BE GRATEFUL || EMMANUEL A. ODUNTAN

It is easy to take things for granted when all is going well – such as health, family, community and business. It is indeed true that until you notice the little things, the big things will pass by and it’d have been long gone before you know.

Be grateful

Let share my story with you. I had just gained admission to the prestigious OAU back in 2010 but I wasn’t really settled in since I got the admission late. I had even given up on the admission and was living my life on a flexing road trip when i was notified to check the portal yet again...and there it was it, I’ve been offered admission but that’s not the gist.

It was one of my early days on campus. I had not gotten my room yet so I had to "squat" with a friend. I couldn’t cook so I patronized bukas, fed on bread & beans mostly (a very economic meal, if you know)...only that you’d drink bags of waters all day long if you don’t want touching stories. I fed on bread, doughnuts, biscuits, and buns. You know the mistake I made? I went with very little water.
Your guess is as good as mine. I was in for my touching story.
It didn’t take too long before nature put a call to me. I had to use the toilet. Maybe we should save ourselves the time for me to describe the horror I went through in the toilet...when the package refused to deliver. I was terribly restless. I couldn’t complain. I knew my sin already.

I prayed.
Oh I prayed!

I bought and consumed water as much as my mouth and stomach could take, hoping something magical would save me from this nightmare.
God eventually delivered me that day but ever since, I've learnt to appreciate God for the ease with which I do toilet business.
Because it's routine for you to wake up everyday and your limbs don't fail you, you might not consider being grateful for it.
You flag & hop on bikes every morning and night because they're quick & fast... especially those mallam boys who have little regard for their dear legs, so you don't think safety is worth being grateful for because you've not being knocked down.

It is little moments like these that many people often forget should be valued. Sometimes, these moments can turn our days around for the better, if we let them. Being grateful, especially over time, we become happier because things are put into perspective. When you think about it, there is a lot to be thankful for, even if many of these are the little things.

As the popular hymn preaches; Count your many blessings; name them one by one, And it will surprise you what the Lord has done. 
Remember to be thankful to God for the little things in life and you'll be amazed at daily miracles at work in your life.

A Man Of Influence || Emmanuel A. Oduntan

 If I told you that a man of influence is way better than a man of riches, you may want to disagree. Even though influence and riches are almost synonymous, they represent different ideologies. A man of riches may be influential, but an influential man can never be stranded. The edge an influential man has is that the "influence" the man of riches may have isn't genuine because it is attached to money. People can do anything for money, yet the scary truth is, money cannot save all of the time.

True, the Holy Bible says "but money answereth all things" (Ecc.10.19b) but again, the same Bible says that "Riches won't help on the day of judgment, but right living can save you from death (Prov.11:4).

Have you ever been in a situation where, though, you have money but it just cannot help?

Or

Your car broke down on a lonely bushy road, you cannot fix it and you're stuck?

Or

You're seriously sick and shivering. You can barely lift your limbs. Like life is slowly dripping out of you and all you need is someone to get you to the hospital or pray for you?

.......

During my service year, I was posted to an interior rural settlement. You know those areas where you cannot get network reception except by "prayer and fasting". An area where you hardly see 3 cars in a day.

I suppose now you get the picture.

Those places where wealth didn't really matter. Only people, only love, in it's purest form, particularly does. It is a community, not where one person rides Nissan Murano or owns Mikano generator and his neighbour is poor and hungry. Not where one person has a mansion and the next door neighbour lives in a hut. Not that these good things are bad. Certainly not the point. There was simply no competition. There was no one to brag or prove to. It's a community where you do not lack help. Where they don't have it all, maybe they don't even have anything.... physically, but they know and have themselves, with contentment and happiness. Barely can you go hungry in their midst because they're ready to share even the least of what they have. You can almost grasp that Joy from their midst. It's that tangible.

Do you feel the blessedness of when you're in trouble, you have people to call? 

When you're stuck in a quagmire and you know who to reach out to? 

When money doesn't really matter?

When it's care, love and sincere attention you need, not just because you have cash?

When you need honest criticism and you can get it?

Such blessedness money cannot buy. It comes freely to the man of influence

Being influential is living and caring for your neighbour, knowing well that you will also need it someday. To be influential is to be loving and being lovable.

S/he is a person of significance. 

That is the blessed person.

𝐁𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧

Vanity of Vanities

I started using a more professional service for my hair cut since 2013 when I got tired of those treating my head like a farmland. I mean, these guys are done before you sit and when you look in the mirror, you see someone God didn't design. These guys aren't barbers! They are grass cutters! 

No attention to details. They just scrape!

A fellow then asks me, how much is this nice haircut and I say 1k. He says, 'A whole 1k for just haircut, hmmm...vanity of vanities.'

I said, 'You didn't complete that verse o! It is vanity of vanities ALL is vanity!' Eccl.1:2

That means my 1k haircut and his 100naira haircut are both VANITY! But I've chosen the best of the vanities! Lol

You may see a Mercedes AMG C63 and call it vanity.

You are right! But you see, that car that also breaks down every two two minutes like abiku is also vanity! So if I have an opportunity to choose between both vanities, I will choose Mercedes AMG C63 o!

KFC pack is vanity but rice kolobe (without stew) is also vanity! Anytime, any day, I will choose the vanity of KFC pack!

That fine Italian shoe is vanity, I agree but the one done under the roof of Ebele Chineke & Sons, that yawns and gasps as you walk is also vanity. I think I will choose the vanity of Italian shoes!

There's a school that teaches children how to speak fluently and exposes them to creative thinking but costs more and I can afford. It is vanity! But there is another school that makes children retarded and costs nothing but being a citizen.

This is also vanity! But I prefer the first school o!

In short, I agree all is vanity. I'm just trying to pick the best of the vanity whenever I can.

One For All, All For One || Emmanuel Oduntan

Every workgroup, team, unit or assembly, consists of different individuals with diverse skills and talents. We, at different points in life, will always fall into groups, departments, work with a team or run a business with partners. I thought about this and figured what always makes any team successful must be the notion of, one for all, all for one.

It is often said that a chain is as strong as the weakest link. It's a metaphor used to compare a group of something/people to a chain and the impact of a single member.

The overall strength of a chain is not the strength of the strongest link, or even of the average link. The overall strength of a chain is the strength of the weakest link. This in turn means that whosoever is perceived weak must not be left weak by others. It is only when all the links in a chain are strong that it remains unbroken.

You know David didn't win those battles alone, he also had some gallant warriors. Josheb-Basshebeth, described as being the leader and is said to have killed 𝟴𝟬𝟬 men (according to 2Sam.23 & 300 according to 1Chr.11) in a single encounter.

Eleazar is described to have stood his ground against the Philistines at Pas Dammim when the rest of the Hebrews ran away, yet he singlehandedly defeated the enemies. A similar story for Shammah. These great men with daring exploits were those David surrounded himself with, making him a formidable force and an army that sent shivers down the enemies' spine.

 

Mr. Ibrahim Olatunji Bada will always challenge me to be strong. "You have to be a strong man" he will say, to help your team stay strong or at least, not be the reason it fails.

How often do you develop yourself so well you won't be the weak link of the unit? 

I challenge you also today, 

𝗕𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴