Category: Insights

THE VIRTUE OF PATIENCE

Patience is an important attribute in life. Without it a lot will go wrong; dreams and aspirations will be shattered.

There is a proverb that says ” A patient dog eats the fattest bone”.

This saying might no longer be true but the message stays the same and is true. Patience is a virtue and a very important one at that; in pursuing my dreams I have had to learn how to be patient with myself and others. I was not always the patient type, I always wanted things done quickly and be over with; this might be a good thing but when things don’t go as planned, frustration, anger, sadness and the likes, flood in like the rivers and streams pouring into the ocean.

What is patience? You may ask.

According to the online etymology dictionary, patience is the “quality of being willing to bear adversities, a calm endurance of misfortune, suffering, etc.,” the key word for me here is ‘willingness’ this is important because if you choose to do something out of your will then nothing can stop you. Given that there is nothing sweet or easy about bearing adversities, enduring misfortune, or accepting suffering, the significance of the willpower in pursuing our aspirations cannot be over-emphasized.

In a world where everything is just a click away, patience can almost be seen as a waste of time. Today we believe that things come by easily and fast too, given that we can place orders, and in split seconds we have them delivered to our doorsteps. We want things, and very quickly too! If it is not now, then never. Yes we can get most things immediately but some do take time and these often than not are the best things; building relationships, building a career, learning a new skill, adapting to new cultures, building empires, raising kids, finding yourself, letting go of a bad habit and the list continues.

To have patience, we must have hope and believe that at the end it will all be worth it. We must focus on the prize, the glory that awaits such a venture that demands so much of us; this therefore, means that our patience cannot be in vain because on a daily basis we press toward something greater, with the conviction that the present sufferings or inconveniences are nothing compared to the victory that will be revealed in due season.

A man/woman with great ambition must accompany that with great patience as well, and the reason is not far-fetched, for nine out of ten times you will be subjected to frustration, not by choice but by circumstances and lessons that you must only face and learn along the way to achieving your goals and dreams. But patience alone cannot do the job, hence, hope is a pre-requisite. Alongside patience, we must keep hope alive and not stop believing that the fruits will yield in due time. This combination is important because every good thing takes time, we have to plant, water, wait for it to grow, weed out the unwanted, harvest and then enjoy the fruits of our labor; it is a process.

It is said that when the going gets tough, only the tough get going; but I dare to say that when the going gets tough, only the patient, hopeful and those who believe keep riding in the turbulent and stormy sea of uncertainties and great suffering and discomfort, because they knew from the onset that it was not going to be peaches and cream, hence, were fully prepared to fight it out; because it is only when we forget what we are fighting for that we quit. Continue reading “THE VIRTUE OF PATIENCE”

Would You Turn Down The Request of Your Mother?

At the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee, Jesus’ time had not come but at the request of His mother, He performed His first miracle to meet the need of the wedding guests. Click here for the full story.

Just take a brief moment and imagine how you would feel on your astronomically immense day when your best man or chief bridesmaid approaches you in the apex of the celebration that they had run out of food and or drink and some quests had not eaten or had anything to imbibe! Do you sense worry? fear? shame? dishonor? what will people verbally express? knowing that lamentable news travel fastest, I am sure this piece of lamentable incident would have eclipsed the proceedings of the beautiful wedding. No one would talk about how esthetic the wedding dress was or how delicious the food was, or how well the event was organized. My point is, you would be apprehensive about so many things at the time and would do anything to find an expeditious solution. But they did not seem to have anyway around it, hence, the mother of Jesus was approached, I wonder why they did not approach Jesus directly; ostensibly they kenned how arduous it is to turn down the request of a mother!

The place of motherhood is second to none, shout out to all mothers and women in general, you are a gift to humanity. Albeit the time for Jesus to commence His ministry had not come, He could not quash the request of His mother; woman, my time has not yet come, He said! Mothers been who they are was not going to yield just like that for she knew the great need of the hosts. Do whatever he tells you, she said to the disciples.     This is fascinating because though He verbally expressed His time had not yet come, she knew in her heart that He was not going to turn down her request.

Her faith and believe that her son would not ignore her request was rewarded; fill the empty jars with water he said to His disciples. The water was subsequently turned into the finest wine at the feast.

This is an incredible story not just because it involved Jesus and His mother Mary but it showcases the relationship between mother and son as well. For the wedding hosts to go to the mother and place their request in lieu of going directly to Him implied that they  had a very good relationship. There was a bonding and love amongst them and they fathomed that for this reason, the mother’s request was unlikely going to be turned down; and for Jesus to grant her request knowing that His time had not yet come, spoke volume of the respect He had for her.

As a mother, what is your relationship with your children? Can you confidently make a request of your children and believe that they would do anything to grant it?
As children (we are all children because we have parents), just like Jesus, are we disposed to accolade and reverence our mothers? Can they come to us believing that we will not turn down their requests?

Continue reading “Would You Turn Down The Request of Your Mother?”

Use Your Time Wisely

Time is one thing that is equally distributed to all, no favoritism. However, its effective usage varies across board, some of us don’t even know how to use it, I have heard people talk about how short life is, well that is 100 percent correct. Life is short and it is because is time bound, the funny thing is that, if you don’t know how to maximize your time, you have plenty of it simply because you are doing nothing.

Successful people know how to use their time wisely, you would agree with me that success is relative, however, there is a common denominator… the joy of achieving our goals! If you want to be successful in life, you most learn to use your time wisely; you must be in charge of when you go to bed and when you wake up, limit the time you spend talking about unnecessary things, watching television and the news, movies, video games, gossiping, social media etc. Take control of how you use your time today, resolve to be stingy with your time and only spend it if and only if it is worth it.

The next time you want to spend some of your limited time, ask yourself, how beneficial is this thing to me or the people around me? Is there nothing better I could spend this time doing right now? The answers to these and many other thought provoking questions should be your driving force.