This season shall soon pass

January 27, 2010 by Milton Kamwendo
Filed under: Unleashing Greatness 

In these times, it is important to take a cue from the seasons. Hard times do come and go. Winters do come and they go. No season will last forever and no season ever escapes its turn. When reading the New Testament of the Bible, you keep coming across these words, “And it came to pass…” The only things that are permanent in life are God, principles and change. Your challenges today are not an indication that the world has come to an end. There is still a lot that can be done. 

Not all change is improvement but without change there can be no improvement. Instead of trying to change the whole world each of us must focus on our spheres of influence and bring change and soundness there. When we wait for other people to change before we can progress is simply surrendering our lives to fate and choosing to think and behave like victims.

Above the clouds the sun is always shining
Even in the darkest clouds of despair we must never forget that the sun is still shining. There is somewhere where there is hope. Hope and despair are mere interpretations but never reality. In times when we think there is lack and things are tough, we must never forget that this does not mean that everybody in the world is suffering. We must never generalise our suffering into a national, regional or international trend.

Somebody’s funeral does not make the whole world stop functioning. In times when we think things are really bad, somebody is having the greatest time of his life. The difference comes from the way that we interpret what happens to us and our attitudes. While people think Africa is a land of suffering and poverty, Tiny Roland of the Lonrho fame was interviewed at one time and quoted saying, “Africa has been good to me!” If Africa could be good to Tiny Roland– Africa can be good to Africans.

Especially given that he landed in the then Rhodesia with a cookery certificate and left a billionaire. Whether Africa will be good to us or not, it depends on us. Each of us must take personal responsibility. Nothing great ever happens by chance.

Handouts do not solve problems permanently
The blight on Africa is people are always queuing for handouts and donations. No person can ever get a donor-carpet to greatness. The lift towards greatness is not working and we all have to use the staircase. Some people think that all their problems will go away if they get all the money they desire. This is not true. It is just a myth. Money is never a substitute for basic problem solving skills and personal management. The reason why most people do not unleash their greatness is that they are set in habits and ways of doing things that are not productive.

It is time to take responsibility and pull our weight. We cannot be babies forever. If we have been thinking but not producing the results we want, then we need to think differently. Stupidity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. We need to face our problems and supply solutions. The key to your greatness is found in the problems that we choose to confront and solve. Those who solve little problems are rewarded little. If we find that we are stuck somewhere and our lives are in a limbo, we need to examine the problems that we are solving and what responsibility we are taking. The basis of entrepreneurship is solving people’s problems. Every business is an institution that is set up to solve some set of problems. Business starts to decline when an organisation is no longer solving relevant problems or it just exists for its own self-preservation and not to serve the customer.

The Amplified Bible in Ecclesiastes 11:4 says: “He who observes the wind [and waits for all conditions to be favourable] will not sow, and he who regards the clouds shall not reap.” Perfect conditions can never exist in an imperfect world. It is time for positive action. We cannot wait for all the traffic lights to be green before we set off from home. In the same way, it is futile to wait for perfect circumstances before launching towards greatness. Things never change because we have great speeches, things change when we decide to take action. Conditions must find us already in execution mode. Nothing will ever change in life until an individual changes. Most of the time things do not really change but we change. This is because we do not usually see the world as it is but as we are.

To your greatness

Milton Kamwendo

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