Why Perfection is an Enemy of Progress

Image Courtesy of JamesWoodward

If you have ever read about God’s creation of the earth, you will find that after each element or creature was created, save for the firmaments (or skies), He would always say it was good. He never said any of it was perfect. It’s not that God couldn’t make these things perfect (because I know he could have) but He made them ‘good’ for reasons. He made them ‘good’ so that the man He created wouldn’t be idle. If everything was perfect upon creation, man would have no chance to invent and create things and improve life. He would have just been roaming the Garden of Eden eating and talking to animals with nothing particularly exciting to face as a challenge or so.

You must have heard this said many times that ‘no one is perfect’ or that ‘no one can be perfect’. This is true and I do not dispute it. Nevertheless, we must realize that this is so because if God had created us perfect we would have no need to improve ourselves (taking into account the sin of Adam through his freewill). There would be no room for us to become better people. Different people view man’s imperfection in their own different ways. Some see it as a disease which needs to be cured. Some see it as a defect which they can do nothing about and so just walk around with the ‘no one is perfect so don’t judge me’ mentality. There are also people who see our imperfection as a default defect that constitutes a vital part of who we are, and in essence they just try to live with it and manage it. They are not particularly committed to improving themselves. They are the ones with the ‘that’s just how I am, I can’t change who I am’ mentality.

10 Leadership Lessons from Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (The Movie)

Source: oyster.ignimgs.com

1. The greatest leaders in the world did not just lead people. They led movements, revolutions and ideologies.
2. Madiba was a selfless leader.
3. Madiba was courageous. He was courageous enough to stand by his vision for South Africa. He was courageous enough to stand for peace when the people demanded war.
4. Madiba was confident in the ideology he stood for: the ideology of freedom for his people.
5. The road to greatness is never ending and always lonely.

How Our DSTV Dish Taught Me Vital Life Lessons

Since June 12, when the World Cup started, I’ve only watched 2 matches because our DSTV was not connected and we hadn’t subscribed. Several attempts to get the Satellite Technicians to come help us connect it proved futile. Each time we called, they’d give one excuse or the other. I even missed the Netherlands versus Spain (5pa1n) match because of this. Subsequently, I started becoming irritated with the situation. Partly because all we had to watch at the moment were religious channels (of which I’m not a big fan), and because my parents were seemingly not as determined as I was to watch the World Cup (a lie I succeeded in telling myself repeatedly). My irritation started guiding my behavior and my parents were obviously not happy with the situation. So, in order to quell the annoyance in the air, I decided to engage in a DIY. I spent several minutes outside my house, figuring a way to fix the dish and connect it. I finally had a Eureka moment.

Assumptions! Assumptions! Ridiculous Assumptions!

Image Source: www.kathyennis.co.uk

Making assumptions about people, an event or a situation often proves to leave you with embarrassing results. In fact, the results can be tragic or comical at times. Take for example this story I came across in the John Maxwell book- Everyone Communicates, Few Connect. It’s a comical story of a traveler between flights at an airport.

She went to a lounge and bought a small pack of cookies and then sat down to read a newspaper. She became aware of a rustling noise and looked to see a neatly dressed man helping himself to the cookies. She didn’t want to make a scene, so she leaned over and took a cookie herself, hoping that he would get the message. As time passed, she thought she had been successful. But then she heard more rustling. She couldn’t believe it. He was helping himself to another cookie.

LIFE LESSONS IV: HOW HANDICAPPED ARE YOU? (by Austin Queensly @AustinQueensly)

Imagine not being able to see the world around you, the beauty of nature, and the faces of your loved ones. Terrible, right?  Now throw in the inability to listen to good music, or the voices of those around you.

Well, that was the case of Helen Keller who was born with good sight and the ability to hear but lost both senses when she was 19 months old which made her situation feel even worse. Some of us may have heard the story of Helen Keller but not about the person behind her story.

It is hard enough teaching people who have their 5 senses intact and harder to teach someone with a disability. Anne Sullivan definitely had her work cut out for her with the responsibility of tutoring Helen Keller who was both blind and deaf; these two senses are unarguably the most necessary for smooth learning to take place.

WINDOW PAIN

God could feel my pain. I knew it. As I sat down staring out the window through tearful eyes, I knew it. Heaven was weeping with me as the rain drops raged at my window. I was in pain. My mind was messed up. In a few moments from now, the monster was going to come in again. It had become normal already. My innocence was long gone as my essence has since been lost. The monster never hesitated to destroy what was supposed to be my pride.

My thoughts were interrupted by the creak of the door. I didn’t look back. It was time. I simply turned and lay on my back as the monster smiled down at me. His once lovely face had now become the symbol of everything wrong with mankind. He was my hate. He was my pain. My evil and my devil. I closed my eyes then I felt his weight on the bed. Right beside me. I slowly parted my legs and he commenced his despicable act. I was silent all through. I had become accustomed to this evil. As he finished up, I closed my legs but then I heard his coarse whisper. I’m not done. “What?” my mind snapped but my mouth was too troubled and weak to utter a sound. He started removing his belt buckle and leaned into me as he finally took away all I ever was and will be. By the time all these was over, he dressed himself back. Expressionless and emotionless. As if what just happened meant nothing. As he made for the door, I mumbled: “Papa, please. Can this stop? I’m in pain”. He simply looked at me and smiled, “I know”.

How to Become a Person of Value

We’ve talked about the Law of Value Addition (Read about it here) and now it is important we learn how to become such persons. So here are simple ways through which you can become a person who’s constantly making life better for others (these are but a few, the list is inexhaustible):

LIFE LESSONS III: THE BEST LOSER by Austin Queensly (@AustinQueensly)

“You took fourth! Fourth!! What happened to the first, second or even ‘manageable’ third position!!!”

I recoiled to the sitting room to avoid my mum’s screaming but especially dreaded my father’s arrival because though I was and still am ‘daddy’s pet’, one thing is not acceptable in my home. FAILURE. And believe me; my fourth position was considered one. This memory, even after 14 years, remains ingrained in my head and with it, a fear that is now a part of my subconscious and sometimes beclouds my decision making. The fear of failure!

From my growing up years, I had this concept driven into me that failure is bad. First position in class ensured that I got a mini celebration and fourth, a strong reprimand. Don’t get me wrong because I am not condemning this method of upbringing, in fact it has made me the person I am today, always striving for excellence. However, there are always two sides of a coin.

The Penalty of Leadership

I saw this in a textbook I read recently, Introduction to Mass Communication by Stanley J. Baran and I thought it’d be nice to share with you. It’s a 1915 Cadillac Motor Car Company Image Advert.

In every field of human endeavor, he that is first must perpetually live in the white light of publicity. Whether the leadership be vested in a man or in a manufactured product, emulation and envy are ever at work. In art, literature, in music, in industry, the reward and the punishment are always the same. The reward is widespread recognition; the punishment, fierce denial and detraction. When a man’s work becomes a standard for the whole world, it also becomes a target for the shafts of the envious few. If his work be merely mediocre, he will be severely left alone- if he achieves a masterpiece, it will set a million tongues wagging.

They're Leaving God Out of Everything! (The God Omission by Tobi Ogunfusika -@cutendpetite)

When I got home last year after school for the Christmas break, I was watching TV one random day. We were flipping through channels trying to look for something entertaining to watch. We stumbled on African Magic and then for a few minutes we were watching the movie. I noticed that some words were censored and I remembered that they started censoring swear words and curse words a while back and I shrugged my head and continued watching the movie. Something very interesting happened there and then, I noticed that the actress whose present words were being censored wasn’t cursing or saying anything wrong, she was not even angry or pissed with anybody in the movie. She was shocked and she said “Jesus” and after a while she said “oh My God”. It was so hard to read her lips considering the fact that it was a Nollywood movie and those words are the usual things we expect when a situation like that comes up in the course of watching a Nigerian movie.

How to Overcome Pornography: Employ the Aid of Accountability Partners

I’ve always heard that a problem shared is half solved. Well, the statement may not be entirely true but I know that in this context it does apply. What I’m saying in essence is that you should have a group of people you can talk to and you can report your progress to. These people are referred to as accountability partners. You are accountable to them.

Your accountability partners should be friends you can trust, parents who can understand you, your pastor to give you sound spiritual guidance and maybe even fellow addicts who have been able to overcome their own problem too. You may not necessarily hold meetings with these people but you should talk to them regularly. The truth is, the journey out of porn addiction is not easy and there will be time when you will feel dirty again God will seem far away and you will feel unworthy to talk to Him so these are people you can always turn back to. They will advise you and help you through the rough patch.

Your accountability partners will also help you monitor your progress and see how far you’ve come. Remember to be very honest with them, and despite the temptation to try to look good before them, remember that that will not help you either. So you must come clean before them. That is the only way they can help you.

How to Overcome Pornography: Cut Off Your Sources

The next step to take in overcoming porn addiction after admitting it is a problem that can ruin you and identifying your triggers is to cut off your sources. Cutting off your sources is as practical a step as it gets and it involves a whole lot of self-discipline and self-assurance that you are ready to take your recovery up a notch. It implies that you are ready to be really serious with your recovery from porn addiction.

Cutting off your sources is a simple step. It involves breaking all those DVDs and CDs, using softwares on your computer to block all those sites you usually visit. At this point you really need to build up your self-discipline. Friends can also help you out here. You can ask a friend to put in a password for that software so you won’t be able to access those pornographic sites. You can also deprive yourself of internet services as long as possible to help you curb the addiction and ultimately put it out.

Moreover, if you are the type that gets access through your phone, that is your internet data plan and your BlackBerry subscription supports you in this wise, it is time you let go of that phone. Either you cut off your internet subscription so you can only browse in public places or you change your phone to one that cannot access the internet. This is for your own good and as I said earlier, it requires a whole lot of self-discipline.

At all cost you must sever all ties with things that grant you easy access to the internet and eventually to porn sites.

ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING

In school I have been put in charge of publishing a magazine and I was brainstorming this morning, with my partner, on people to add to our team. A lot of names popped up in my head and I suggested them to my partner but she kindly rejected them and I know why: ATTITUDE. Till forever, this truth remains, a bad attitude will always overshadow good talent. No matter how good you are at doing something, if your attitude is poor and your character deficient, you will hardly made headway in life.

I have come across so many talented people, who I will never take seriously simply because their attitude is distasteful. At the same time I have come across certain people who may not be so bright mentally but their attitude lights them up. They are delightful.

So today, as you go about your activities, remember: ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING, SO PICK A GOOD ONE.

THERE’S NO HAPPINESS IN THE WORLD’S APPLAUSE

I got this idea from Britt Nicole’s song ‘You’ and I think it’s time I penned it down because it has been hovering on my mind for quite some time. The song talks about seeking true love and finding happiness. The truth is that there’s never happiness when you live for the commendations of others and their applause. There is no happiness there. The only true happiness you will ever find is the happiness that comes with knowing that God loves you and would go to any length for you. This true happiness also comes from the satisfaction you get from fulfilling the purpose for which you were created. God created you not to be just another person but because there's a problem out there that He knows you can solve.

My Take on Marriage

I'm not married. Too young for that but I have seen too many failed marriages and seen too many Hollywood movies condemning marriage to want to be. But we are currently doing a program on Marriage and Family in my final undergrad year so we learn something today that made me understand that marriages fail, not because it is a failed institution, but because the people involved have chosen to let it be. I mean, aren't there countless successful marriages out there? There are. My parents' marriage is a good example of a successful one.

First, people from failed marriages do not understand a lot about marriage.

How to Deal With Difficult People

You will agree with me that people are different. This difference in personalities makes some people compatible while some others aren't. You will also agree with me that no matter where we find ourselves -at work, in school, at home and in public places- we will always come across people who are difficult to relate with. Some of these people are proud while some others just lack good communication skills. You will also agree with me that it is important for you to know how to get along with people so that life can be much easier for you. The more able you are to adapt to people's personalities, the better your chances are at living a freer life. Here's how you can deal with such difficult people:

MY ANNIVERSARY IS AROUND THE CORNER

Yeah, the one year anniversary of my blog is around the corner and I wanna celebrate with you guys so I'm thinking of creative ways to do so. I want you all to leave your suggestions and comments so we can all have a good time together. 

Also, leave comments or send me an email telling me how this blog has helped you and tell me which is your best article. You may be in line to win something. You just never know. I am grateful to God for you all. You are my motivation; the reasons I do what I do. God bless you.

Let's Talk About The Conscience...Your Conscience

I heard the story of a married couple who lived somewhere in town (obviously). They trusted each other so much. They had 2 cars and both of them possessed keys to the 2 cars. So one day the wife was driving by a hotel- a very notorious hotel.- and she saw her husband's car. That hotel was so notorious that anyone who lodged in did so to commit wrong. That's how bad it was. So the wife drove home, took a cab, came back to the hotel. Then she drove her husbands car and went on to hide it somewhere. When the husband returned late in the night her lied that he was involved in a robbery attack and his car was snatched. Unknown to him was that his wife knew the whole truth. He was cheating on her. His wife just pulled him by the nose and showed him where she had hid the car. He felt so ashamed and embarrassed. That's the world as we have it today. People lack good moral compass and their consciences are weak or even dead.

Help! I'm Addicted to Watching Movies...

Someone asked me to write a piece on how to curb movie addiction so here it is. I'm not much of a TV fan so I guess I may not know much about this but one thing I know is this "where your treasure is, there your heart lies." That's the basic principle that guides this sort of thing. You've got to search deep and ask yourself: "what are my priorities? what are the most important things in my life?" Once you're able to answer this question you're on your way to freedom.

Furthermore, the more time you spend doing more important things, the less time you have to watch movies. Also, it is important that you discipline yourself and learn how to pray to God everyday and study your Bible as well. In the process of doing this you begin to gain perspective on how important times is how much you need to invest and preserve all the time you have. You haven't got all the time in the world.

One More Thing To Note About Porn Addiction

While in my prayer time, I was mulling over the series I started on 'How to Overcome Porn Addiction' and the Holy Spirit reminded me of the most vital step towards recovering from this addiction. Earlier in the day I had seen two different videos on this topic as a form of research and in order to improve my content. What I noticed is that I have neglected the most important step. This step trumps any of the 7 steps to recovery and it is quite easy to remember. It is that you can never achieve freedom without understanding the place of Christ and the Grace He provides us.

Furthermore, the comment on the most recent step made me realize this. We can never achieve freedom from the addiction to porn if we do not even understand that it was what Christ died for. Christ died to set us free from the works of Satan and and sin. Pornography is still just the same sin as lying. There's no need to sugar-coat it. God sees the liar, the murderer, the adulterer and the porn addict as all the same: sinners. but the good thing is that God doesn't condemn them. He loves them as much as He loves those who are already sin-free.