Song of Pain

In the midst of one crowded city
A grungy woman comforted herself
near a shop's entrance
She was not shy
Neither of her rags
Nor of her duty -
Her song she sang
She sang from dawn to dusk
SONG OF PAIN!!
The rattling of the few nickels in her
plate was her beat
The crying of the infant strapped on
her back was her back up vocals
"Ndibatsireiwo vanhu vamwari" was her chorus
She composed it for us
Her song of pain.

A few more nickels in her plate
Her benefits (for the day) not even a meal!
Her gain from the day's work

In her rags of poverty
Not stupidity
Her song of pain she sang
Her song of pain she sings
Her son of pain she can forever sing
Her song of pain.

Heart-warming Poetry

These are just a few verses from my recent work that I thought might inspire you in this season.  None of these verses have been published and I trust that they will be published among my new work. Be Inspired.

It is the Lord who has made me strong
He has raised me up to my feet
I will sing to Him my praises

- º - º - º - º - º - º -

Even as we pray
May we in your awesome presence stay

- º - º - º - º - º - º -

If I am still to be found alive
All the more have I reason to praise thee
For Thy presence is still with me
And thy promises shine on the morrow

- º - º - º - º - º - º -

The Lord is not mute
How can he who created the mouth not speak?
He will no longer remain silent
The time has now come for Him to break the silence
And everything else silence
They will remain silent
The execution of His word is swift
The Lord is not mute

How to Fully Utilize the Power of Goal Setting

What connection is there between your mission and the goals that you are pursuing today?  If there is none, you are probably under utilizing the power of goal setting.  Goal setting is a tool that is designed not just to get you whatever you want in life but, rather, to get you what you need to achieve your mission.

1.        Tie your goals to your mission
Your mission represents what you want to achieve in your lifetime.  Whatever goal you set in life should be in line with your mission.  Unless you do this, you may spend a lifetime chasing after goals that take you nowhere, although they might be exciting.

2.        Set goals that are progressive
Your goals should successively contribute to the attainment of your ultimate goal.  The journey towards your ultimate goal should be like an ascend up a staircase. Just as each step should be joined to the one before it and the one after it, your goals for this year should be joined to last year's goals and next year's goals.  That way you are assured of going somewhere with your life.

3.        Move from setting goals to setting strategic objectives
Goals keep your focus on what you want to do within a given timeframe.  Strategic objectives, however, shift your focus to the end to what you intend to achieve through your goal.  Focusing on the end is more energizing than focusing on the means.

Goal setting is a wonderful exercise. No doubt, every person who sets concrete goals and commits themselves to taking decisive action towards the attainment of these goals has a greater chance of realizing their dreams than the one who blurs out 'resolutions' under the ecstasy of the moment and does nothing to make them happen.   However, the greatest results do not come from the exercise of goal setting. It comes from aligning them to your mission, having them progressively lead them towards your mission and shifting your focus from what you have to do to the end in mind.

Be inspired.

The Exciting Year Ahead

In today's issue of Inspiration Online I want to give
you an update of the work that I have been doing behind
the scene and also give you some things to look
forward to as we begin the new year.


For some time now I have been working on my website,
Like Ed: You Can Do It, and have set aside this
coming weekend as the time to polish up whatever work
is still outstanding.  I look forward to have it up and
running sometime next week so look forward to a like
ed launch notification email anytime starting on
Monday.


Also, I have been living my dreams that concern other
areas of my life.  This has made me only too eager to
share with you what it is like to pursue such a lifestyle
and have decided to share my experiences through our
regular weekly newsletter, Inspiration Online. I will
still be giving you the principles on how to succeed in
life, but above it I am going to show you how I have
taken these principles and applied them to produce the
results that I have. Isn't that exciting?


The last thing that you might want to know is that I have
set aside the coming two months as the time that I
write two of the books that I have been wanting to write
for some time now.  The first one is going to be a
motivational self-help book that I have written tracing the
timeline of Joseph.  The essence of the book will be to
reassure the reader that their dreams can survive
despite the emergence of obstacles along the journey.


The second one will be a little more serious.  It is going
to be tackling the urgent issue of social transformation
– how badly it is needed and how we as individuals can
spearhead its initiation.  The reader will have an
opportunity to meet some of the champions of social
transformation, whose efforts were recorded in the
Bible, and

If you continue being extremely nice to me I am going
to possibly return the favour in one of two ways: I might
ask you to proof-read my manuscript or I might give you
free exerts of the first few chapters from the books. Just
keep your fingers crossed.


The publication of these books will add two more titles
in my name and hopefully spur my writing career.

The year ahead promises to be an exciting year and I
am glad to be able to share it with you.  I also hope that
you will share the news with all your relatives and
friends.  

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Nearly everybody aspires to achieve something grand in their lifetime...

Nearly everybody aspires to achieve something grand in their lifetime. Some want to build mansions and leave an inheritance for their children; some wish to become renowned artists; some dream of becoming rich and famous; others have their eyes set at running big movie making businesses; and so on; and so on; the list is endless.

As endless as our desires may be, unless we fulfill certain requisites we may never see any of these great dreams come true. Today I want us to talk about three of these requisites.

The first requisite we want to look at is that you attract and gather resources for your dream. Unless you have the required money and resources you will find it very difficult to start, continue and complete your dream. As you pursue your dream, you will see that you need to finances and other resources for the dream to happen. So, it is absolutely necessary that you attract and gather resources for your dream.

The second requisite is that you spend enough time on your dream. Time is as scarce a resource as any other. Unless you put aside the time to pursue our dreams nothing will happen. Your dream will die an untimely death through neglect. So, it is also absolutely necessary that you put aside the time to pursue our dreams.

The third requisite is your ability to walk alone. The path to your dream is usually a lonely one. There are usually few people able to tread along the path that you endevour to walk on. So, it will also be absolutely necessary for you to lean and be able to be, in a way, a lone ranger.

To achieve something grand in your lifetime you have to do something a little extra: put aside a little extra money for your dream, spend a little extra time on your dream and spend a little extra time alone, working on your dream.

Be Inspired.

Competence & Success

There are many misinterpretations of the Bible that have flourished in the church. One of them stems from Ecclesiastics 9:11, which reads:

"I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all."

To many people this scripture means success happens by accident, although nobody will be bold enough to admit that that is what they believe.

One widely accepted interpretations of this scripture is that you do not have to be a fast runner to win a race; you do not have to be strong to win a fight; you do not have to be wise to have provisions; you do not have to be a man of understanding to amass riches; and you do not need to be skillful to receive special treatment; its all up to fate?

Basically, this interpretation means that success in life is determined by fate, irregardless of one's level of competence.

Well, I sincerely do not believe that this is the correct interpretation to the scripture, although it is one of the most popular ones.

Want to know what I think the correct one is? Read on.

Let me give you the benefit of the doubt: let's start our interpretation of this scripture from its last phrase, possibly where most people zero in when interpreting this scripture – and miss it, I'm afraid to say.

But time and chance happens to them all
Right, this is probably everyone's favourite part of the scripture and, rightly so, everyone's anchor to interpretation of the scripture.

So, where is the err?

Right there. Most of us just read but time and chance happens instead of but time and chance happens to them all.

Get it?

Time and chance happens to them all. By just reading but time and chance happens many have prematurely concluded that success meets anyone who ride on the wave of opportunity, irregardless of one's competence level. But that is not what the scripture reads. The scripture reads but time and chance happens to them all.

Who are them all? Are they not the fast runners, the strong man, the wise, the man of understanding, the skillful?

Then if this is so, our interpretation of this scripture slightly changes: it becomes that success meets the competent who ride on the wave of opportunity.

Do you see the difference?

The latter interpretation is built on the perspective that says that the essentials to your success in life are competence and opportunity whereas the former is built on the perspective that opportunity is the only essential – and that's not true.

Success does not belong to the competence; nor does it belong to those who merely see opportunity; it belongs to those who use their competences to take advantage of opportunities.

Be Inspired.

Develop a positive attitude towards wealth today!

 "I want to go on holiday in America but I don't think I

can afford it."

 "I wanna be a rock star but I don't know where I can get

the money to buy myself a guitar."

"My parents can't afford to send me to law school so I

will be a teacher, instead."

These are some of the responses that I get when I speak to

people about pursuing their dreams. These statements are

a deep cry among many of the countless people whom I've

spoken to about pursing their dreams.  They feel largely

incapacitated to pursue their dreams by the absence of

money/resources in their lives and have developed a

negative attitude toward wealth.

A negative attitude towards wealth sees present lack as

damnation to perpetual poverty and does nothing to change

the situation.

A positive attitude towards wealth, on the other hand,

acknowledges present lack but looks to it as a temporary

state of affairs that need not perpetuate itself into the future.

A positive attitude sees and creates opportunity to create

wealth even in situations of dire lack and takes appropriate

action.

A positive attitude sees that God has given us everything

pertaining to life. [2 Peter 1:3] (emphasis added)

Do you know what this means?

Let me share with you my understanding of this portion of

scripture by zeroing in on the three words that I have

bolded – has, everything and life – and in a way

demonstrate a positive attitude towards wealth.

But I would like to tackle them backwards – life, everything

and has – and by looking at the following three questions:

·        What is life?

·        What is the extent of God's provision in our lives?

·        When is God's provision made available to us?

What is life?

"Life is more than food." [Luke 12:23] You were not

created just to survive.  Your life counts for more than

mere survival.  You were born for a purpose [Jeremiah

1:5:]. And achieving this purpose also means pursuing

 your dream.

What is the extent of God's provision in our lives?

"God has given us everything pertaining to life." [2

Peter 1:3] Just as it is wrong to say that we are alive

just to survive from one day to the next, it is wrong to

limit God's provision in our lives to be our daily needs.

Surely, it should extend to our purpose, our hopes and

desires and our dreams.

When is God's provision made available to us?

"God has…" [note: present continuous tense] God's

provision for your life has been made available to you

today. The same is true for tomorrow.  Yes, even for

the day after tomorrow.

Develop a positive attitude towards wealth. Begin to work on

your dream. Go out there with the full assurance that

everything that you require in the pursuit of your dream is

already available to you even if there .

Be Inspired.