HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH OPPOSITION?

Resistance is not a myth. It is real and it faces us daily. We can wish it away, avoid it or ignore it when we kid ourselves. The truth is we must deal with it. You want to be successful? You must deal with resistance. The higher the height we plan to reach, the higher the magnitude of resistance we will deal with. Nature itself accommodates resistance. It has its uses. It is the focus of a lot of effort in order to get useful work done. We need resistant force to sit, stand, cut, grind and do a host of other things. Yet to move, lift and penetrate we need to overcome resistance. The question then is do you know how to deal with opposition?

Battles to avoid

The common mistake in dealing with opposition is to fight all resistance. We see everything and everyone that opposes us as an enemy. The mantra is if you are not with us then you are against us. This is a great error that we create to oppose ourselves. All battles are not ours to fight. Yet there are battles we must stand up and fight.

To avoid this error, we must choose our battles. We must avoid battles over trivial issues. There are issues that do not add any value to our success journey. Battles over personality clash will not bring any enduring advantage to us. If we win, we will only get the praise of being a better person. But we will gain a disgraced enemy who is bitter and seeking to cause us pain just for the sake of avenging his shame.

We must avoid battles that makes us lose sight of the big picture and occupy us with things that looks important but do not lead to our destination. The greatest defeat is to lose our purpose in the midst of activities (battles). We can get busy with the battle for a meal while we forgot about the work that needs to be done on our farm. So many of us are engrossed in the battle for survival that we do not have time or resources left to fight the battle of our purpose. We are not created to survive; we are created to live for a purpose. We should not be engrossed with the battle and forget the war. If we win battles and lose the war, we are still the loser. Fight only battles that helps you win the war – your purpose.

We should avoid fighting the battles we cannot win but rather develop dynamic strategy to live with them. There are battles we cannot win. Our victory lies in, despite the raging of these battles, we still accomplish our purpose in life. Nick Vujicic comes to mind in this respect. He was born without limbs. He trusted God for a creative miracle while growing up. But learn to adapt and live on purpose. He became an inspiration even for those who have their four limbs intact. Some would have used such a battle as an excuse to fail while for some all their energy and resources will be wasted fighting such battles until they become weak, tired and frustrated. There are battles we cannot win. Identify them, develop a dynamic strategy to live with them and fulfill your purpose despite them.

Battles to fight - first set your goals

Now for the battles we need to fight, determine from the onset what is victory for you. It is not all battles you fight to annihilate the enemy. There are battles you should fight to turn the enemy into a friend. The aim of engaging in a battle determines the strategy to use. The strategy to annihilate enemies will be different from the strategy for turning enemies into friends. Carefully identify your goals and objective for engaging in a battle. Do not rush into battle without knowing when to stop fighting having obtained the desired victory.

The rule I subscribe to is this, if the enemy is human, the aim is to turn him into a friend. But in doing this adequate precaution is taken to make sure the enemy does not annihilate me before I achieve my aim of turning him into a friend. Not all men values human life. As such it does not matter to them if they destroy you. But you cannot imbibe evil because of the enemy. You must always fight from a higher pedestal, having a superior moral and spiritual view of the situation.

Some of the greatest battles will be fought within the silent chambers of your own soul. - Ezra Taft Benson

Conquer yourself and defend your heart

Therefore the first enemy you must conquer is yourself. In every human there is a tendency to be inhuman; a tendency to be irrational and destructive under threat to life and or wellbeing. In a battle situation the threat is real and direct. You are faced with an urgent call to action; an action for self preservation and achieving a passionate goal. The passion is high. The pressure is harassing. This creates an environment that promotes selfishness, thoughtlessness and ruthlessness. These are self destructive tendency that must be conquered. Side by side with these exists the tendency to be good, to love and be loved, to be rational and promote mutual wellbeing. This is a battle which rages in our soul. The evil and irrational self is the enemy within us that we must conquer. Until we discipline ourselves to refuse these self destructive tendencies from ruling over us we will be at the mercy of our enemies. We will destroy ourselves even before the enemy fires the first shot.

We must not allow the battle to destroy our heart. Once we lose our moral and spiritual essence in the midst of the battle then the enemy has won. It does not matter if we win the battle physically and materially. The fact that we have become evil in the passion to survive and become successful is the greatest defeat we can ever experience. Success is no longer success when we don’t have the peace of mind and the rest of the soul to enjoy it. Success is a complete wellbeing of the body, soul and the spirit. Don’t lose your soul in the heat to win the battle!

Know the opposition

Now, having conquered yourself you must evaluate the opposition. Know what you are up against. Know as much as you can about the enemy’s strength and weakness. Try to identify the enemy’s aim in the battle and his grievance against you. In essence know who is fighting you!

True there will be some who will oppose you for cynical and irrational reasons and just want to see you fail and suffer but most have reasons for opposing you. You must take your time in acquainting yourself with the enemy and know the root cause of the enmity. It is vital in planning your defense and offence.

Some might oppose you out of sheer envy and competition. Some might be out of genuine misunderstanding of you. Some might be out of real and direct pain you caused them. Some might be open to reconciliation while some are closed to it. Some might be irrational, foolish and blinded by their passion and hatred. Some will be rational and calculative, able to think beyond their passion and hatred. Whatever you do you must know him that oppose you and for what reason!

There are also enemies that deliberately make themselves anonymous. It is the strategy that they have chosen against you. These are the most dangerous of enemies you can have. They stay close to you, follow you, watch you and collect information about you. They will hit you where it pains you most and watch as you suffer and fail. You must be sensitive and wise or this type of enemy will destroy you.  And yet you won’t know they are the enemy.

What you need to look for with these enemies is pattern. They usually leave a trace without knowing it. Look for that trace. Sometimes they get over-confident of their tactics and get unavoidably close to revealing themselves. The skills of battle you must have with this sort of enemy are watchfulness, sensitivity to your environment and atmosphere and ability to see pattern.  Once you discover this pattern and you pick up their trace don’t let them know. You must play the game with them and collect information about them. Know who they are and why they oppose you.

Use the information you collect on your enemy to prepare your battle plan. But remember in all of these your aim is reconciliation and mutual wellbeing without being naïve.

Wisdom and strength in battle

Wisdom is practical. Wisdom always wins. Strength is fierce and stoic. Strength can move things. Strength can withstand things. Strength doesn’t always win. There are lot of things strength can do. But strength cannot do all things. Wisdom can do all things. Wisdom always achieves its aim.

We need strength. We need physical, mental and spiritual strength. We must acquire this attribute. We must be physically strong. We must be mentally tough. And we must be spiritually gifted. But all these will not win our wars for us. If we are not careful they might even become impediment to victory as they give us false confidence.

Wisdom put our strength in perspective and deplores it efficiently and effectively. Wisdom gives us the understanding that the opposition is strong too. The opposition might even be stronger than we are. But wisdom let us see how little strength applied in the right place, at the right time and in the right way can achieve tremendously greater result than Herculean strength without wisdom.

Wisdom can give us insight into how we can use our opponent’s strength even to our advantage. Wisdom sees resources, opportunities and methods. Wisdom sees situations, problems and oppositions. Wisdom weaves them all together in harmony and brings out beauty, result and victory.

In your battles and war depend more on wisdom than strength. When you are tempted to force your way through with strength pause and allow wisdom to guide you. While strength is forcing its way through and you seem to be winning the battle you might actually be losing the war. But when wisdom seems too slow and losing the battle it might actually be winning the war. Wisdom dares strength but thoughtfully appreciates its usefulness and weakness.

Be courageous!

Courage is one of the fruit of wisdom and essential character required for victory while strength unwittingly produces the fruit of false confidence. Courage is not an opposite of fear. It is a Siamese twin of fear where great character exists. When fear arises wisdom creates courage. This is the confidence that in the face of fierce and strong opposition there is still a way to achieve ones goals and aspirations.

Courage faces the fear of devastating defeat and picks up the resourcefulness of wisdom to battle opposition and achieve the desired result. Courage roars despite fear. Courage refuses to be cowed. Courage reasoned if the aim is for greater good and the opposition is morally flawed then the battle is worth fighting. Courage reasoned that the good that will be achieved by the result is sufficient inspiration to suffer the pain and shame of possible defeat. Therefore the opposition loses its fierceness and its de-motivation. Courage treads on in wisdom.

Defeat is not final!

Defeat is often dreadfully contemplated yet it is a possible outcome. Even those who have won their wars have tasted defeats in several battles. When defeat comes we must be courageous to stand, learn from our failure and continue the fight. We might lose some battles but we will win the war. But if we lack courage to continue, the lost of the battle will be the end of the war. It ought not to be!

Defeat in battle is not final. It is the outcome of the war that matters. We must not lose the war!

Magnanimity in victory

And victory is sweet. A conqueror has spoils. He has fame. And he has influence. What must he do with all these resources?

They can be used for selfish purposes; to exalt self; to subdue others; to indulge ones ostentatious living; and to oppress ones enemies.

On the other hand they can be used for noble causes; to spread wellbeing around us; to lift people up; to address societal evils; and to heal the wounds of the war we have just won.

Magnanimity is a great virtue of a conqueror. It is the true response in victory. A magnanimous conqueror has shown that he has not only won the outward war but he has won the most important war – the inward one.

Victory is sweetest with magnanimity!                  

The war chest                                                                                                                                     

1. Abide under the shadow of the Almighty and have peace within yourself. 'Live under the protection of God Most High and stay in the shadow of God All-Powerful. Then you will say to the LORD, “You are my fortress, my place of safety; you are my God, and I trust you.” The Lord will keep you safe from secret traps and deadly diseases. He will spread his wings over you and keep you secure. His faithfulness is like a shield or a city wall. You won’t need to worry about dangers at night or arrows during the day. And you won’t fear diseases that strike in the dark or sudden disaster at noon. You will not be harmed, though thousands fall all around you. And with your own eyes you will see the punishment of the wicked. The LORD Most High is your fortress. Run to him for safety, and no terrible disasters will strike you or your home. God will command his angels to protect you wherever you go. They will carry you in their arms, and you won’t hurt your feet on the stones. You will overpower the strongest lions and the most deadly snakes. The Lord says, “If you love me and truly know who I am, I will rescue you and keep you safe. When you are in trouble, call out to me. I will answer and be there to protect and honor you. You will live a long life and see my saving power.”'   Psalm 91 (CEV)                                                       
2. Walk in love and you will disarm reconcilable enemy and be unshakeable to those who reject your olive branch. 'Love is kind and patient, never jealous, boastful, proud, or rude. Love isn’t selfish or quick tempered. It doesn’t keep a record of wrongs that others do. Love rejoices in the truth, but not in evil. Love is always supportive, loyal, hopeful, and trusting. Love never fails!' 1Conrithians 13:4 – 8a (CEV)                                                                                                                     
3. Let God teach you and lead you in your battles and war. 'You teach my hands to fight and my arms to use a bow of bronze… Teach me to follow you, LORD, and lead me on the right path because of my enemies.'  Psalm 18:34; 27:11 (CEV)                                               
4. Use only the weapons of war that God has made available to you and be filled with prayer. 'Put on all the armor that God gives, so you can defend yourself against the devil’s tricks. We are not fighting against humans. We are fighting against forces and authorities and against rulers of darkness and powers in the spiritual world. So put on all the armor that God gives. Then when that evil day comes, you will be able to defend yourself. And when the battle is over, you will still be standing firm… Never stop praying, especially for others. Always pray by the power of the Spirit. Stay alert and keep praying for God’s people.'  Ephesians 6: 11 – 18 (CEV)                                                                                                                        

WHAT IS YOUR PERSPECTIVE OF SUCCESS?

Just like the popular illustration of half-filled and half empty glass of water of the diverse views of opinion on the same issue, so is human perspective of success. The world view of success is as numerous as the number of humans that inhabit this earth itself. So diverse is our perspective of success that the likes of Hitlers, Al Capones and Osama Bin Ladens of this world are heroes and models for some. Though our own perspective of success might not lead us to looking up to extreme characters like these, but it raises the issue of examining what we call success.

This post is not intended to spell out what an ideal perspective of success should be but to provoke us to take a second look at the path and direction in which we are investing our talents, gifts, time and resources. It will examine the common perspectives of success and leave us to identify where we slot into and see if that journey really is leading us to what our lives were created to fulfill.

One perspective of success that is most common is ‘possession is success’ perspective. The people with this world view believed the more possessions we have the more successful we are. They live their lives acquiring money, properties and investments. They do not do this merely to meet their needs but to have the sense of satisfaction and fulfillment. Ironically, it is never enough.

The positive thing about this perspective is that it gives some people the drive to create wealth. These people starts and build businesses to produce the needs of the community and provide sources of income for the people of the community. Starting, running and building a company is a risky and tasking job, it therefore requires high motivation to venture into any business. The high drive to make this businesses succeed; helps the people with this perspective to creatively overcome the challenges.

Men like Carlos Slim Helu, Bill Gates, Amancio Ortega, Warren Buffet, Larry Ellison (Forbes 2013) and millions of other men and women are in this category. These people have contributed to the development of the world in their various areas of specialties, meeting needs and helping people to use their skills and talents in self-actualization.

However, a negative side to this perspective is that there are people who believed this perspective and also believed the end justifies the means. To them the means of acquiring possession is inconsequential as long as they acquired it. These men are kingpins of organized crime and the various corrupt tyrants of the third world countries. According to Al Jazeera website “organized crime gangs dealing in fake goods, drugs, human trafficking and illicit wildlife trades earn nearly $90billion annually in east Asia and the pacific” siting a UN report. There are third world countries’ rulers who are richer than their poor countries.

They are the sources of heart wrenching misery in the world. The lives of men and women are being destroyed by drug addictions. Thousands of orphans, widows and widowers are being produced daily due to the senseless killings by organized crimes and wars instigated and financed by despots. Lives are being impoverished by the spreading of illiteracy, ill health and unemployment due to the corruption of government officials who misappropriates government funds. The greed produced by this perspective creates monumental failures.

The second most common perspective of success is the perspective of achievement. To these people our achievements level determines our success. These are the foot print in the sand of time people. They are driven by the desire to achieve great feats and climb to great heights in their fields. Possession is usually not their primary goal but some do acquire great wealth in the process of accomplishing their goals. But many do not and are still fulfilled and content with their achievements.

In this group, we have academicians, researchers, inventors, writers, musicians, artists and sports people. People like Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, John Forbes Nash Jr, Jimmy Carter, Steven Covey, John C Maxwell, Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe and millions of others. They are the engineers of the modern civilization. Their achievements have raised the standard of living, thinking and behavior. They have raised the lid on the capacity of human ability, productivity and relationship.

Unfortunately also in this group are people who are responsible for catastrophic events and movements in the world. Guns, missiles and atomic bombs are inventions made possible by the achievements of brilliant minds. These have been used for much destruction in the world. Moral degradation pervading our society today is an offshoot of defective but applauded liberal philosophies, theories and works of arts. Racial theories have lead men like Adolf Hitler to plunge the world into a senseless war with loss of millions of lives. These and many more have brought disturbing and self-destructive trends into our modern civilization.

Another perspective of success which is not common but has been of great importance in the story of mankind is the “living and propagating an ideal” perspective of success. The focus of this perspective is living by an ideal of life and influencing others to live the same way. These ideals might be religious, social, economic or political. These are not theoreticians. They live these ideals and passionately canvass others to live it too. To these people acquisition of wealth and achieving a feat in life is not their primary goal.

Mahatma Gandhi lived a non-violent life and withstood the force of oppression and violence with non-violent means to gain independence for India. Martin Luther King Jr followed in this pattern to bring racial segregation to an end in America. Nelson Mandela did the same against apartheid in South Africa winning the love of both while and black. Mother Theresa lived a life of love and spread this love to the unloved in India and in the world. Billy Graham live a life of faith in Jesus Christ and spread this faith all over the world. Kenneth Hagins lived a life of faith and fellowship with the Holy Spirit and taught many how to do the same. These men and women and many others, by the ideals they lived and canvassed changed the course of nations and lives for the better.

However, in this group also are the likes of Osama Bin laden who lived violently and build a structure of violence which had continued to unleash violence and terror across the world. James Warren Jones aka Jim Jones lived in error and lead many astray, cumulating in mass suicide of his followers and their family at Jonestown, Guayana. These and many have done a lot in creating sorrow and destruction of lives in the world.

“The more aware we are of our basic paradigms, maps or assumptions… the more we can take responsibility for those paradigms, examine them, [and] test them…” Stephen R. Covey.

As you can see these perspectives of success overlaps and can come in infinite numbers of combination to produce different shades of perspective. It is also clear that none of the perspective is misuse proof. Each perspective has people who are producing negative results. It is also easy for one that is succeeding under a perspective to be viewed a failure by one who believed in a different perspective. It is therefore important that while we assess the opinion of others concerning our success journey in order to make use of those things that will help us fine tune our journey, we should be conscious of the perspective from which they offer those opinions. This is to ensure that we do not derail from our direction in life by using the perspective of others to assess ourselves.

A closer look also shows that having a perspective of success is not enough. There must be an ethical background which must be seriously considered, understood and assimilated into our perspective of success. We can be passionate about the path of success we are treading but we need to be aware of the result been generated by this passion. If the fruits are bad, it does not matter that the tree is in a beautiful garden. A poisonous tree remains poisonous. We must examine the results coming out from our success journey and ensure it is full of wellbeing and spreads wellbeing.

Now what is your perspective of success? What ethical background is it based on? What are the effects of the results of your success? When last did you check?

LIFE CHECK                                                                                                                                               

1. Examine your heart. You should be sure your spirit is regenerated and you are living according to your faith in Christ Jesus. Your regenerated spirit will receive wellbeing-generating life from God that will help you produce good results in your success journey. “Test yourselves and find out if you really are true to your faith. If you pass the test, you will discover that Christ is living in you. But if Christ isn’t living in you, you have failed” 2Corinthians 13:5 CEV.                                                                                                           

2. Examine the reigning principle in your mind. A transformed mind produces good result and blesses people in his area of influence. “A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things” Matthew 12: 35 KJV                                      

3. Start the process of change. Once the examination reveals you are not having a good effect on your environment turn to God and let Him change you. You can’t do it yourself. You need to present yourself to Him and ask Him to change you from within. When you are changed from within, it is easy to change other things. “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord” Acts 3:19 NIV.                                                                                                           

4. Renew your mind. Our minds gathers information daily, most have corrupting influence over us. To checkmate this, we must continually read, study, meditate and confess the word of God. “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12: 2 NIV.             

               

     

 

   

  

CAN YOU SURPASS YOUR ACHIEVEMENTS?

Success is not for those who are weak, it is for those with lion hearts. It is difficult to achieve set goals and even more difficult to sustain them. To surpass your achievement is, therefore, a herculean task. Anybody that has achieved any level of success in life will tell you how much hard work, determination, endurance, concentration and various forms of deprivation they had gone through to achieve it. Yet achievements have to be continuously surpassed to sustain success.

Yesterday’s achievements become stale in the light of today’s reality. If we rest on our achievements, soon we’ll realize we’re no longer relevant in the scheme of things. To be truly successful is to constantly surpass our achievements. The question then is how do we surpass our previous achievements so that we can sustain our success and remain relevant in our industry and community?

When we achieve a set of goals, we feel a sense of relief, accomplishment, enthusiasm and confidence. These are great feelings that help us in our success journey. However, these feelings feed on continuous achievements. Once we don’t achieve new goals, we starve them and they begin to wither. As this happens other debilitating feelings begin to set in. fear, insecurity and discouragement begin to prey on us.

We, therefore, must feed the positive feelings that help us on our success journey, especially enthusiasm and confidence. The way to do it is to make sure, no matter how small, that we are setting and achieving new goals. So, have you achieved a set of goals? Add new ones to them. Raise the stake. Set new standards. Decide to improve the package. Win more clients. Determine to achieve higher grades. Just add new achievable goals.

To surpass our achievements requires new skills. We cannot rely only on the skills we previously use. To surpass is to do it better. To do it better we need new tools. To use new tools we need new skills. Continuous self-development becomes a key aspect of our lives. It is usual for us to budget monthly for food, drink, cloth and other mundane needs of our lives. But only few of us include books, seminars and conferences in this budget.

We don’t have a reading culture. And when we read, we read gossip magazines and novels. We hardly attend seminars and conferences except the ones organized or paid for by our organizations. We don’t subscribe to our professional journals and hardly understand the new trend in our industry. If we want to be relevant in our industry and community, we must continuously develop ourselves.

Self-development will help us to acquire new skills and methods of operations. It will help us understand and take a stand on new developments and trends in our industry and community. To do this, we must cultivate a reading culture, reading materials that educate and build our capacity. At every waking hour, we must have a book that is teaching us something. Pay for and attend professional seminars and conferences. And put whatever you learn in such forums into practice. Go for higher formal education, not for the purpose of adding new certificates, though it could be of help, but in equipping yourself for greater responsibility. You want to surpass your achievements? Develop yourself continuously!

Sometimes all we need to surpass our achievements is to present the same thing in a different way. Creativity is an essential ingredient of success. Creativity is the ability to imagine different forms and hue. It is the ability to see the same situation in different light. Creativity is ‘seeing’ beyond what you see. Seeing differently what things could be. Not accepting things only as they are but seeking how they could be.

The most splendid achievement of all is the constant striving to surpass yourself and to be worthy of your own approval – Denis Waitley

Creativity is based on the use of our imagination. A lot of people think they do not have creative ability. Yet they exhibit creativity every day. Most of the time we perceive the aroma of food and we conclude that the food is tasty. This is the work of our imagination. The sense of taste has nothing to do with the sense of smell. Curry and thyme smells good but are tasteless! Everybody has the ability to imagine things but only few people use it intentionally and purposefully. Artists of various genres use their imagination purposefully. Scientist must use a lot of imagination to understand a lot of the concept they research into. In fact, great scientists are known to be great musicians, painters and sculptors.

Everybody can be creative. A businessman can be creative. An administrator, teacher, parent, politician and whoever can be creative. All we need to do is to intentionally imagine things differently from what they are. Set aside time to be alone or disconnect yourself from the world around you in a comfortable place and direct your thought towards a particular object or issue. Write your thought down no matter how foolish they might seem. You will be surprised how differently you’ll see things. Practice creativity in your daily endeavors and you’ll surpass your achievements.

Man is hardly an isolated system. We are affected, influenced and inspired by our environment and the people around us. To some extend our environment and the people we associate with determines our values, focus, inspiration and standards. Your present achievement level is partly based on the type and level of influence you’re receiving from your environment and close associates.

If you must surpass your present achievement level, you must open yourself to greater and better influence. Locate yourself in better environment and associate with people with greater vision, value, inspiration and achievements. As you see these people live at this higher level of achievements, it inspires you to do more. And if some of these higher achievers are leaders, they will invest in you and give you the necessary push you need to get ahead. You must include as part of your associates people that are higher in achievement than you. Don’t be a local champion!

Surpassing your achievements might be a Herculean task but as you begin to practice these principles, you’ll discover that you've grown so much that the hard task has become easy for you. Remember if success is easy everybody will be successful. Roll up your sleeve and let the work begin! 

SOARING HIGH                                                                                                                                        

1. What you look at consistently you grow into. If you must grow, you must be filled with what you want to grow into. Your senses, your mind and your heart must be filled with the image of who you want to become. Stay focused on those who are soaring high and you will continually be upwardly mobile. “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 3: 18.                                                                               

2. Understand that you are totally dependent on God in your success journey. Don’t allow any level of achievements cut you off from your spiritual growth. There is a great tendency that your achievements will preoccupy you with legitimate activity which can cause you to pay less attention to your fellowship with God. If you allow this to happen, you have just cut off your real source of power for soaring high. Make your spiritual growth the underlying factor for surpassing your achievements. “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase, so then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth but God that giveth the increase.” 1Corinthians 3: 6, 7.                                                                                          

3. Practice generosity. You must think in terms of giving more than receiving more. When your desire to soar high is motivated by the desire to give more, spiritual and moral forces are released to empower you. Motivation to increase through greed eventually destroys and does not bring the positive feelings required to sustain success. As you meditate on surpassing your achievements, think in terms of what you can give more. “There is that scattereth, and yet  increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.” Proverbs 11: 24.                                                                                                        

CAN YOU SAIL THROUGH THE STORM?

Life is like a long distance journey on the sea. There are days of smooth sailing and there will be days of violent storms. It is a complex combination of the two. They are not predictable nor can one or the other be chosen or avoided. Both must be experienced.

While the smooth sailing is the more pleasurable of the two, it has its dangers if wrongly handled. The turbulent storm is the one dreaded and detested, yet has its uses if approached with wisdom. The issue is not about traveling in a smooth condition or struggling under the threatening destructiveness of the storm. The issue is, how will you handle these conditions of life? Either you like it or not every success journey is traveled under these states of affairs.

The danger of smooth sailing is pride and complacency. The invincibility of self. The absolute reliance on oneself to the exclusion of the role of others in one’s life. The lack of desire to improve and reach to higher and nobler goals. This condition of life is so enjoyable that you are blinded to the truth of ‘cultivating’ every path of the success journey, and the finite nature of every earthly resource.

While it is absolutely necessary to use this period of life to refresh yourself from the weariness of the journey and to rejoice in the good ‘fate’(?) that has brought you such pleasure, you must see this period also as a time of maintaining the structure of your ship. It must be a time of sowing into the lives of those ‘important others’ in your journey, you must sow into your future and do something to add to your environment without expecting anything in return but the joy of contributing to the wellness of your world.

Don’t be deceived that the storm of life will not show up. No matter how much smooth sailing you experience in life, storms will show up. The storm might be such that will just rock your boat and leave you unhurt or turbulent and life threatening. As long as you dream and set new goals for yourself to achieve, new challenges will arise. New opposition must be overcome. Some friends will refuse to go along with you on this journey, and some will betray and disappoint you. There will be new skill to acquire. There will be new friends to make. And new enemies to deal with.

Now, since storms are unavoidable, what do we do with them? Go through. Go deeper. Go stronger. Go wiser. And stand. Never allow the storm to stop you. Even if it means moving at the snail’s speed, move! Never allow the storm to make you vain. Even if it means straining yourself to discover a lesson, be more profound! Never allow the storm to weaken you. Even if it means stretching beyond your limit, become stronger! Never allow the storm to make you foolish. Even if it means studying wide and hard, become wiser!

And stand. Whatever life throws at you, stand strong, stand in faith and stand in love. Don’t allow the storm of betrayal and disappointment of men make you bitter. Don’t allow the opposition and challenges to the achievement of your goals make you lose heart. Don’t allow the shame and taunting of failure make you stop trying. It is the wadding through the storms to the other sides that brings the result, goals and the achievement you’re looking for. Robert W. Mcquilkin said ‘it is suffering and then glory. Not to have the suffering means not to have the glory’.

The purest ore is produced from the hottest furnace and the brightest thunderbolt is elicited from the darkest storm – Charles Caleb Colton

 In your success journey you must anticipate challenges, oppositions and unexpected setbacks. Make up your mind to face them, learn from them and go through them and be stronger. Allow them to abrasively smooth you and be more refined in strength, character and wisdom. Refuse to be roughened in the negativity of bitterness, hatred, lack of forgiveness, discouragement, frustration, weakness and despondency.

Sail through all storms that come your way in the success journey and continue to live a life of success!

SAILING TIPS

1. Build a strong foundation. A ship that is built to deal with anticipated storm is more likely to survive a storm. Prepare your heart and mind for the possibility. Lay a foundation of spiritual strength which will probably be the only saving grace when your wisdom, connections and human strength fails you. Fill your heart and mind with the Word of God and live by this Word. ‘And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.’ Luke 6: 46 – 48.                                                                                        

2. Build a reservoir of hope. There is no hopeless situation, there is hopeless man. Storms attack a man’s expectation. It destroys the possibility of success and causes a thick darkness filled with doom to surround the man. It brings a foreboding destruction of a man’s dream and all he stands for. To overcome this gloom, a light of hope must be lit. The soul must be warmed from the coldness of the storm. The soul must be kept steady from the violent tossing by the storm. The only hope that is strong enough to weather all storms is the hope laid before us by God in Christ Jesus. The hope of God’s help through Christ, the hope of eternal life. ‘That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;’                  Hebrew 6: 18, 19.                                                                                                                                    

3. Build and strengthen your faith. Faith sees beyond the present conditions. It sees into what could be and appropriate it for the present. In storm, there is little visibility and pervasive confusion. In this state, your mental reasoning and ability is be handicapped. You need to be able to see and reason with the eyes of faith. So that, you see beyond your present condition and take hold of the desired condition, working towards it with all enthusiasm and determination that the storm cannot break. ‘Now it came to pass on certain day, that he went into a ship with his disciples: and He said unto them, let us go over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched forth. But as they sailed He fell asleep: and there came down a storm of wind on the lake: and they were filled with water, and were in jeopardy. And they came to Him, and awoke Him, saying, Master, master, we perish. Then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm. And He said unto them, where is your faith?...’              Luke 8: 22 – 25.