Which of us lives on 24 hours a day? And when I say “lives,” I do not mean exists, nor “muddles through.” Which of us is free from that uneasy feeling that the “great spending departments” of his daily life are not managed as they ought to be? Which of us is not saying to himself all his life: “I shall alter that when I have a little more time?”

Time is the inexplicable raw material for everything. With it, all is possible and without it, nothing. The supply of time is truly a daily miracle – an affair genuinely astonishing when one examines it. You wake up in the morning, and lo! your purse is magically filled with twenty-four hours of the un-manufactured tissue of the universe of your life! It is yours. It is the most precious of possessions. A highly singular commodity, showered upon you in a manner as singular as the commodity itself!

No one can take it from you; it is un-stealable. And no one receives either more or less than you receive. Talk about an ideal democracy! In the realm of time there is no aristocracy of wealth, and no aristocracy of intellect. The clerk at a pound a week is exactly as well off as the millionaire in Carlton House-terrace. Genius is never rewarded by even an extra hour a day. And there is no punishment: Waste your infinitely precious commodity as much as you will, and the supply will never be withheld from you. No mysterious power will say, “This man is a fool, if not a knave. He does not deserve time; he shall be cut off at the meter.” Moreover, you cannot draw on the future – impossible to get into debt!

I said the affair is a miracle. Is it not?

You have to live on this 24 hours of daily time. Out of it you have to spin health, pleasure, money, content, respect, and the evolution of your immortal soul. Its right use, its most effective use, is a matter of the highest urgency and of the most thrilling actuality. All depends on that. Your happiness – the elusive prize that you are clutching for my friend – depends on that.

Remember, you cannot waste tomorrow; it is kept for you. You cannot waste the next hour; it is kept for you. You can only waste the passing moment.

- Excerpt from ‘How to Live on 24 Hours a Day’ by Arnold Bennett

When I went to work in Somaliland last year, I met a former colleague called Yvette Lopez who has been doing development work all her adult life. Some of the stories she told me about her work were touching, albeit her position not being enviable. When I saw her work, I was intrigued by what motivates her to sacrifice her personal comfort with so much gusto for the sake of the underprivileged. That is when she gave me a reason that fascinated me since, and that I still ponder till today.

On an ordinary day, she might spend a whole afternoon and evening with a band of Somali human rights activists. They might be going through a confidential document written in the Somali language in a bid to translate it into English. She only understands and speaks basic Somali language and collectively, the human rights activists might just speak a few English words. The whole exercise would be conducted while sitting on cushions on the floor on a boiling day with occasional breaks for hot, saccharine tea – just the way the Somalis like it. Apart from being taxing, working on human rights in a country like Somaliland puts you in constant danger with the threat of life constantly hanging over your head.

Yvette told me that the main reason why she finds satisfaction in doing this kind of work is that for her, it is not just a job – it is a prayer to God. She has made it a practice to see the Spirit of God in the faces of the people she works with, for, and amongst. Being a Christian in a country where no churches are allowed, she offers her work as a sacrifice to God.

When I visited church here in Nairobi recently, I was impressed by the emphasis put on giving to God. Before the collection of the weekly offerings, special prayers were said and the congregation was made to chant some verses from the Bible that specifically remind them that God ordered them to give for His service. And what does the cheerful giver get in return? Favor in whatever issue he or she might wish to request upon giving. There were envelops with a place for writing your name and a multiple choice question with instructions to tick the purpose for which you are giving to God. Among the reasons were tithing and cancellation of debts. In tithing, you give a tenth of your income to the church as the Bible instructs. I suppose filling the ‘cancellation of debts’ space ensures that a miracle will happen and all your debts will be cancelled. No amount was specified for this kind of service.

I am not saying that giving money in church is wrong. But if you live in Kenya, you know that many ‘miracle’ churches are springing up daily in residential houses’ backyards, only to turn into booming business empires almost overnight at the expense of the faithful congregation. If the only thing to show for all the coaxed giving is the preacher’s extravagant lifestyle – expensive clothing, huge vehicle, prime air time on TV – then you and I have a reason to believe that something is wrong. People have been led to believe that you can only get God’s favor by giving money. Isn’t that the definition of bribing? A friend told me about how some churches in Zimbabwe are even demanding household items from its members. Hey sister…If you don’t have any money, why not just pawn that fridge for a special prayer to secure you a job?

The basis of any religious teaching is love for God, love for self, and love for others. No amount of money given on a Sunday morning will absolve the guilt of a man who has abused his body all week and rode on other human beings in order to make a profit for most of the days. Neither will this kind of sacrifice make him righteous in the eyes of God. Unfortunately, there are churches that have cast out their nets for just this kind of fellow – more to cash on the spoils of his misdeeds than to enlighten him.

A widow who spends her working day cleaning the septic wounds of the sick in the government hospital should know that hers is not just a job. So should a kindergarten teacher who is instrumental in the shaping of the life of our children at that formative stage. YOU should too. How? If you spend today doing your work as a prayer to God and seeing His Spirit in the faces of the people you serve, you might discover that suddenly you are on to something that gives more meaning to your relationship with God, to yourself, and to others. I believe then it becomes a worthwhile sacrifice and not just a job.

Have you ever watched a baby attempt to feed itself with a spoon for the first time? The baby might start by using its hands to carefully pile up the food on the spoon. With the mouth open in anticipation, the baby will next lift the spoon with a clumsy grip between its little palm and the food will immediately fly from the spoon in all directions. If any food finally makes it to the face, it will land anywhere else but the mouth. The baby will use all its might to accomplish this incredibly messy and seemingly Herculean task. Did you notice that the baby would cry whenever anyone tried to take away the spoon?

That is how with just a little encouragement the baby learns everything else…walking, playing a game, dressing, counting, writing, and so on. Wouldn’t you then conclude that our human instincts compel us to disregard any failed attempts until we achieve our objectives?

You might have been confronted with a situation similar to the following: You have been considering starting a small business for quite a while and you suddenly wake up one day with a brilliant idea. You spend the whole day with your head in the clouds thinking about it – the more you consider it, the more attractive it looks. You get fired up to the extent of making a few calls to get information. You feel that this business opportunity is as good as any that will ever come your way – you can pull together the capital, you have the skills needed and, you need not resign from your current job.

It is during one of the calls that you encounter the first unexpected hurdle. This triggers you to start thinking about the risks involved in starting this kind of business – and you find many. The more you assess your chances of failure, the more it seems that you will never succeed. By and by, your initial confidence that was bubbling with health becomes emaciated to the bone. As the last of you enthusiasm fizzles out, you tell yourself, “Oh, well! It needs more time than I have in my hands to do the market research anyway.” You have a sense of righteous justification in noting that there does not seem to be anyone else doing this particular business around town despite the demand. You go ahead and trash yourself by thinking, “If I am the only one with the idea, then the timing cannot be right.”

Several months later, you notice that someone has started the exact same business in the neighborhood. It is as if the person found the gem of idea, picked it up, dusted it, and gladly implemented it as soon as you threw it out of the window!

The fear of failure is real and denies people many chances to try out things that might add great value to their lives. A good business opportunity…a blissful relationship…creativity…a chance for personal development…are all being thrown away daily for fear of failure. Have you always known that you have a great voice but are afraid to sing in case people think you suck? Do you shy from exercising or watching your diet because you think you will never shed those pounds? Have you been dying to conquer a harmful habit but always end up considering it as a family curse?

The go-getters always say that, ‘failure is not an option.’ Thomas Edison dreamt of a lamp that could be operated by electricity and despite more than 10,000 failures he stood by that dream until he made it a physical reality. He never gave up and saw each design not as a failure, but “the elimination of a design that didn’t work, so we must be getting close…”

At some point in early life, the world teaches each one of us that not achieving our objectives is wrong by attaching physical and psychological penalties on failures. An individual’s reaction to these penalties might cause him or her to avoid doing anything that has a significant chance of failure. If each person knew that failure was wrong as soon as he or she was born, what fraction of the population would be able to walk, talk or tie their shoestrings today? It is only after you entertain thoughts of failure that the light starts dimming from your excellent ideas. To achieve greatly, you need to learn how to make failure something not to be considered…to make it not an option. Alternatively, you might want to consider it as a great opportunity to learn from…fail your fear rather than of fear your failure. Whatever the case, do not allow the fear of failure to be the reason why you never exercised your wings for flight.

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Thomas Edison – one of the greatest inventors of all time – had some unique habits and strategies.

Edison spent a good deal of time just thinking. He fished off the end of his dock for an hour almost everyday of his life. He always fished by himself but he never caught any fish. Observers always thought it was strange that Edison would spend so much time fishing when he really wasn’t that good at it.

Late in life, he was asked about his obsession with fishing even though he was probably the worst angler anyone had ever seen. His answer was, “I really never caught any fish because I have never used any bait.” Most people were shocked and thought he was crazy so they asked, “Why in the world would you fish without bait?”

His answer? “Because when you fish without bait, people don’t bother you and neither do the fish. It provides me my best time to think.”

There is this one habit that you know you really ought to have gotten rid of by now. Although very few people – maybe nobody – knows about it, it clings to your back like a monkey. Though mostly quiet and inconspicuous, the monkey will chatter loudly once in a while to remind you that it is still there. This is mostly when you are down the doldrums – a time when this chatter is as undesirable as a piece of gravel in a high-heeled shoe.

This kind of habit is usually sporadic and takes a very short time to fulfill, hence making it appear like there is really nothing to it. Though our minds tell us this, our hearts know better. If a person would let the mind concur with the heart, the individual might realize the significance this habit has in his or her life. Apart from being a constant source of shame, the habit takes an awful lot of precious resources away from us; before, during and after.

Before: It takes a painfully long time to deliberate on its execution. Usually we prepare ourselves thoroughly before hand by visualizing the exercise many times in our minds. A few minutes of pleasure might take us hours of planning. In each of these times, we experience all the sensations so acutely that we might as well have been doing it practically. Given this level of preparation, it is impossible to either not fulfill the task at hand or fail to achieve our objective.

During: When we actually do it, we have so whetted out appetite that we go through the exercise with the greatest of ease. Our purpose is so defined and our focus so centered that we find a way to overcome every obstacle encountered. At this point nothing really matters since we have already justified every action that we take. The resulting rapture is so divine that it leaves us shaking all over.

After: Unfortunately, the glory is short lived since we are soon overtaken by a sense of guilt and remorse that usually results in a depression that goes on for days. Thus we are robbed of joy that we otherwise would have enjoyed.

If this sounds familiar, then you could have tried to fight the temptation on numerous occasions and failed. One thing you might have wondered is why your often strong will failed to save you from the debilitating predicament. Maybe the reason is because you have so far underestimated the problem by assuming that you can fight it with will power alone. You have to acknowledge the extent of the problem by considering it more soberly. Could it be an addiction?…a psychological ailment?…a symptom to an underlying problem that needs addressing?

Once viewed from a different perspective, you might be surprised how easy it is to tackle the problem…one moment the stimulus makes you want to crawl on the floor with your tongue out and eyes rolling in their sockets…the next…nothing. The erstwhile devious incentive ceases to elicit any reaction from you! Wouldn’t you like that?

The constant disgrace resulting from a collection of shameful habits becomes part of a person’s identity and makes them lose confidence in themselves. Physically, it is manifested in symptoms like drooping shoulders, a cagey look, low self esteem, melancholy, unwarranted accusations, uncalled for defensiveness among others.

A good place to start is by taking an observer’s role in order to know the enemy. Understanding the when, how, where, what and who of your habit is crucial. Knowing that you are not the only one who is suffering enables you to gain more understanding into the problem by studying the behavior of others affected. It might also encourage you to share with another going through the same process. Have you ever considered searching the internet for websites that address the type of problem you are dealing with and their solutions?

However deformed you consider yourself to be, know that there is someone who is willing to hold your hand. You are not alone.

Today, I observed an aged Morris Mini wait beside a huge sleek Mercedes Benz at a traffic light. The driver of the tiny vehicle was nervously revving its engine supposedly to prevent it from dying during the idling moments occasioned by the red light. During the revs, the Mini with a bumper sticker that read, “When I grow up, I want to be a Mercedes Benz” would belch a cloud of smoke and literally tremble with nervousness next to its mentor. When the traffic light eventually turned green, the Mercedes Benz cruised effortlessly out of the traffic island and hit a straight stretch of road at speed. The archaic Morris Mini first had to be put in high rev before the gear was engaged noisily to a jerky start in the midst of horn blares from other impatient drivers waiting behind on queue.

As the Morris Mini labored past a petrol station a short while later, the Mercedes was disappearing from sight as it made a turn at a junction much further on. That is when I remembered some words I had heard earlier in the day. The words were from a preacher who had compared the human body to a motor vehicle during his sermon. He said that the human being needed the Spirit of God to be alive, just as a vehicle needed fuel to move. Without fuel a vehicle will be grounded, as a human being will die in the absence of the life giving Spirit.

Have you ever observed kids in a classroom, each with a lump of plasticine with which to make a model of whatever he or she fancies? Each kid becomes totally absorbed in the exercise. Some make miniature models of cars while, others make houses…some shape animals, while others model people… A few make object with no recognizable shape. Just like these kids, each one of us is blessed with a life with which to model into whatever he or she wishes with the world as our classroom. How high do you aspire to soar? What do you want to own? Is there any one person you would want to be like?

There is a friend who once advised me to interrupt my schedule once a day for a short while. In that time, I am supposed to breathe in and out a few times and remember that I am alive. After that, I can go back to my day with the knowledge that I have one thing in common with the greatest person, as well as the least person in this world: LIFE.

Take a moment to breathe iiin an ouuut…iiin and ouuut…iiin and ouuut, before continuing to mold your life.

“Oh, yes,” said the Indian, “I know what my conscience is. It is a little three-cornered thing in here,” he laid his hand on his heart, “that stands still when I am good; but when I am bad it turns round, and the corners hurt very much. But if I keep on doing wrong, by-and-by the corners wear off and it doesn’t hurt any more.”

By J. Ellis

At each stage in a human being’s life, there is generally what is considered important. For children, play and pamper is everything. For teenagers, parties and peers are the thing. Young adults treasure careers and love relationships. Older adults sacrifice for family and society. The elderly tend to value security and companionship.

Of course there is the transition period from one stage to another. While some make the transition effortlessly and with much grace, others create a mess of it as they make the changes against their frantic wills. Maybe you know a few of these people? Of course there are those who have no clue that there are any stages through which to develop – not even the passage of time will awaken them. Do you know anyone in this category?

Knowing that we are not all exactly alike creates an atmosphere that enables us to accept and appreciate others that might be different from us.

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Some people are lucky to recognize and embrace the fact that we need family and friends throughout the stages of the physical human development. Were it not for the family, we might not be where we are today. Were it not for friends, we might not be who we are today. It is a blessing to cultivate a beautiful relationship with these people based on love, trust, respect, understanding, among other human virtues.

When far away from home, the fact that you feel like a homeless refugee or a bird without a nest today, guarantees that you will appreciate them more when you meet them again.

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Often, we forget the closest and most important entity in all our growth; God. In the absence of nurturing a kinship with God, we might find ourselves lost and in search of something we do not know.

One string, which binds all of us together, is God’s love. Today, let His blessings be with you and with all of us.

Do you remember the time you first heard the phrase, ‘a chain is as strong as its weakest link’ for the first time? Many people hear it from within the organizations that they work in. I first heard it when a friend repeated it in my presence after hearing it from his boss. Apparently, it had made so much impact on my friend’s boss when he attended a management seminar that he would repeat it at the slightest opportunity.

The phrase reminds me of an enormous chain that I once saw in a shipping dock at the Kenyan coast. The diameter of the steel used to make the ellipse of each of the chain’s steel links was the size of my upper arm. The chain was strong enough to harness a huge ship which was under repairs. But supposing one of the links in the middle was made from rope? How strong would the chain had been then?

If you have ever owned a precious necklace that got broken, or a valuable watch whose chain came apart, then you know just how disappointing and frustrating a weak link could turn out to be. You also know that mending the link only serves to keep the necklace or watch intact for as long as you do not wear it. Once you put it on, the link becomes undone again and you have a broken chain once more. Removing the defective link completely or replacing it with a strong one is the only solution.

We can import the weakest link analogy from the work place and into our personal lives. What would you say is your weakest link? Did you know that there is a tendency to strengthen the links of the chain that we can strengthen the most, while ignoring the weakest link? Take the example of a manager who has trouble with his wife at home: The man will wake up earlier than usual and depart to the office where he will ‘manage’ his subordinates with a vengeance, put in some extra time in the evening, pass by a pub to have a few drinks with friends before creeping into his house in tip toes and slipping into bed with the hope of not waking his wife. Probably the wife who had been up all evening waiting for the husband to get home will promptly turn her back and pretend to be dead asleep as soon as she hears the husband stealthily turning the key in the lock to the front door. This couple could go for days without saying a single word to each other, all the while festering inside from negative emotions towards each other.

In the above example, the manager’s problems at home can be taken as his weak link. However, instead of addressing this weak link, he works harder and spends more time with friends hence attempting to strengthen the links on his chain that are already strong. It would be more useful to the manager’s well being as well as his employer’s if he would solve the problems at home. This would make him happier and healthier and more productive at work and with a pleasant disposition towards his subordinates.

The parts of the chain that can be improved the most – or most easily – will never include the weakest link. Weak links exist because they are hard to find or fix in the first place.

If you decide to examine your chain, focus on the element of the situation that will improve the entire situation the most rather than on the element of the situation that can be improved the most. Did you get that? We don’t want to focus on the place that we can improve the most, but on the place that will improve the entire situation the most. After all, if your beautiful necklace or the band of your favorite watch got broken, you would consider replacing the defective link rather than start reinforcing the intact links, right?

Last weekend, I attended a kid’s birthday party for one of my nieces. At that party there was one little girl who was afraid of live chicken. There were several chickens around the compound. She would try to shoo them from a distance and would promptly take off as soon as any of them turned her way. One grown up later realized that she was even terrified of a single chicken feather. If you stuck a feather in your hair, the kid would hysterically demand that you remove it. And that became a source of entertainment until the poor kid threatened to cry. Then, we turned our attention to other things and the kid’s fear of chicken and feather was forgotten.

I could not imagine what had caused the 3 year old to become afraid of chicken. What I could imagine however is the kid being threatened verbally with a chicken whenever she refused to eat or sleep or cried unnecessarily. That happens a lot here in Kenya. And I suppose that is how fears and phobias are cemented in our society.

I found myself wondering; what if the parent decided to buy a plastic chicken for the kid? Maybe show her pictures of birds and even take her out to see the majesty of one in flight? With such encouragement, wouldn’t the kid’s fear be transformed into respectful awe of the feather after understanding what beautiful plumage it forms to clothe the peacock and the spectacular heights it enables the eagle to soar to?

What if the parent decided to treat each of the kid’s fears as a challenge to turn her weakness into strength? I suppose she would not have most unnecessary fears that become permanent sources of terror upon growing up.

If you suffer or have struggled to overcome an unreasonable fear – being at a party, harmless bugs, flying in a plane, a moving lift, swimming, then you know that you cannot wish it on anyone, least of all a son or a daughter. That is why we should not blackmail kids into submission using their fears.

Someone said that the only thing to be feared is fear itself. Let us pass that message on to the children.

I always get excited whenever I come across a ladybird – an adorable bug we used to refer to as ‘Volkswagen’ as kids because of its uncanny likeness to the VW beetle.

Fun Facts

- Ladybirds or Lady Beetles are named after Our Lady, the Virgin Mary. The red colour is said to represent the red cloak Mary was depicted wearing in old paintings. The seven spots in some of the species are for her seven joys and seven sorrows.

- The bright colors of ladybirds have evolved to act as a warning mechanism. Ladybirds are unpalatable to most predators and the warning colors advertise this.

- When ladybirds are attacked they ooze a horrid goo called reflex blood from their knees, which contains toxins and tastes unpleasant. Not surprisingly, this stops ants, birds and other predators from eating them.

- There are over 5,000 species of ladybirds all over the world.

- Females on average are larger than males.

- Most species of ladybird are predatory – eating sap-sucking plant pests, particularly aphids.

- The appetite of the ladybird is quite remarkable. An adult female Convergent ladybird may consume up to 75 aphids a day while the smaller male may consume up to 40.

- Rumored to have medicinal properties, Newell (1845) reports ladybirds to be a cure for measles and colic.

- The ladybird was regarded historically as a magical animal – it is supposed to predict the weather and happiness, cure toothache and increase potency.

PS: A sexually transmitted disease has infested a scarce species of British ladybird – a disease the insect seems to have picked up from hanging around wood ants, scientists told a European conference. Read more…

May you have a magical day – filled with good weather and happiness, no toothache, and the potency of your choice!