What Is Inside?

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Sam Aka

“The future starts now!”
“Don’t get swallowed up in a cup of water”
“Do not create a storm in a tea cup”
“Truth is heavy, so few men carry it” – Jewish proverb

Warning: This column may be hazardous to areas of mediocrity in your life!

I know that you have entrusted to me one of your most precious resources, your time. I promise to do my best by the grace of God, to be a good steward of the minutes we spend together. Thank you. Mucho gracias.

Great men are little men expanded. Great lives are ordinary lives intensified. Just one ‘little extra’ will turn your daily ordinary life into extra ordinary living. Life is not a zero-sum game. Life is a choice not a chance. The willingness to go the extra mile actually does make a difference. I pray from the depth of my heart that you will earnestly locate that ‘little extra’ that will make your joy complete and full.

COMIC RELIEF…just for laughs, ‘…a merry heart does good as medicine’ – Proverbs 17:22

Robbers enter a house, asks for all the money and valuables. After they collect what they can, they give the man of the house a gun with instructions to shoot his wife or else he shot himself. The man gets the gun, points it at his wife and hesitates…He is thinking of what he has gone through in life with his wife and how she has suffered and sacrificed for him and the kind love he have for her…He hands back the gun and says, “I am sorry I can’t do this…” The boss of the robbers silently grabs the gun from him and passes it on to the wife with the same instruction. The wife gets the gun and without any single hesitation points to her husband’s head and pulls the trigger…But the gun had no bullets in it… The robbers get their gun and walk out of the house laughing.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. If you were the man in that house how would you react towards your wife?
2. If you were the wife, what explanation can you give to your husband!
3. If you were invited to bring peace between this couple, what advice would you give?

Eagles fly alone and at high altitudes. They don’t fly with sparrows or other small birds. Stay away from sparrows and ravens, those that bring you down. Eagles fly with Eagles. Keep good company. Eagles have accurate vision. They have the ability to focus on something as far as 5km. No matter the obstacles, the eagle will not move his focus from the prey until he grabs it. Have a vision and remain focused no matter what the obstacle and you will succeed (Matt.6:22). Eagles do not eat dead things. They feed only on fresh prey. Do not rely on your past success; keep looking for new frontiers to conquer. Leave your past where it belongs, in the past. Eagles love the storm. When clouds gather, the eagles get excited. The eagle uses the storm’s wind to lift it higher.

Once it finds the wind of the storm, the eagles uses the raging storm to lift him above the clouds. This gives the eagle an opportunity to glide and rest its wings. In the meantime, all the other birds hide in the leaves and branches of the trees. Face your challenges knowing that these will make you emerge stronger and better than you were. We can use the storms of life to rise to greater heights. Achievers are not afraid of challenges rather they relish them and use them profitably.

When a female eagle meets a male and they want to mate, she flies down to earth with the male hotly chasing her and she picks a twig. She flies back into the air with the male pursuing her. Once she has reached a height high enough for her, she lets the twig fall to the ground and watches it as it falls. The male chases after the twig. The faster it falls, the faster he chases until he reaches it and has to catch it before it falls to the ground, then bring it back to the female eagle. The female eagle grabs the twig and flies to a much higher altitude, and then drops the twig for the male to chase. This goes on for hours, with the height increasing until the female eagle is assured that the male eagle has mastered the art of picking the twig which shows commitment, then and only then, will she allow him to mate with her!

Whether in private life or in business, one should test commitment of people intended for partnership. Eagles prepare for training. They remove the feathers and soft grass in the nest so that the young get uncomfortable in preparation for flying. Leave your comfort zone, there is no growth there. When the Eagle grows old, his feathers become weak and cannot take him as fast as he should. When he feels weak and about to die, he retires to a place far away in the rocks. While there, he plucks out every feather on his body until he is completely bare. He stays in this hiding place until he has grown new feathers, then he can come out. We occasionally need to shed off old habits, things that burden us, or add no value to our lives. Isaiah 40:31, “But those who wait on The Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

A woman was preparing to speak at an “I Can Do It Conference”, and she decided to bring an orange on stage with her as a prop for her lecture. She opened a conversation with a bright young fellow of about twelve who was sitting in the front row. “If I were to squeeze this orange as hard as I could, what would come out?” She asked him. He looked at her like she was a little crazy and said, “Juice, of course.” “Do you think apple juice could come out of it?”, “No!” he laughed. “What about grapefruit juice?”, “No!” “What would come out of it?” “Orange juice, of course.” “Why? When you squeeze an orange, does orange juice come out?” He may have been getting a little exasperated with her at this point. “Well, it’s an orange and that’s what’s inside.” She nodded. “Let’s assume that this orange isn’t an orange, but it’s you.

And someone squeezes you, puts pressure on you, says something you don’t like, and offends you. And out of you comes anger, hatred, bitterness, fear, etc. Why? The answer, as our young friend has told us, is because that’s what’s inside.” It’s one of the great lessons of life. What comes out when life squeezes us? When someone hurts or offends us? If anger, pain and fear come out of us, it’s because that’s what’s inside. It doesn’t matter who does the squeezing; your mother, your brother, your children, your boss, the government, etc.! If someone says something about you that you don’t like, what comes out is what’s inside. And what’s inside is up to us, it’s our choice. When someone puts pressure on us, what comes out is a function of what is originally inside.

If it is any other thing rather than love, (as our Lord Jesus demonstrated when He was accused wrongly), it’s because that’s what you’ve allowed to be inside. Once you take away all those negative things you don’t want in your life and replace them with love, you’ll begin to live a highly functional life.

A teacher asked her students to bring some tomatoes in a plastic bag to school. Each tomato will be given a name of the person whom that child hates. Like this, the number of tomatoes will be equal to the number of persons they hate. On a decided day, the children brought their tomatoes well addressed. Some had two, some had three and some had five, some even had 20 tomatoes in accordance with the number of people each student hate thus if a student hates 5 people, he will bring 5 tomatoes. The teacher told them they have to carry the tomatoes with them everywhere they go for 2 weeks. As the days passed the children started to complain about the spoiled and smell of the tomatoes. Students who many tomatoes had complained it was very heavy to carry and the smell was too much.

After one week, the teacher asked the students, “How did you feel this one week?” The Children complained of smell and heavy weight of the tomatoes especially those who carried more tomatoes. The teacher then said, “This is very similar to what you carry in your heart when you don’t like some people. Hatred makes the heart unhealthy and you carry that hatred everywhere.If you can’t bear the smell of spoiled tomatoes for a week, imagine the impact on your heart that you carry throughout life.”

The Heart is a beautiful garden that needs regular cleaning of unwanted weeds. Forgive those who have angered you. This makes room for storing good things..Get better not bitter! May the good Lord strengthen us so that we can forgive those who wrong us and take away the hatred we have in our heart in Jesus name.

A professor was teaching about Proverbs 15:1. He asked his students, ‘…why do we shout in anger? Why do people shout at each other when they are upset?’ The students thought for a while. One said, ‘…because we lose our calm.’ But the professor asked again,’…why shout when the other person is just next to you? Isn’t it possible to speak to him or her with a soft voice? Why do you shout at a person when you are angry?’ The students gave some answers but none satisfied the professor. Finally, he explained, “…when two people are angry at each other,…there is a distance in their heart psychologically. To cover the distance, they must shout to be able to hear each other. The angrier they are, the stronger they will shout to hear each other through that great distance.’ Then the professor asked,’…what happens when two people fall in love? They don’t shout at each other but talk softly, why? Because their hearts are psychologically close. The distance between them is very close.’

The professor continued,”…when they love each other even more, what happens? They don’t speak, they only whisper and they even get closer to each other in their love. Finally, they even need not to whisper, …They only look at each other and that’s all…’ So next time you shout on a loved one, know that you are creating distance between your heart and that person’s heart.’ Proverbs 15:1 says, gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. So note that anger separates but love unites. May the love of God flow into your life today and may His grace be sufficient for you to live and walk in love with your fellow men and women in Jesus mighty name!

Things are not always what they seem. Two traveling angels stopped to spend the night in the home of a wealthy family. The family was rude and refused to let the angels stay in the mansion’s guest room. Instead the angels were given a small space in the cold basement. As they made their bed on the hard floor, the older angel saw a hole in the wall and repaired it. When the younger angel asked why, the older angel replied, ‘Things aren’t always what they seem.” The next night the pair came to rest at the house of a very poor, but very hospitable farmer and his wife. After sharing what little food they had the couple let the angels sleep in their bed where they could have a good night’s rest. When the sun came up the next morning the angels found the farmer and his wife in tears.

Their only cow, whose milk had been their sole income, lay dead in the field. The younger angel was infuriated and asked the older angel how could you have let this happen? The first man had everything, yet you helped him, he accused. The second family had little but was willing to share everything, and you let the cow die. “Things aren’t always what they seem,” the older angel replied. “When we stayed in the basement of the mansion, I noticed there was gold stored in that hole in the wall. Since the owner was so obsessed with greed and unwilling to share his good fortune, I sealed the wall so he wouldn’t find it.” “Then last night as we slept in the farmer’s bed, the angel of death came for his wife I gave him the cow instead. Things aren’t always what they seem.” Sometimes that is exactly what happens when things don’t turn out the way they should.

You just need to trust that every outcome is always to your advantage (Romans 8:28). You just might not know it until sometime later…Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some people become friends and stay awhile leaving beautiful footprints on our hearts. And we are never quite the same because we have made a good friend!!Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That’s why it’s called the present! Right Now; Somebody is thinking of you. Somebody is caring about you. Somebody misses you. Somebody wants to talk to you. Somebody is thankful for the support you have provided. Never take away anyone’s hope. Dear God, the person reading this is kind and I’m proud of him or her. Please help this person live life to the fullest and bless him or her chosen field! IN JESUS MATCHLESS NAME! Good morning! (Psalm 30:5)

About author

Sam Aka

Sam Aka is a prolific writer, Public Speaker and Author. A member of the American Society of Criminologists (1985 Batch) and World Association of Detectives (1986 batch). For comments (sms only): +2348033053006 or E-mail: pastorsamaka@ymail.com

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