Our words, thoughts and actions are seeds and they always return in multiple fold. Have you observed that when you remember someone you haven’t seen for a while, you suddenly meet the person in the most unexpected place or receive a phone call from the person. Sometimes too, there may be a particular food you crave at a particular moment and you are just wishing you could have it, and all of a sudden, someone sends you a food package and there it is.

These are not mere coincidences. It is some proofs of the facts that our thoughts, words and actions eventually find expression. So you may want to be careful what you entertain as a thought, or the word you speak, or even your actions. Whatever you sow is what you will reap and it doesn’t usually come back in the same proportion. If you want to enjoy favour, sow favour. If you want to enjoy fairness, be fair. If you want to enjoy kindness, sow kindness.

Don’t worry about who rewards you. God is the ultimate rewarder and He knows how to reward you. What you give out will eventually come back to you. Watch what you are giving out in form of words, thoughts and actions. If you gossip about others, you will soon be a victim of malicious gossips. If you are fond of character assassination, yours is coming in a bigger way. We are sometimes victims of our words, thoughts and actions. So begin to check your thoughts, words and actions consciously.

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.” – Robert Louis Stevenson.  It is an irrevocable law of life. What a man sows that shall he reap. Start sowing the right seeds today.

God bless us all.

Good morning Africa!

Good morning Nigeria!

You only live once, so live it in such a way that your vacuum will be hard to fill when you are gone. It is usually said that no one is indispensable but the truth is some are irreplaceable. Have you found people in the likes of Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi? These lived to the fullest. They gave life their very best shots. The world literally stood still when they passed on. What marks are you making? Who will miss you if you breathe your last today? If you can’t provide satisfactory answers to these questions, then you are not giving life your best shot.

You need to understand that an ordinary life does not in any way make the world better. Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it. (Newton 1st law of motion). The world doesn’t move for ordinary people. It takes extraordinary people to move the world! People who impact the world don’t live ordinary lives. They are barrier breakers, record setters, mountain movers and world shakers! They are those who defy all odds to achieve their goals. They see every obstacle as a stepping stone. Mount a wall before them and they will create a door through the wall. Lock them up in cells and they use their experience to liberate millions from prison of limitations. They are simply unstoppable.

Where are you today? Are you down and counting your losses? Has life knocked you down and you are playing the blame game? It is time to get back up and give it your very best shot again. You may be down but you are not out. Make a lemonade from the lemons life is throwing at you. Build castles with the stones life is hurting at you. Don’t settle for mediocrity. Don’t ever settle for the ordinary life. Give it your best.

When you have given your best shot, win or lose, you mind will be at peace. “You find that you have peace of mind and can enjoy yourself, get more sleep, and rest when you know that it was a one hundred percent effort that you gave – win or lose.” – Gordie Howe.

So, is what/where you are now your best shot?

God bless us all.

Good morning Africa!

Good morning Nigeria!

Many have been sent to early graves because they entrusted their lives in relationships they did not test. Many visions have been stolen and hijacked by unfaithful friends, associates and partners. Many have been ruined financially due to undue trust in others. There are so many Delilahs and Judases out there today, so before you start trusting, test the trust.

Don’t be in a hurry to start sharing your life’s secrets with someone you hardly know because he has an angelic look. Don’t reveal your trade secret to someone who has not earned your trust. Don’t commit your resources into the hands of an untested workers. Even God does not commit resources into the hands of untested fellows.

Subject that relationship to the test of prayer, time, small assignments, and your gut feeling. Pray about the relationship before you go deeper. Allow good time to pass before taking the relationship to another level. Don’t be ruled by your emotion. Keep your senses alert. The signs are usually there, we just ignore them. Start with small resources and test their integrity and sense of responsibility. If they are not faithful in little, they can’t be faithful in much. Follow your spirit or gut feeling or your sixth sense. It is rarely wrong.

Summarily, don’t be in a hurry to speed up any relationship, subject it to all kinds of test.

God bless us all.

Good morning Africa!

Good morning Nigeria!

As I sat last night listening and watching dignitaries and ordinary people alike from different races, religion and creeds, making glowing tributes, eulogies, and farewell speeches about Muhammad Ali (the greatest) at his home-going ceremony, I couldn’t help crying and wishing he could hear all that was being said. I picked a few lessons from this farewell ceremony. Here are some :

Ali was from rural Kentucky, a heavily segregated part of America. He grew up in the midst of prejudice and racism. Yet he loved both black and white. He never acted out his experience in the hands of racist on anyone. He just loved humanity. Don’t let past abuses, sufferings and persecutions color your sense of love and respect for people. Forgive, Forget and Forbear.

Ali hated injustice and he fought injustice. He was asked to join the US army to fight in Vietnam. He objected saying it should be his choice, and he cannot go to fight innocent people when his people were suffering at home. His defiance of the State caused him to lose all his prized possessions, including his titles and boxing license in 1967. He was banned from the Rings and remained so for three years. This did not kill him. It only strengthened him to fight injustice the more as he used this period to make speeches while also appealing his conviction. Nothing can kill you, unless you allow it.

Ali was bold, often referred to as being brash. His sojourn into boxing started with the loss of his bicycle. He told Joe Martin (the white policeman he reported to about his stolen bicycle), that he wanted to beat up the thief who stole his bicycle. Joe Martin advised him to learn how to fight before challenging people and thus began his boxing lesson at the age of 12. Joe turned out to be his first trainer. You need boldness in life to succeed.

Ali knew and used the power of positive words to the best of his advantage. He kept singing it to the world ‘I am the greatest’ and truly he attained such greatness that remains unmatched both in and out of the Rings, even Parkinson couldn’t deny Ali of that greatness. What do you tell yourself everyday? Ali was indeed an apostle of positive confession. He confessed himself into greatness.

Ali never allowed defeat to knock him out. He suffered defeat in the hands of Larry Holmes, Joe Fraser, Michael Spinks and others. After each defeat, Ali would immediately go back to the gym and immersed himself in Training. He held the world title three times through his tenacity. He never gave up on himself, even after he was diagnosed of Parkinson disease in 1984. Ali didn’t commit suicide unlike most celebrities, as the disease took control of his body. He was in control of his mind and took to social activism, peace making and philanthropic engagements. Even Parkinson couldn’t defeat Ali, as he lived with it for 32years! So what is your excuse?

Ali was full of endurance. He had the reputation of tiring out his opponent. He could fight on for the entire 15 rounds in a boxing bout. Friend, develop your strength and stamina. Life will knock you down if you don’t have stamina.

I could go on and on. Ali made me love boxing and it remains my number one sport. He brought a lot of charisma and energy into the boxing ring. His popular words ‘float like a butterfly and sting like a bee’, became a terror to his opponents.  Ali was great indeed. Death can’t deny him of his greatness, for even in death, his greatness still speaks.

Ali’s life is a challenge to all of us. Regardless of your background, color or race, you can be great. Especially for the black race, we can rise above every primordial sentiments and excuses and achieve the greatness God has destined for us. It is time to stop the senseless bickering and power struggles. It is time to amaze the world with our gifts and talents. Nothing can stop us except we allow it. May his soul rest in peace.

God bless us all.

Good morning Africa!

Good morning Nigeria!

There is the Glory of the Sun, there is the Glory of the Moon, and there is the Glory of the Stars. These are all different Glories, yet they are all Glories. The Moon cannot perform the work of the Sun. The grace of the Moon is to provide light at night and would lose its importance or relevance during the day. Likewise the Sun, it will be an anomaly for the Sun to come out at night. It will hurt nature. The moon cannot provide the kind of illumination the stars provide at night. They are beautiful in their splendor. None is greater than the other, but they each function most in their time and space.

You have your own Glory too. You have your grace. God gives us grace as He wills and according to our different abilities, so there is no need to envy the Glory or Grace of another. You don’t need to struggle with another person to shine. You will shine in your own space. The Sun doesn’t struggle to shine. It rises gracefully everyday and there is no contention over its effectiveness. Once you find your space, you begin to function with ease and great effectiveness. Your Space is where your grace flows with ease. Your Space is your Calling. Find it.

Therefore, instead of envying the Glory of others, appreciate your own grace and build up on your grace. Sooner than later, your Glory will be seen by all. There is no one created without grace. The problem is we function out of our grace. Who is poor? He is poor who is ignorant of his Grace or who fails to utilize his Grace. May you find your Grace.

God bless us all.

Good morning Africa!

Good morning Nigeria!

You are the major determinant of what you will become in life. Whether you are from a rich or poor background, whether you have strong or weak support, whether you are educated or not, the choice of who you become is yours. You have that veto power to decide who you will become in life. It is not your circumstance, condition, situation, location, but your choice that determines your destination. There is a lion in each one of us, but it requires a decision backed up with action to rouse that lion.

It is not what happens to you that determines who you will be, it is what happens in you. As a man thinks, so he is. If you choose to be great, you will be great. If you choose to be poor, you will be just that. The power to shape our lives has been vested in us by the Almighty. He commanded us to be fruitful, multiply, replenish, subdue and have dominion. He is not unaware of debilitating factors that we will encounter, but He has given us an inherent power to overcome every limitation through the power of our choice.

If you are nowhere near your desired goal today, it is because you have chosen to believe all the excuses that you have allowed to hinder you. Nothing can limit a determined person except God, and He won’t limit you in your pursuit of greatness. In the Biblical tower of Babel, God made a heavy statement in Gen. 11:6, ‘… behold the people is one, and they have all one language ; and this they begin to do, and now nothing shall be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.’ Powerful statement! In other words, you alone can hinder yourself by your choice and of your choice.

Charlotte Bronte (author of Jane Eyre) said, ‘I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.’ Nothing can ensnare a man who has decided to be great. Nothing can hurt a man who knows where he is going. ‘You don’t get to choose if you get hurt in this world…but you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my choices.’  –  John Green

Your greatest limitation is you. You can be your own best friend or your worst enemy! The Choice is really Yours!

God bless us all.

Good morning Africa!

Good morning Nigeria!