Dear reader, welcome to another moment of inspiration. This week,
I bring to you a very hard principle but yet it is your secure ladder to a
glorious life.
History is replete with people who achieve greatness without
having anything. There is a secure ladder that is available for everyone which
we can use to climb to higher height. You have no excuse to give for your
present predicament. You may have no money, no connection, no helper, no
godfather, but you have a quality that supersedes all these. This quality is
the secure ladder you need to climb your way to the top.
The story is told of two friends who travelled overseas for
greener pastures. When they arrived the foreign country, they were told that
before they could be fully integrated, they must first be engaged in washing of
plates. The first friend was willing to comply. The second friend resented the
regulation. He said he never washed plates all his life, how then would he get
to that country and be washing plates? The first friend then advised: “You have
already arrived. If they asked you to wash plates before granting you access to
greater opportunities, why not wash the plates in order to achieve your aim?”
Years ago, the executive of a Christian organisation narrated
the story of three men resident in foreign land. On one occasion, the trio
needed loan to finance their businesses. They then approached a bank for loan.
In the course of their discussion with the bank manager, the manager told them
that the bank could only grant them loan if they provided collateral
securities.
The trio had nothing to offer. As they stood dumb before the
bank manager, one of the them took his handkerchief, bent down and started
cleaning the manager’s shoes. As he did that, he pledged to repay the loan if
he was granted the loan.
Touched by the conduct and pledge of this man, the bank
manager granted him the loan he applied for. The other two were not granted the
loan they applied for. The beneficiary of this loan went away rejoicing for the
package which later changed his fortune.
Now, the conduct of the beneficiary of the loan may not
really appeal to you. It doesn’t have to. Nor am I asking you to go to the bank
and do the same thing. But the lesson to learn from here is clear – humility. Humility!
On your way to success, you need humility to fast track your progress. In a
National newspaper recently, one of the serving Governors in the country
granted an interview with the press and said that he was a shoe shine boy for
Adekunle, a former military governor of a state in the country. Far away in
Brazil, Da Silva, president of Brazil began life as a shoe shine boy.
The path to honour has always been the same. It is humility.
“By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honour, and life.”
Nothing opens the door of opportunities than humility. It
takes humility to attract help, wealth, and glory. A proud person would not
stoop and because he would not stoop, he cannot rise up. He remains as stagnant
as the lake. Only those who stoop can really rise. In life, you really have to
stoop before you can rise higher.
Years ago, a Zoology graduate tried all he could to get a
job all to no avail. He buried his degree certificate in his bag, humbled
himself and bought timbers, hammer and saw. He set up his furniture
business. Years after, he became a
multi-millionaire, producing furniture.
Dear reader, the hard or bitter truth is, If you want fame
and fortune, you must be ready to embrace some element of shame. You must learn
to come down. Don’t be ashamed of doing a business considered very little or
demeaning.
The fear of being ridiculed, or looked down upon will not
make some people to seize golden opportunities placed before them. The bane of
many people is that they cannot see beyond their nose. All they can see and are
more interested in is the present.
So, once you have chosen the path of humility, they don’t
reckon with you anymore. And this is good for you. If your opposition doesn’t
see anything good in what you are doing, he would not be plotting to trip you.
Sincerely speaking, people don’t have trouble with “nobodies.”
You are a “nobody” when you choose the path of humility, because nobody sees
bright prospect in you or in what you are doing.
This is good for you because by being a “nobody” you will
have no competitor, no rival, and no opposition. So, you are left alone to fire
on with your project. But by the time your enemies or critics wake up from
their slumber, it becomes too late for them to stop you. You have gone far!
Dear reader, do you want to surprise your enemies and
critics? Do you want to change the orientation of your critics? Then choose the
path of humility. Be willing to bend down. Be willing to do jobs or businesses
that people consider to be little and demeaning.
There are no such things as little jobs or businesses really.
They are “little” because the people seeing them are doing so with their little
mind. The great motivational speaker and writer, Pastor Olumide Emmanuel said:
“There are no menial jobs but menial minds.”
The test of greatness is the ability to turn ordinary things
to extraordinary things. “A great man will make great opportunities even out of
the commonest situations.”
People of little mind who existed when Coca-Cola was first
started would laugh at Asa Candler, who used kettle and a ladle to produce the
soft drink. Today, can we say that Coca-Cola initiative is a flop?
With humility, you can be victorious today and everyday of
your life! Go and be victorious!
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