LOOK UP, BEFORE YOU KEEP THE BILLS

"Sometimes I just look up, smile and say, 'I know that was you GOD! Thanks!'" - Unknown

A construction worker witnessed from his position above his colleague, on a site struggling with an equipment. He - the colleague below - didn't know how to resolve the issue with the equipment, so he - the colleague above - wanted to help, but he had to get his attention. The enormity of the job on the site left everyone too engaged to have discussions, and he couldn't shout his name either. So he threw a one dollar bill. It went slowly through the air and gently landed in front of his colleague, but this colleague, whose attention he hoped to get, picked it up and into his pocket the bill went. That didn't work, the colleague on the upper floor thought. "I'll throw a larger bill." he thought. So he did. With, higher bills till he ran out of bills to throw. Yet the colleague didn't look up. All he did was pick up the money each time, and put them in his pocket not looking up one time. After careful thought, he decided to throw a rock at his colleague, so he got a sizable rock that would not cause serious damage and hurled it down. With a sharp reflex, rubbing his head from the pain he finally looks up. Then the colleague told him how he'd been trying to get his attention with the dollar bills all along.

FINISHING STRONG, 4. YOUR POT: NEVER UNDERESTIMATE IT!

"A fit, healthy body—that is the best fashion statement" - Jess C. Scott

Today, we will continue on the 10 Ps' to finishing strong as we examine the fourth of the Ps: it represents your "POT". I'm certain you must have heard the phrase "Liquid content only", it is generally a phrase indicating that a buyers purchase rights cover the content of a product and not necessarily its container. However, my focus here is on the container and not as much as the content. No matter how expensive a perfume is, if the container is broken it become lost - the content spills. Your POT, here, symbolizes your body.

As an adult of average weight, here is a breakdown of your bodily - your pot - accomplishment in twenty-four hours. Your heart beats 103,689 times, your blood travels 168,000,000 miles. You breathe 23,040 times, you inhale 438 cubic feet of air, you eat about 3.25 pounds of food, and you drink about 2.9 quarts of liquids. Also, you process 7/8 pounds of waste, speak 4,800 words: including the unnecessary ones. Then, you move 750 muscles, your nails and hair grows .000046 and .01714 inches respectively. You exercise 7,000,000 brain cells and many more. What an awesome container. Your body is the vehicle God has given you to achieve every great purpose under the sun, it is worth taking care of.

WHAT KILLED THEM?

"The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear." - Nelson Mandela

 

Death was walking towards a city one morning someone asked, "What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to take 100 people," Death replied.

"That's horrible!" the man said.

"That's the way it is. That's what I do." Death replied.

So the man hurriedly warned everyone he could about Death's plan. As evening fell, he met Death again. "You told me you were going to take 100 people," the man said. "Why did 1,000 die?"

"I kept my word," Death responded. "I only took 100 people. Fear killed the others."

YOUR WORTH DETERMINES YOUR PAIN 9; THE STEPS

"Transformation is a process, and as life happens there are tons of ups and downs. It's a journey of discovery - there are moments on mountain tops and moments in deep valleys of despair." - Rick Warren

Change is the only permanent thing. Processes abound everywhere; graduation is not an end but a commencement of something more laudable. More responsibility. However, every change initiates a movement to another phase.

In pregnancy, the process continues from fertilization to conception with several changes along the line. These changes cause terrible biological and physical discomfort to the mother: It is an uncomfortable experience. Understand that, the pain the mother goes through during pregnancy is nothing compared to that she experiences on the day of delivery. Not at all. This pain isn't meant to kill her, but to produce something new. If the developing foetus doesn't go through all the required processes it comes out deformed. The same way we become deformed if we don't go through the complete process of refining.

YOUR WORTH DETERMINES YOUR PAIN 8; THE REFLECTION

"A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials." - Lucius Anus Seneca

Many people go through many processes in life, and somehow, sometimes, they feel the process too long, or the heat too much. I like to see these seemingly unbearable circumstances as "The Process". The process isn't complete until the one controlling the process says it is. Each step of the refining process has it's significant job to accomplish, none is more or less important than the other. One step leads to the next.

The REFLECTION.
The refiner sees a clear image of himself after all the processes are complete, not before. This can ONLY happen when the process is complete. At this point, the gold attains its highest degree of purity! And that, my dear friend, describes God's loving intention for allowing us to be in the "furnace of affliction." As we trust Him to use our trials to cleanse our character and purify our hearts, we will begin to see the "silver lining." behind every dark cloud of "affliction" we experience.

YOUR WORTH DETERMINES YOUR PAIN 7; THE PURIFICATION

"As threshing separates the wheat from the chaff, so does affliction purify virtue." - Christian Nestell Bovee 

Have you ever been so pained, to the extent you ask the question, "Why me?". I like to say here, that no matter how painful your situation is, the right question to ask is, "If not me, then who?". It sounds crazy, but here's a truth. To make our gardens attractive, we cut the grass. To have a delicious meal we put ingredients through cutting, dicing and through heat. So also, for us to become THAT PERSON we're supposed to be, our refiner makes us go through; THE PURIFICATION.

The refiner continues to get rid of the impurities. Every time, with great skill and patience. He, the refiner, removes the dross, leaving behind gleaming and shimmering gold - purer and more precious than it was after the last process. To measure his progress, the refiner looks for his own reflection on the surface of the gold-filled crucible. The more dross removed, the less distorted his reflection.

FINISHING STRONG, 2; THE PAST

"Yesterday is in the tomb, tomorrow is in the womb, but today is within your thumb." - Pst. Ed

With the introduction to 10 Ps' to Finishing strong out of the way - yesterday's topic. Let me begin proper now. Quickly, we'll delve into the first of the 10 Ps' today.

The very first P talks about “the PAST”. In my many years as a life coach, trainer and counselor. I have had countless experiences of people walking up to me seeking counsel on issues that have seemingly put a stop to their progress in life and destiny. Most narrate their ordeal with so much passion, that I sometimes believe these issues happened a few minutes before I met them, or days before. But, usually I find it shocking to discover, by their information, that what they whine about to me are experiences of decades or more earlier.

FINISHING STRONG, 1.

"It is important to start right, but it is imperative to end well" - William Clubertson
 

I have come to notice that finishing - a task, project, etc. - can be very elusive. In fact, it is so much easier to start something, than to finish it - it's a different matter altogether to finish well. In the next few weeks, I will attempt to discuss what I have tagged the 10 Ps' to finishing strong; even though I do not think this list is exhaustive. I believe, that the points I'll talking about, form the core of what is required to finish strong in life.

There was a unique race in the Olympic games. The winner was not the runner who finished first. It was the runner who finished with his torch still lit. Thus, the race isn't just about completing the course but completing it well; with your torch still lit. An important thing to realize in finishing strong - whether your purpose and destiny - is that life is a Marathon, not a one hundred meters dash.

NAPPING IN THE STORM

"After a storm, comes a calm" - Matthew Henry

 

A young man applied for a job as a farmhand. When the farmer asked for his qualifications, he said, "I can sleep through a storm." This puzzled the farmer; he liked the young man. So he hired him. A few weeks later, the farmer and his wife were awakened in the night by a violent storm ripping through the valley. He leapt out of bed and called for his new hired hand, but the young man was sleeping soundly. So they quickly began to check things to see if all was secure. They found that the shutters of the farmhouse had been securely fastened. A good supply of logs had been set next to the fireplace. The farmer and his wife then inspected their property. They found that the farm tools had been placed in the storage shed, safe. Even the bales of wheat had been bound and wrapped in tarpaulins. The tractor had been moved into its garage. The barn was properly locked tight. Even the animals were calm and had plenty of feed; all was well. The farmer then understood the meaning of the young man's words, "I can sleep through a storm."

THE POWER OF PLANNING, 4.

"A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow." - George S. Patton

 

 

The way we spend our time is because we choose to spend it that way; there is nothing we do without choice. Although our choices might not always be deliberate or penned down. We have the choice to work or not. To write the report or not. We have the choice, to take the phone call or ignore it. However, each choice is based upon a reward; to be received or anticipated.

Rewards are what we expect to gain from undertaking, or postponing a certain task. If you didn’t receive rewards, you would not continue that behaviour.

One night four college students played till late night, hence did not study for their test scheduled for the following morning. In the morning they thought up a plan. They'd make themselves look dirty with grease and dirt. So, in the morning, they went up to the Dean, and told him how they'd gone for a wedding the night before, and on their way back the tire of their car burst and they had to hurl by themselves, all the way back and that they were in no condition to appear for the test.

It Begins TODAY, Be Our Guest at HOTR, The Word House, Enugu!

Be THERE!!!

THE POWER of PLANNING, 3.

"Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe." - Abraham Lincoln

Laura M. Stack, is a capacity development expert, otherwise called "The Productivity Pro" She said "Planning will keep you on course in achieving your goals and objectives."

Did you hear, Abraham Lincoln? "If I had six hours to cut down a tree, I would spend the first four sharpening the axe..." what an instruction. Dale Carnegie told a story of two men who were out chopping wood. One man worked hard all day, took no breaks, and only stopped briefly for lunch. The other chopper took several breaks during the day and a short nap at lunch. At the end of the day, the woodsman who had taken no breaks was quite disturbed to realize that, the other guy had cut more wood. "I don’t understand. Every time I looked around, you were sitting down, yet you cut more wood than I did.", he lamented. His companion asked, "Did you also notice that while I was sitting down, I was sharpening my axe?"