IN PURSUIT OF YOUR DREAM, WAKE UP AND DO SOMETHING

This week I heard something on the radio that really stirred my heart. They were talking about the four leprous men in the Bible that asked themselves a very powerful  question, "Why sit we here till we die?"

These four lepers had been cast out of the city and community because of their leprous condition. They were considered unclean according to the law of Moses and thus were banished outside the city. There was famine in the land because the Syrian army and set ambush in the city. No food supplies could come in as a result of that embargo. It is against this backdrop that these four men decided to arise and go into the city not knowing what was awaiting on the otherside.

I love this story because as a Coach I have come to value the power of questions. The question these men asked themselves is a question we all need to ask ourselves in pursuit of our dreams. "Why are you sitting there till you die?"  "There" can be anything to you, it could be your place of work, your comfort zone, the status quo, that toxic relationship, and the list goes on and on.

In order for you to realize your dream you will have to ask yourself that question and hopefully arise and take a step toward realizing that dream. Now that's the scary part. It takes courage, it's a risk, the future is uncertain, it will require you coming out of your comfort zone. But you know what? the choice is between going there and dying or remaining where you are and still die there. Which is the better death? To me it is better I die trying than not to try at all. What about you? What are you clinging to right now that you need to let go of in order to move forward in your life?

 

“Our truest life is when we are in our dreams awake”.
                                                                        - HENRY DAVID THOREAU

IN PURSUIT OF YOUR DREAM, OUTLAST YOUR CRITICS

It's amazing how when you try to do something, especially something that has never been done, you face a lot of opposition. You hear people telling you of how it can't be done or reminding you of others who have in the past tried it but failed. Some even go as far as attacking you by ridiculing your efforts and mocking your dream. Many have given up long before they started because of such critics.

One thing I have come to learn is that no matter what you embark to do, you will always have those who will want to show you why and how it can't be done. When Nehemiah of old set out to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem that had lain in ruin for many years, there was Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official and Gesham the Arab who mocked and ridiculed him. They said,

"What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall?... Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble - burned as they are? What they are building-if even a fox climbed up on it, he would break down their wall of stones!"

But Nehemiah was not moved by their intimidations and went on to rebuild the wall in record time, 52 days. Nehemiah ignored them, he didn't allow their words to affect him, he chose to maintain a right attitude and not to listen to or negotiate with them. He was focused in doing what God had put in his heart to do.

You and I too must not allow ourselves to be dettered by our critics. We should not allow them to derail our plans and we should not let them paralyze us with their fears. But we should focus on our goals and set our hands to work to see our dreams come to reality. Remember only you can bring to birth that which God has impregnated your heart with. What are you carrying in your heart? What dreams do you have? Who are you listening to as you pursue your dreams?

"Beware in pursuing the Antelope you don't get side tracked by the dashing squirrel"
                                                                                                                 - PLO Lumumba

It's Your Turn now

I watched with glee as the Kenya National Anthem was played 8 times at the just concluded World Athletics championships in Daegu (sounds like ndengu) South Korea. It reminded me of the Seoul Olympic games which Kenya also shined in like manner.

Why Seoul Olympics comes to mind is because I was then a student in India. Watching those games together with other nationalities, majority being Indian, made me feel so proud to be Kenyan. Na kweli those are the only rare moments when you can say "najivunia kwa Mkenya".

What made Daegu so special for me was that wonder gal Vivian Cheruiyot who accounted for two of those national anthems. This is a lady who in the past has had to play second fiddle to the great Tirunish Debaba of Ethyiopia who has dominated those races for the last couple of years. It was Vivian's moment, it was her time now, and what a way she shone.

I'm glad Vivian wasn't content with the many silvers she has won playing second fiddle to the Ethiopians. Good is always the enemy of great. Many of us are content in playing second fiddle in their life. Though it is a great achievement to win a silver medal in the Olympics or any other event of that magnitude, you will always have to stand in the podium and listen to the national anthem of the gold medalist. You will always be there smiling looking like the maids in a wedding.

Like Vivian, it's your time now. It's time you realized that you too can be celebrated. You too can shine. Quit being content celebrating others while you too should be being celebrated. Those that are making it don't have two heads and you one. You don't need someone else to birth what God has already put in your heart to do. You can be the answer to your prayers.

I recently had this story by Joel Osteen, there was this man who put 100 dollars in his wife's bible just before the service. Sometime during the service, when it came to the offering time, he asked his wife for 100 dollars. His wife was oblivious of the fact that her husband had put the money there. So she told her husband that she didn't have any money (like most wives tell their husbands). After a few persuasions with no result at all, her husband asked her to open her bible, and viola there was 100 dollars. The moral of that story is that God wont ask you to do something He hasn't equipped you to do.

Possessing your 'Land'

Upon my return from South Africa, I felt led to take the next 21 days to read, study and meditate on the book of Joshua. This book of the Bible is about conquest. The children of Israel had wandered for forty years in the wilderness and now it was the time for them to enter in and possess their promised possession. It is at this point that Joshua, their new leader urges them in Joshua 18:3,
"How long will you wait before you begin to take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you?

Notice that from the above scripture, there is God's part and my part, your part to play in realizing your destiny. God had given them the land, but their's was to go in and possess it. God was not going to possess what He had given to them. It was their responsibility to go out and possess what God had given to them. What God can do no man can do they say, but I hasten to add that, what man can do, God won't do.

I have come to realize that many people are seating still, 'waiting upon the LORD' as they say, when God is actually waiting on them to go in and possess. What has God promised you? What has He been telling you lately? What opportunities are there before you? What are you waiting for? and How long will you wait before you begin to take possession of the land (whatever that land means to you) that the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you?

It's time for us to arise and go out, go up, and take possession of that which God has promised us. Remember that opportunities don't come to those who wait, they are captured by those who dare to attack". God bless you and be with you as you possess your land.

"It's choice - not chance - that determines your destiny." - Jean Nidetch