For you to do anything or engage in anything whatsoever, you should have a reason for doing so. The reason has to be a compelling one. No matter how insignificant that thing is, whether it involves you and others or not, you should hold your own end well and see that you nurture it to bloom for the purpose for which it has to be done. The reason must be accorded respect based on the matrix of important over urgent, but more importantly based on the Truth in due season.
Because of the difficulties experienced in a lot of places, it does seem that the majority awake and do things they never planned to do. They get involved in activities that have no bearing with any specific purpose whether directly or indirectly with their lives. And since they have no idea of their purpose for being here, they do nothing reasonable to connect with that essence and manifest it.
How many of us are intentional and deliberate about the things we do? Being intentional about your life and your activities means that you think about the things you do. The little daily steps you take are a part of the small and larger goals you set before you. The people you meet or go to are attracted based on your desires and needs, which you have scripted into specific goals. They are rarely accidental, though we may not rule out chance meetings. Being intentional means that you have weighed things critically and you are sure they are the things that need to be done. You do them deliberately therefore. You have a reason for doing them.
Some or many of us are products of poor parenting, average or less than average education system, and poor environments that we were raised in. Poor environments have nothing to do with affluence. It refers to the lack of the right knowledge, information and attitudes to influence us and install the right programs in us as we get formed. While the adults in our environments may have meant well to sincerely raise us according to the little or less knowledge available to them and the exposure that they had, they may be sincerely wrong. How much so is this?
What Faith Manual do we base child rearing on? There is the Manual of the Maker that must be the basis of raising children. If the manual used is not the manufacturer's manual, then it is not the owner's manual. The owner's manual is the manual of Adam. Adam means man. The manual knows the man and unless our reasons for providing specific guidance to our children is based on it, we are sowing to the wind. Only this manual is the Life Manual. With this Manual we can never get it wrong. The problem is that the majority of us do not resort to this manual. We do not know what it requires us to do at every junction. Then, who are we raising these children, who the Manual says are the heritage of God? It is the children who are raised by the Manual of God that are the heritage of God. We must give the food of the Father to the children. That is the only stay.
Imagine situations where parents have led and guided their children through formal school systems to study particular courses and the children, upon completing such programmes, do not find any relevance to themselves or to others in their environment. They had no well thought out reason or reasons why they had to study the courses they studied in the first place. They just went through school without a specific focus in mind. This is the woeful reality for many of us.
The parents sincerely sent them to school. The parents sincerely spent money. The parents sincerely did all that they did. But they did those things ignorantly. Their decisions were not informed. If the decisions were informed, they would have been deliberate. They would have carefully guided the children in concert with the school system that is not less a culprit in this web of ignorance.
We do not educate with the mind that this education is the key to our solution. Sometimes if they had the right reasons, a formal school system may not be the path or the only path for the child. They would have educated the children by observing their gifts and special abilities. They would have raised the children with a predictive lense for the future. Adults would have nurtured the young based on specifics. They would have been intentional and deliberate each step of the way.
The absence of these compelling reasons plunged parents, the school system and government into ventures that have no bearing with specifics and that robs an entire people of value and reasonable service. These are some of the reasons for the many frustrations in the space today. We did things without the right reasons. We just did them. The results we get are the plunges into states of depression through misdirection. What was the reason for planting their feet on such paths in the first place?
Usually, the reason is one of peer pressure. Since their friends sent their children that way, it is the best for them too. Since they toed that path in life, their offspring should not do otherwise. Are these reasons valid enough to jeopardize the intrinsic interest of their children who have their own lives to lead? If they knew the children from within it would have been better. But they do not.
Since the reason is not established on the true essence or on resonance, true value may never be manifested. There has to be a valid and compelling reason for doing whatever we do. It does not matter how long this takes to be confirmed. We just need to confirm the reason. This confirmation is the certitude behind the why. Where this is earned, we are good to go.
When we do not enjoy what we do, we live in misery. Many times in many areas of society, people are set up for failure because there is no compelling reason why they do the things that they do. We do things because it is what is available or what others are doing. We just follow without a personal direction founded on the gut. We act generic scripts but expect specific fulfillment. We do not follow the Divine Script: 'Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.'
Society is a reflection of these things. Many of us are handicapped. Even the so-called educated ones among us do not know their left from their right. They are loaded with so much formal education but they are totally estranged from themselves. A lack of self-awareness is a big disconnection from self. There can be no self-actualization therefore. There is no direction; and we see these things daily. Aimlessly, we just drift in the space.
Sometime ago, my mentor in my community called me and another man aside. He told the other man who is about his age: I choose to tell you this because we are age mates, and to me he said: I decide to share this experience of my life with you because you have a voice in the midst of the people and when you are sharing, you may have a valid experience to draw from in this particular area of life.
And I thought to myself: There has to be a reason anyway. Though far younger than both men, I earned the qualification to share in such a conversation with the more elderly. There was a reason to draft me in. There has to be a reason.
David had a cause for bringing himself up to the challenge of Goliath. He had a cause as he said to his brothers who chided him for his courage to offer words of bravery laced in the faith to challenge the Phillistine giant: Is there not a cause? In other words, is there not a reason? He had an unassailable reason for which he put his life on the line. It was not the pride that he was accused of. He had reason enough to sacrifice his own life for a larger cause.
Sometimes when we have a reason for doing the things that we do, we may never have support from the places we expect. Our very support constituents who should be our source of strength turn against us. The very ones who we believe should be our friends turn out to be the foes within who will sell us out. However, their negative stand must become the very source of strength for us. They should energise, rather than dampen our morale.
There is an inherent nature in us. Many of us grew up that way. If you observe young children when they do something naughty and you ask them questions like "Why did you do that or who taught you that?" Often, they have a swift and prepared response like 'I don't know.' And you are left wondering. They do things without any reason and we often do not educate them otherwise to set them right.
They grow up doing things without having a valid reason for doing them. Many of us grew up in the exact mode. Should we be this way? If we are raised deliberately with the right information and a definite purpose in mind based on our true nature, we should not be this way. We should grow up programmed to do things based on valid and compelling reasons.
The benefit of this mindset is that we grow up always asking ourselves the right questions when and if we are confronted with an issue. The right questions lead to the right answers. Unless we are able to do a thorough self-questioning, we may never be able to lead ourselves right.
If we are sincere to ourselves, to the muse and introspections we engage in, we should turn out right if we execute accordingly. Self-leadership is the mother of leadership. If we can win leading self, we can win leading others by being exemplary. We will always find the right reasons for our actions. It is a key to access commitment.
But sometimes we do not know the reason for some things, we do not know why some things should be done or done the way they are done, but we do them because of the source that those things are coming from. If it is a scriptural instruction, you only obey and do it because you believe it, not because you understand it. This is queer right? Jesus answered and said unto him, 'What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.' In such scenarios just as this one, the source is trusted. This is peculiar.
When Life says, 'But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you. That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust', do you really understand it? But you do it because you trust the Source as divine. You do it regardless. The truth is that the law of sowing covers everything. If a wicked person does evil against you, do you become wicked to them too? Then you would have sown wickedness in return. God is your avenger. Play your own part in obedience. That is all.
Again, oftentimes children have to do things not because they understand why but since their parents so instructed, so be it. And the majority of us grew up inheriting stereotypes that we need to break from. We had to go to school even when we did not understand why. We did not know the reason other than the fact that others were going. Is that reason enough? But the majority of us grew up this way. Do all have to go through a formal system all through?
With an understanding of Life seen through the Divine Manual, we can have a lifestyle that is intentionally structured and organized specially for child care and development. With the same system in place, we become great managers of activities within the time frame that we have. We know the time we live in and the demands of the time. We have a reason for everything that we do. We know the why. This mindset is a selfless one and it earns us win-win. Then we are the masters of our fate. We steer the ship of our life in synchrony with the Author of our being. We do the same for our offspring and become a cup that others seek to drink from. We become the right influence by exemplary living. To this, we must resort always.
