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It is good to aspire. If you don’t aspire, you expire. Aspiration is the fuel that drives existence. Nevertheless, unrestrained aspiration leads to early expiration, most unfortunately.
We are beset by vaulting ambitions, even at the detriment of our life. Crazily, the more we get, the more we want until it brings us to ruin.
Ever wondered why the rich never get tired of accumulation? Ever wondered why pickpockets graduate to armed robbers and eventually rebrand and go into politics where indefinable lingo adorns their looting? Ever wondered why we are ready to die for our oppressors due to the pittance that drops off their violent desecration of the sanctity of morality? Ever wondered why they never cease to gather as vultures in the wings, waiting to ravage the cadaver of a country that once was called Nigeria? Ever wondered why even the clergy and laity in the churches and mosques compete on the morass of debilitating ‘sinhood’, making a mess of the supreme sacrifice that brought salvation? Ever wondered what drives the bandits and kidnap-for-ransom goons that never stop until they are destroyed? Aspiration – greed and avarice!
The greatest of all wise men, King Solomon, was a victim. He pursued pleasure and wealth but was truthfully pathetic in his lamentation when he realised too late the futility of it all in Ecclesiastes 1:2.
“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher;
“Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”
Solomon should know because he had it all. Even though he was the son of Bathsheba with whom his father, King David, had adultery. He was a sure prince, and princely before mounting the throne. He tasted the tastiest of life and had over 1,000 women at his beck and call. He failed in disciple but it requires discipline to rein in desires. He poured his life into these women and died so young, but not before telling us the limits of aspiration.
Now, aspiration is good. Because life is a trick; it cannot give you what you did not ask or fight for. Life is a mirage, a scam; only the smart can escape its intricate traps.
I don’t remember where or when, or by whom but I came across a beautiful piece of writing that resonated so well with me and I believe it would to you too.
You see life doesn’t give you what you wish or desire. Life gives you only what you fight for. How you fight or what you fight for has more premium though.
It stands to reason that you can’t leave above your understanding.
The more you quickly realise that life is vanity the better. The earliest you realise that man’s life span on earth is very limited the best for you. So, what is the essence of unending strife and envy?
I want you to understand that no matter how righteous, no matter how brave, intelligent, gifted, or rich you are, you are permitted to live for a certain number of years.
Since the day I discovered that, no matter what you do or say, there is an unseen expiry date attached to every life on humans on earth, I stopped getting worried over anything.
Yes, life has an expiry date. This really sunk into me as a student at Panjab University, Chandigarh, many years back. I had a co-tenant at No. 27c, Sector 15, in Chandigarh, very close to the university campus where I lived. His name was Malik. I don’t know his whereabouts now.
Malik was an easy-going bloke, and nothing ever fazed Malik. He was not rich, just a middle-class Indian with a young wife and a little daughter, Sonala.
However, regardless of the struggles, Malik remained content and happy, always. He was chirpy and a fast talker.
Anyway, I remembered Malik because of what came to my mind after reading that piece I have adapted.
It was from Malik that I got the full realisation that life is not as important as we make it. What is more important is life after life. Malik made me know that man expires. Whenever anyone died and he felt I should know, Malik would tell me that so and so person had expired.
The first time he did, it jolted me. Expired; how come?
In the course of time, I realised that truly men expire. Like a product on the shelf, we all have expiry dates.
Then I began to ask, who appoints the expiry dates? Of course, naturally, the manufacturer of a product fixes its expiry date because he knows the ingredients. It then means that the day you are formed in the womb, the one who causes mere blood to become you attaches your expiry date. You have a day of manufacture and the day you expire; we all do.
In the factory, some products spoil and are thrown away, just like miscarriages occur. However, if you scaled through and rolled out of the factory store, as a finished product, like a newborn baby, your expiry date is affixed on you. You have no say…You don’t even know the date as to ask why you were allotted that particular date, whether it is too soon or too late. After all, you did not contribute anything to your making or how you were made.
Did you tell God to make you tall or short? Did you tell him to make you African, Caucasian, or Asian? Did you tell him to send you to Afghanistan, Nigeria, or America? Did you have a say in whether to be a child of an almajiri, Dangote or Tinubu?
The product on the shelf is well cared for until it is sold or used up, otherwise, it could fall and break into pieces. That is why some lives are wasted because of carelessness.
Do you care for your life on the shelf? If you have allowed the devil to push you off the shelf, you will be broken to pieces and cast into the bin of hellfire.
The truth of life is that we begin to die the day we are born. We never go back to a past day, as we approach our expiry date. That’s why we never get younger but older.
Don’t be deceived by the cosmetics and futile attempts we make towards youthfulness. Those who went for tummy tuck died on the theatre table, wasted! I saw a horrific picture of a man, who took penile enlargement drugs but ended up with an elephantine scrotum. Indeed, it is good to take care of yourself but thinking that your efforts would make a sixty-year-old become forty is an illusion.
Never see yourself through the eyes of those who don’t value you.
To be beautiful means to be yourself. To stand out is to be outstanding. You do not need to be accepted by others. You just need to accept yourself.
Permit me to tell you this singular truth: My only pain today is my inability to bless those that need it from me. The reason we have a scarcity of love and trust today is that many don’t even love or trust themselves.
You can’t love anybody unless you first love yourself. My dear, go back to your drawing board and redesign your mindset to be very happy. Upgrade and update yourself always.
Find time to always be in God’s presence. Carry the true nature of God. Avoid bitter people and toxic relationships. Acknowledge that you can’t be anything unless you build on your self-esteem.
Your boldness is Jesus Christ.
You can only feel inferior when you allow anything to becloud you. Keep your focus; keep winning. As you win, make sure you win in Christ; the very essence and hope for a life fulfilled.
