Self-Esteem VS God-Esteem

But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" - Moses (the Prophet)

             

                 Have you ever felt charged up and motivated to get a venture going only to wake up the next morning and feel completely incapable? If you are like me you would have probably asked yourself if you sensed correctly the vision that you professed. You are not alone in this. Moses (that great prophet the split the Red Sea) asked, “Who am I, …?” Jeremiah said, “I am a child!” Gideon wondered if the Lord was with his nation, and Jacob confessed: “I am A Crook!”

            It is very human to feel insufficiently equipped to bring to reality the dreams and visions in our hearts. So the fact that you are in that shoe isn’t new at all.

            We feel this way when we look inward – our insufficient education, limited money, debatable beauty, obvious physical inabilities, and a host of other hindrances. We never seem to get to the point where we are ready to take the bull by its horns and conquer it.

            We will remain in limbo unless we look elsewhere for the strength to accomplish. We must look to God. It is in God that we find our true estimation. Forget self-esteem, try God-esteem! God does not deny our incapability; he knows them all too well and has appropriate responses to them. He said to Moses, “I will be with you,” to Jeremiah he said, “Do not say “I am only a child,”” to Gideon, “Go in the strength you have,” and to Jacob, “Your name will no longer be A Crook but A Prince…”

God's True estimation of YOU

            For analogy sake, imagine God as a mirror. Just like the mirror which reflects your outward image, God reflects who he esteems you to be. You can only estimate yourself correctly when you look at you through God’s eyes. Be like David who said of Goliath, “The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” It is only then that you will have assured success.

Starting Where You are With What You Have

So the Lord said to him, "What is that in your hand?" He said, "A rod." And He said, "Cast it on the ground." So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. – Moses (at the burning bush)

     Take a survey, get on your street today and ask every willing volunteer the following questions; What to you dream to become? Why have you not become that thing? Most assuredly you will receive answers like I do not have the money, or It will not work in this place, or I do not have anybody to help me. These responses people have used to excuse their stagnancy and ineffectiveness. I dare say that all these answers are baskets used to carry water.

     We must all get our minds to understand that to succeed in any worthy venture you must start where you are. You do not need to go anywhere else. Take the first step where you are! Success begins at home. The thought that you must change location has made inactive cowards of us. Many think they would be successes if they were in the United States of America or some other “ideal” country their minds have built but they are grossly misled. Admittedly there are countries that have better economies and hence opportunities but no country assures a failure of success. Changing the location of a lizard does not change it to an alligator. In fact, changing the skin of a lizard to that of an alligator does not make it one, its “lizard-ness” is in its mind.

     Folks may then say, I will not change location but I still don’t have what it takes to achieve my dreams. True you may not have all it takes but you do have something. Everybody has something. It may be knowledge, wisdom, a family, a healthy body, time or beauty – doesn’t matter what. What is important is that you can use your limited resource to ignite the flames of your dream. God asked Moses a profound question: “What is in your hands?” and he said, “A staff.” How useful is a staff in fighting for freedom from the clutches of the most powerful living man of their time? Certainly it was little indeed. It was just that little staff that God needed to liberate Israel from bondage. That “thing” in your hands is more important than the combined power of all other resources you don’t have. 

             

Start where you are and with what you have. You may not be in the best location in the world, you may not have all the needed resources for you success journey, but to begin you don’t need the best location or all the resources. 

How to Love What You Do

Whatever your hands find to do, do it with all your might… - Solomon (King of Israel)   

It is popularly proclaimed that you must do what you love if you are to do it well. While that is certainly true, I would like to bring to your attention the flip side of this, namely, you must love what you do if you are to have a chance of succeeding in it. Steve Jobs once said, "Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do a great work is to love what you do."

                For many of us our jobs are not necessarily that “thing” that does it for us. We dreamed we will be somewhere else doing something else other than what we are. Because of this we do not see anything but stress and frustration in carrying out our duties.

                If this is your state some change in paradigm may help. First, realize that your success journey is a JOURNEY. That word means that you are in a process and you are not yet there. Every step you take edges you closer to your destination. It is important that you handle your present job with respect and commitment so that it pushes you further in your journey.

                Also, you should believe that every phase in life is like a strand of thread in a large tapestry. Your success is by far bigger than any of your phases, and that includes the present, but it is each phase that builds up the end game just the way each seemingly insignificant thread is very important to the beautiful tapestry.

                Understand that ultimately the dots will connect. If you are like me you would have wondered why the dots in your life seem to stand chaotically. Do not let it get to you because you will eventually be able to connect the dots. No knowledge gotten in our success journey is a waste. If that is true then every experience at the moment is important for your progress.

                So, your attitude should be that of complete commitment to the thing you are presently involved in. pour your heart and energy into it. Do it with all your might, all your mind, all your knowledge, indeed all of you!

Idle Hands

And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and said to them, Why do you stand here all day idle? - Jesus (The Christ).

Picture From Idle Traveller

Unemployment is an ailment eating deep into my generation. In many African countries the figures are staggering, often reaching unimaginable points like 80% of all youths. For a long time it was seen as a problem of the “developing world” and though we still top the chats, several countries in Europe are fast approaching.

It is common to get the answer, “I am doing nothing”, to the question, “What are you doing now?” from young folks. It is this response that disturbs me. While governments are truly responsible for creating enabling environments for young workers, it does not excuse idleness. I believe that unemployment is a mirage. It only exists in your experience if you permit it to. If you choose to you can take yourself out of that group. All you need to do is occupy yourself with worthy work. It is said that, “The idle mind is the devils workshop”. This is so because the idle mind assuredly conjures up mischievous deeds.

This need not be so. Our young minds do not have to submit to idleness. At every point in time you can occupy yourself with a new skill. There are numerous artisans that will permit you to understudy them if you would offer voluntary service. What is wrong in learning to cook, or bake, or sew, or farm? You give them your time and strength and they give you a new skill that you could use in life.

Devote yourself to continuous learning. Never get to the point that you stop learning. When you do not learn you do not grow. So, read, listen to professionals, do cheap research, improve yourself. Take advantage of this period of your life to become a better person.

Take your focus away from monetary rewards. Money has become a big problem to the young generation. Our eyes seem fixed on becoming wealthy in an hour. Process is now a forgotten word in success dictionary but this should not be so. It is said that, “He that is in a haste to get rich will not be considered innocent”. 

How to Create Miracles

I'm realistic - I believe in miracles. - Wayne W. Dyer (Author)

                Our generation is wreaked with miracle seekers and, by default miracle workers. The authenticities of many miracles are obvious. Nonetheless, an addiction to the pursuant of miracles has done a thousand more bad than good.

We end up with a situation whereby creativity is destroyed – for why do I need to create anything if I can rely on it to happen without my influx? Discipline is undermined because there is obviously no need to be disciplined to a schedule when I can be undisciplined and receive a miracle. Irresponsibility is bred because if I were responsible then it is not a miracle.

With this paradigm progress is impossible and success becomes a mystery word. In life Miracles are the exception and not the rule. They are the things that happen when they happen and not what happens every day. Each day comes with its own need to make a miracle of your own and you can create your own miracles by the following simple steps.

You must have a vision. Before any one of us can create unexplainable miracles in our lives we must capture a vision in our hearts. Moses captured a vision of freedom and liberty for his people and his life was followed with countless miracles.

Develop a habit of setting goals. When you have a vision you then need to break it into goals. By this I mean state exactly the several things that must be accomplished for your vision to be realized. Goals are to a vision what stairs are to the top floor of a skyscraper. Approach your vision one step at a time and you will witness the miracle of actualizing it.

Hang in there. You will have many chances to abort your mission. There will be times when you will wonder if you saw correctly the vision you claimed to have seen. Do not give up. Stay in line. Persist. You will see your miracle.