a man every whit whole. Start planting the seed of your success today.
Law of motion states that: there must be a cause. According to Sir Isaac Newton, every object assumes a state of equilibrium until a force is applied to it. No action, no accomplishment. Something must happen for something to happen. A great vision or ambition demands great action or the visioner will end in great frustration and groaning. Pay the price. To be an independent nation cost many nations years of wars and pains. It cost heaven and earth much innocent blood to establish Messianic faith on earth. There is price tag on everything. To gain financial independence, it will cost you periods of painful labors. Labor in hope. Work is one great law of this world. Obey the law and all you have hoped for you shall achieve. A good anvil does not fear the hammer. Rise from the seat of ineptitude where desires are mere wishful dreams; and by dauntless creative works arrive at the place where milk and honey flow for those who mingle faith with work. Let the road be rough and dreary, and it’s end out of sight. Foot it bravely, strong or weary. Though your path be dark as night. There is a star to guide the humble. The Shepherd will surely keep His sheep. He says: “FEAR NOT, I WILL HELP YOU” don’t react but rather respond to hardship and you will thrive in famine. Discipline is responding to demands of life no matter the inconveniences. If you don’t endure hardness, you will suffer hardship. There is no extra time for any one. When you sleep things slip out of your hand. Be a good time manager. No frivolity, no perambulation, no rigmarole.
Mary Magdalene and her group were going to the grave early in the morning worried about who will roll away the stone for them. But on arrival, they found out that an angel came before them and rolled away the stone. Fear not, step out in faith. The Almighty will send His angel to roll away the stone for you. He will do for you that which you cannot do by yourself. One fact I want you to know about yourself is that: HEALING HAS BEGUN. “The Almighty Father will do as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophet: that we should be saved from our enemies. And from the hand of all who hate us. And being delivered from the hand of our enemies, we should serve him without fear all the days of our life”. His mercy is on those who fear him. Soon it will be said of you: the man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became prosperous. STICK OUT YOUR NECK.
-BKC YAHKA
Dark Past, Bright Future
