AS YOU MAKE YOUR BED SO YOU WILL LIE ON IT: A RESPONSE ON THE NEED FOR US TO BE HARDWORKING AND TO BE SERIOUS WITH TIME

AS YOU MAKE YOUR BED SO YOU WILL LIE ON IT: A RESPONSE ON THE NEED FOR US TO BE HARDWORKING AND TO BE SERIOUS WITH TIME (A guide against Religious Fanatism and Regrets)

Thomas Edison, a famous and prolific American inventor states that;
“Great accomplishments depend not so much on ingenuity as on hard work.” He also opined that “genius is 1percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.” Thomas wants us not only to have ideas but that we should match our Ideas with hard work. Hence having the best ideas can not solve any problems and it cannot change any situation unless we go into action and it is always an action towards a positive direction. We ought to make positive efforts towards achieving our life goals and potentials. Life is not an easy venture, it is a very serious business and we must take it as seriously as it is.
There is no one who just rises to greatness without efforts and hard work.
One of the facts that we sometimes failed to realise is that life rewards each one according to his efforts. The measure we give is the measure we shall receive. The Igbos will say “Aka aja aja na ebute onu mmanu mmanu. The efforts we make today will be repaid tomorrow. The Psalmist would say in psalm 126:6 ” He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him”. What happens then to he who refuses to carry his seed for sowing is well known by all. When others rejoice for their blessings of the harvest, they watch in confusion. The fruit of laziness and negligence of the opportunity of each moment is always traumatic and frustrating.
The carelessness and laziness we allow today will be rewarded negatively in the future. Sometimes we do not know the importance of time. We do not know that time waits for no man, we lavish, waste time without knowing that we are living part of our existence at any particular moment. Some destroy the foundation of their destiny and then after claim that their destiny has been stolen. No one can steal your destiny, for it is in your hands. God has given each one of us the potential of becoming whomever we wish to become in this world. God has even given us the gift of dynamism and adaptation. Our brain is such that it can convert difficult situations into an easy, and once we have the will and the energy, we can achieve our goals.
One of the major problems we often have in life is that we do not begin doing things when we should, we procrastinate a lot and fail to realise that “time and tide wait for no one”. We waste a lot of time on things that have no much meaning in life and we have the best of arguments to back our laziness and unseriousness. We engage ourselves in activities that have no or less value and we think always that we have all the time in the world. We forget that time wasted can never be regained. Often we defend our laziness and wasteful spirit in a way that we fail to recognise that we are not making effort.

However, other crises begin when we realise that we have wasted much time and we think therefore that we need to begin
making efforts, we then make a confusing combination, we match the work we do with religious fanatism. We immediately think and feel that God should do a miracle in our lives instantly and that he should change our destiny immediately so that we may achieve our expectation in an extraordinary way and miraculously. But we should know that God does not operate in that manner, our destiny is in our hands. Our frustration begins when we make a little effort that is not quarter equal to the time we have wasted, we get get more frustrated and fallen and then we think that the whole world and in fact the universe is against us. We even go to the extent of thinking that our destiny has been stolen. We then start visiting and patronising with every amount of seriousness
all the prayer houses we know and we become loyalists to all those who claim to have the power of changing destiny pointing accusing fingers on someone that has not done anything to us as the architect of our problems and in fact our destiny snatcher. Some will even accuse their ancestors of holding back and destroying their destiny. And when such problems are linked to our ancestor, there arises the need for family deliverance and uprooting the evil trees encircling the household that we feel is the major caused of our setback. Hence, prayers are made in the most inappropriate manner and with a wrong intention and wrong direction.
One of the greatest problem facing Christians is that we do not know the meaning and how to pray. We do not know why we pray. We do not also realize when we should put in our effort and when we should pray. While praying, we can implore God for our needs but that should not be the basis of our prayers always. We should not wait and continue asking something from God from morning till night and night till morning as if we gave God something to keep for us. We must not make our request imperative. We must know that God’s silence is an answer and It is all about our listening to what message God has for us at any pointing time. God has a message for everyone at any given time we call upon him. But our complication is that we approach God with a fixed intention and we do not want to change that intention even when God knows the pathetic and frivolous nature of our entreaty.
Therefore, let us know how best to approach God. Our prayers must always be “Fiat voluntas Tuas” Let your will be done. We must always seek the will of God in our lives. We must know that there is dignity in labour. “To work is to pray” Laborare et Orare.
Prayer can move mountains no doubt but prayer does not mean that we should pray and relax waiting for the magic to happen in our lives. Prayer goes with good work. St Paul says he who does not work should not eat. Paul did not say he who does not pray, should not eat, but that does not mean Paul do not know the importance of prayer. In fact, that statement was for those who think that they can only be in prayer waiting for the Messiah and still get the share of food at the proper time in the early Christian community.
Another fallacy of prayer we have is that
we think that prayers can convert our wasted times to a meaningful future. But the bad news I want to send to those who think in that direction is that prayer does not work in that manner. Prayer cannot bring back the time you wasted in the pursuit of life potential. Prayers can only dispose of you for a better future. It gives you co-ordination which helps one to start making efforts.
We are not doubting the wonders of God, but we are simply chastising us to do the needful and allow God to complete the rest.
However, you can wait for luck to fall on you, but know you that very few people can be lucky and succeed in life after wasteful past. May be such people has a strong backup or are dynamic. But remember that very many can also go into crimes and fraudulent activities in other to meet up.
Yes, we cannot say that all those who are careless with their past can never make it. God knows how to bless his people. But on the other side, how many people succeed in their dreams and aspirations in such a manner. Why wait for luck or chance to befall you where you can do more. Remember luck is always for the few individuals and not for the greater majority and you must not always be lucky.
One of the greatest problem we have in Africa is that we lack the “dignity of labour”. We do value and equate success only on material things especially “L’argent” money and other things with less value. We fail to recognize fully those who are impacting positively through their intellectual and educational wealth in our society. We worship and enthrone wealth and there is no serious check on how the individual make their riches. That is why our leaders can embezzle billions of dollars and they walk freely in the streets and they are even worshipped. Then in such confusion, corruption becomes the other of the day and crimes become a way of life and a business of its own.
Finally, I acknowledge all those making a sincere effort to continue working hard and not be discouraged. Integrity matters! Stand by it and continue making effort. If you have finished school, find handwork and learn and do not carry your certificate from pillar to post, year in and year out. I pray for all those making a sincere effort to continue making effort and may God give us all the strength to continue enduring the bad effect of the bad government we are experiencing today in Africa.