If it's lonely at the top; it's because you didn't bring somebody along!

If it’s lonely at the top; it’s because you didn’t bring somebody along

 

Happy Mothers’ Day

Do you realise that you are a product of where you live or where you grow up? What you are exposed to eventually shapes up your paradigms and perceptions. That is why I deliberately maintain a consistent battle against limiting paradigms that are imposed on me by my environments. Having grown up in the poor African suburbs of Harare I was never taught how to verbally express love especially to members of my immediate family – in particular parents. What I know I had to learn it in bits and pieces from various other environments. You can see my challenge when I have to teach my own children the things that I was never taught as a child; or perhaps my children to remind me what I was never taught! My daughter reminded me this weekend that we have to do a surprise thing for their mom (my wife) for mother’s day and I immediately concurred that it was a great idea. She suggested among other things that we also buy a bunch of flowers; which I also thought was a good idea. So I managed to sneak out to the shops with my daughter for the secret ‘Mother’s Day’ agenda. When we got into the shop I got a great idea. In my ancient wisdom I decided that we should buy a potted rose flower plant. That will solve my problem for many years to come. That means I don’t have to remember to buy flowers all the time. We’ll plant the rose flower plant and hopefully it will grow. Every other anniversary or commemoration my wife will just have to go and pick the flowers from the plant as a reminder that I love her forever! My problem solved; how’s that?

To all the mothers out there I wish you a belated happy Mothers’ Day. You are special! By the way I remembered to call my own mom and verbally appreciated her for being the special woman she is!     

 

There is no one who is larger than life!

Apart from the hectic schedule of my day job which included a lot of travel; I had a packed diary to fulfill over the past couple of weeks. I had three or so invitations from various congregations to speak; I led a wedding anniversary celebration for our close friends; I spoke at a team building session for the teachers from one of the local junior secondary schools; I had a few coaching and counseling sessions with different individuals and families on a variety of issues; and the list goes on. After such a roller coaster jam-packed period you begin to feel the fatigue in all your systems and want some refreshment. When you get used to being the one speaking all the time and everyone listening to you; it’s easy to fall into the trap of giving out and never get time to sit back and receive; the trap of developing an over-sized head where you will not listen to anybody else except yourself. When Elijah had done exploits he began to feel the same; he began to feel that he was the only true prophet of God remaining and he said unto God, ‘the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down your altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away’ (1 Kings 19 v 14); but God answered him and said, ‘I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him’ (1 Kings 19 v 18). Whatever gift or calling you have in life you should always remember that you have your part to play in the greater script of the story of the plan of God for mankind. You are not a sole actor! You will not play the whole script alone. There is no one who is larger than life. We all have a unique and distinct role to play on the stage of life. Play your part effectively and diligently and always remember that in everything that you do you will always need supporting players to help you through and to assist you when you get weary. Don’t isolate yourself and never let pride rule you. It may be your season to be on the front stage; but that does not mean those minor supporting players and those players in the backstage awaiting their turn are less important. Never let success get into your head. If it’s your season utilize it earnestly, diligently and humbly for soon the curtain will close on you for the next chapter to begin.  At the end of it all you want to be able to tell a story that says ‘I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: (2 Timothy 4 v 7 – 8).

 

Bring somebody along!

We all dream of success and want to be able to write great success stories of our lives. But one of the greatest challenges of success, whether as a team-leader, pastor, intellectual or  entrepreneur, is that when you are at the battlefront people think that you have it all worked out. You will not easily find someone who can advise you boldly or encourage you when you need it the most; because everybody thinks you have supernatural strength to pull through. You have heard people say that ‘it’s lonely at the top!’ It’s simply because when you are up there you can only look down to everybody else. The key to sustained success is to make sure that as you go up to the top you take someone up along with you; whom you will turn to when it begins to get lonely or tough – because it surely can get lonely and tough at the top! Always have around you somebody who can speak candidly and bluntly into your life; you will need them – Moses had Jethro; David had Nathan; Timothy had Paul; who can rebuke you frankly when you are slipping up; who can honestly encourage you when you are down. Don’t fall into the trap of enjoying the comfort of being the giant among the dwarfs – who will scratch your back in a time of need! You need somebody who can look you in the face and tell it as it is. As you rise up to the top be sure to bring somebody along.

 

Calvary love

 

Calvary love 

Peter Mbada

 

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