SUNRISE: MOTIVATION

Spirits are low, the zeal is gradually depleting, the heart grows heavy the mind is getting dull, mental alertness has fled the space seeking a better proactive place. The body still able and youthful has grown weary from the stress of too many trials.

Hope that the soul clings to seem like a distant impossibility, tomorrow looks uncertain in its coming. Through the eyes there is no difference between yesterday, today and tomorrow, it’s always the same routine, same story every day.

The tongue tries to lift the spirit by singing ' It will get better ', but it’s as if words are just not enough. Drunken and drowning in despair, discouragement and displeasure, nothing excites or moves this being from this stationery mode. Motivation ebbs away reaching an all-time low.

Au contraire, there is still some hope left, there is light at the end of the tunnel, the mind suddenly awakens, though initially bereft of hope, but the sparks of desire from the fire of dissatisfaction in the soul ignites a fresh perspective, a different kind of food for thought, highly nutritional; providing all the supplements needed to build a healthy mind. The power of positivism is born and raised by constant fueling.

Why the sudden Change?

What sparked the Flame?

There is no smoke without fire, hunger pangs have bitten too hard, the pocket has grown lean, empty, riddled with holes, and shame has played a bad game.

The screams of enough is enough begin to ring so loudly in the head like a church bell, it is time to turn the tables around.

For the man who holds strong belief in the Omnipotent One above, the words " Ask, and it shall be given you, seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you (Matt. 7:7 KJV), increases faith for he knows in his heart that by strength shall no man prevail

(1 Sam. 2:9).

The power of prayer cannot be undermined, but prayer alone is not the only solution. Dutiful hands need to place the sign the reads

‘ACTION REQUIRED ' in an obvious location that would greet the eyes each morning. Talk is cheap; words without action will yield no fruit.

The die is cast, what better way to stay motivated than to continually act on the dreams, visions, passion that keeps us going throughout the day and will drive one to greater heights.

The spirit of motivation can be killed, dampened or demoralized; man needs to be careful of the tell-tale signs that come across along the way.

Failure is not the end of the road but a reason to try again.

Facing challenges is not a reason to give up hope but a time to rise up to the test.

Even success teaches its own lessons, that which is gained through stress and hard work can be easily lost through pride and vainglory. It is not a myth but a fact that one's attitude determines their altitude in life.

                                                              

WILL.

I'm racing towards the top

But yet afraid that I might flop

The cold shivers rattle my bones

My feet stumble upon the stones

My eyes are set upon the hill

I'm pressing on by strong will

Winds of courage push me forward

Faith unshaken marching onward

There are times the mind falls so ill

Giving up is not how I feel

My everything I learn to give

So in the end that I might live

Sweet and sour the journey sure is

Often filled with wanton stories

By the grace of Jesus our Lord

I conquer being a child of God

My feet enter the promise land

Eureka!  I shout for am glad

Fountains of blessing fill the way

Am so pleased to enjoy my stay

By Ufuoma Jamani

SUNRISE: LIFE IS NOT A COMPETITION

Life is so precious and so beautiful. If wishes were horses men would ride, we would live in perfect, blissful, tranquility but sadly this is not the case, the world is in turmoil, it does not give much credence to the line of a song that says love makes the world go round.

We are not all equal but are distinguished and separated by social class. The rich live a life seemingly oppressive to the poor, the poor - many of whom have made the wrong choices that will make them remain where they are and of course the so-called disappearing middle class who have a good taste of both worlds.

There are different types of people; many who possess a  passion, strong will of ambition and desire to work hard and press on utilizing wisdom, knowledge and the power of perseverance to achieve greater heights, many others who wallow in comfort and do not desire change, it is too much of a hassle for them, they are born that way and they will die that way, some others who can't and have not been able to do anything about their situation, they are engrossed in self-pity and jealous of others who seem to be living a better life than them, but they forget one little thing, that there are others who are praying and wishing to be in their shoes. In everything give thanks; this is what the Bible says in 1Thess. 5:18a, their lack of appreciation for their present state deprives them of happiness because they wrongly focus all attention on others instead of themselves.

Many people pray to be just like someone else are attracted by the glory of the latter, they do not know their pain nor their story but envy the beautiful glory, pain and gain is the whole package and cannot be separated, but there are others who are only driven by the power of greed and envy, they are willing to strive to acquire wealth by any means possible, even at the detriment of many just so they can impress people and live by societal standards. Sometimes we really need to stop and think about the reasons behind our actions of what we do, why we do it and who we are doing it for and if it would all be worth it in the end?.

Take a good look at the bed of roses, filled with beautiful flowers. Each flower flourishes and blossoms without permission from the other flowers and with no desire whatsoever to compete with the other flowers in the bed of roses.

The White Rose so pure, heavenly, innocent and humble. The Red Rose quite passionate, sincere, lovable and courageous. The Yellow Rose really friendly and delightful to have. The Orange Rose filled with so much energy, enthusiasm and desire. The Pink Rose so bright, elegant, graceful and admirable. The Black Rose very rare, unique and special.

Study the birds both flighted and flightless, they all have marked territories. It would be quite impossible for the Chicken to exude the beauty and confidence of a Swan, so if you are a high flying Chicken, be the best Chicken the world has ever seen and do not try to be who you are not. It can get lonely at the top but that is no excuse for the Eagle to start living on the ground or pretend to be a Chicken. The Ostrich would do itself a great disservice if it loses its unique gait because it wants to waddle like a Duck. Diurnal birds will wreck their lives completely if they try to become nocturnal and vice versa.

The precious gemstones; like diamond, rubies, emerald, jade, opal, sapphires, pearls etc. just to mention a few are very beautiful, valuable and are an excellent supply of resource. Each precious gemstone exists naturally and beautifully without diminishing the beauty of the others.

The precious metals of the earth like gold, silver, titanium, platinum etc have unique properties and serve different purposes.,

Our co-existence is not an excuse to breed unhealthy rivalry and competition. Allowing the leech of inferiority complex to feast on the mind is quite destructive, it will create a void and sense of  inadequacy, nothing fruitful can be brought to fore in this state.

If only man, both male and female could learn to appreciate themselves, discover and accept who they are, look deep within, see their own beauty and be content with it, while also showing appreciation for everyone else. Only then would we have true happiness that comes from within and have a better relationship with others.

As the fingers are not equal, we are not all equal but we are all beautiful with special and unique characteristics. Even when surrounded by a crowd, one should be able to stand up tall with confidence. You should be able to, I should be able to, we all should be able to stand up tall in a crowd and say ` I AM SOMEBODY '.

                                                I AM SOMEBODY

Everybody needs an anthem

This one is for you, this one is for me

Don't judge me because I am fat or thin

Big or small, short or tall, rich or poor

Don't judge me by the colour of my skin

Black or white, it should not matter

My race, tribe and tongue don't define my persona

The contents of my character do

I can't get lost out there cos I know who I am

I am beautiful, fearfully and wonderfully made

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me

Marvelous is my name, I know because I am somebody

I will stand tall in a crowd and still say that

I am somebody great, destined for the top

I am somebody precious, of great value

I am somebody important; the world will know my name

I look at my image in the mirror and just love the person I see

I love my hair, my complexion, my height and every little thing about me

I love me just the way I am because I am unique in my own special way

Sounds like a lot but I don't need anyone's permission to give me some self-love, no one can take that from me

I can sing it, rap about it or say it, that's my motto because I know who I am and I AM SOMEBODY.

SUNRISE : LIFE

Life is a journey, even though our paths are different, we are all walking towards a particular direction, aiming for the top.

It is sometimes not easy to stay on course, there are distractions along the way, one can easily lose focus and end up facing the wrong direction, It takes a lot of courage, determination and passion to stay true to one's path.

Many people often get lost in the maze of life, they turn left, they turn right and sometimes turn backwards, they are not really sure which way to go, confusion is their bane.

The road to self-discovery may feel like taking a course in rocket science but those who have discovered themselves and know what they want may seem to be going on a cruise through life. This can be deceptive at times as not all that glitters is gold.

Everyone has their own challenges to face; life is not a bed of roses.

If we are wise and we learn to put on the right shoes for every phase of life, things would be much easier.

We live to learn every day, there is always a lesson to be learnt, taught by the great teacher called life. Lessons from poverty,; riches, relationships of friendship or love, success or failure and from proactivity or inactivity. Some can break you down or utterly destroy one’s psyche while others are worthwhile and would build one up.

In this world, karma roams about on a witch-hunt seeking those to favour or curse, make no mistake about it whatever a man sows, he shall surely reap. If you pour goodness, hard work, love, generousity and humility into its bosom, it will pay you back with a good gold coin but peradventure you pour wickedness, pride, procrastination and laziness into its bosom, the result would be disastrous and would leave a bad taste in the mouth, inadvertently you get served what you deserve.

A splendorous youth and glorious old age, many would love, but often said how we spend our youth will determine if we would enjoy old age. Spend wisely, gain richly; the way we use our bodies and manage our health, the choice keeping the right companions that would help us stay focused on the right path or make one get lost in the woods, exercising discipline over time, money and self, leaving the mind fallow, which is a terrible thing to do are just some of the things one needs to work through in this journey of life in order to be the master of events.

A common mistake made by most youth is thinking we have all the time in the world to accomplish something. I am still young we say, we still got time on our hands, forgetting that time waits for no one and would soon fly away into the sunset. Although this should not make one walk through the way of blind desperation but a clarion call for careful preparations, being proactive is the aim.

Age is really nothing but a number, so if you think you are too young or too old to be an achiever, you will only have yourself to blame in the end, because it is better to launch out into the deep and find out firsthand what could happen than to take a back seat and wonder how things could turn out.

Work hard to create an avenue for income, pray hard for God Almighty to bless the work of your hands and play hard for all work and no play makes Jack and Jill dull.

There comes a time in our lives when we find ourselves in a prime position to give advice but there are times when we need to be bold enough to take our own advice. That is life; it is a pill we all must learn to swallow.

The idea is setting goals

And work to watch them unfold

Time will tell if they excel

Time will tell if they excel

And the Lord God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good: for the Lord will again rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers.  (Deut.  30: 9 KJV)

HAPPY NEW YEAR

The New Year lies ahead, another blank book opened, purpose dying to be fulfilled and plans wishing to be met. We have another chance to pen a beautiful story about our lives.

The choice is ours to continue walking in the same path or start again with everything new; new hopes, new dreams, and new aspirations. Out with the old, in with the new; hoping that new experiences that come along will define our lives positively and shape us beautifully.

May the Sunshine always brighten our day, may the Moon always light up our way, may the cloud of protection shield us from our foes and frenemies and may the rains come down and water the works of our hands. We shall bloom like a tree and stand strong to face any kind of weather.

The months of January, June and July shall bring you joy, make you jovial and you shall have every reason to be jubilant, relax Jehovah is in control.

Do not be faithless or faint-hearted, February will favour you and fashion your plans to fruition.

As a matter of fact, walk majestically into March and May will cause His divine methodology to make you manifest magnificently into a mind-blowing masterpiece.

April and August will align with the Almighty God for you to achieve attainable aspirations and altitudes.

Savour sweet September, soar, shine and secure your place in the sky.

Obedient October will obliterate all your worries to oblivion. The Omnipotent, Omnipresent and Omniscient One will rise to the occasion in your life and move you onward.

Now Noble No-nonsense November will bring new and numerous blessings your way. Never give up, good news is near.

Dance daily in December for delay is not denial, a new dawn is here, you deserve to be decorated and have a

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2017.