Don’t forget the landing platform
As arrows in the hand of a mighty man
Last week I was invited by one of the local junior secondary schools to speak to their senior students who will be writing junior certificate exams and graduating from junior secondary school later this year, about 130 students. I find nothing more exhilarating than getting an opportunity to plant a seed, shape a life and put a smile on somebody’s face. This was an audience of young teenagers who are at a very critical stage in their lives; young teenagers who are on a launch-pad, about to be catapulted into their destinies. ‘As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth’ (Psalm 127 v 4). These young boys and girls were, to me, like arrows in the hand of a mighty man ready to be catapulted into the future. I am pretty sure that I may never meet face to face with a good number of them but the seed I planted will follow them for the rest of their lives; for some the seeds will germinate and blossom while for others the seeds will be eaten by the birds and rot.
You’ve got to begin to live your life
I pray that the transformation that began in the lives of those young people may be permanent and that they may go far in life. I pray that all of them may make it out of the launch-pad and shape their own destinies. I pray that, someday, the handwriting on their obituaries may explain that these were used up lives; lives that were lived to the limit and gifts and potentials that were fully exploited. Many people never get out of the launch-pad or never even go onto the launch pad from which they should be catapulted into their destinies. Many people spend all their lives preparing to live and never get to live their lives. Many people spend their lives reading history and never get to make history. Many people spend half their lives accumulating and amassing degrees and diplomas that will never contribute to what they were made for. I abandoned a third degree I was about to pursue when I realized that it had nothing to do with what I am wired for. I have to invest my time and resources in things that add value to the one life I have. How is your life? Is your life out of the launch-pad? Is your life exploiting what you were created to achieve; I mean have you begun to pursue or exploit your calling, your ambitions or your visions? Don’t be like Methuselah who lived all his life and achieved nothing more than just getting into the Guinness book of records as the oldest man who ever lived and he died. ‘And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died’ (Genesis 5 v 27). Remember that at some stage you’ve got to begin to live your life; and fulfill your calling.
Life is not a roller-coaster
As you leave your launch-pad to pursue your dreams, visions and calling don’t be like a punctured balloon; flying vigorously, directionless and uncontrollably only to land deflated, dejected and exhausted. Don’t live your life like you are on a roller-coaster; riding the crests and valleys of life and pumping high adrenaline only to land on the same place from which you got the ride. Take it easy. Wait upon the Lord. Understand yourself, your calling, your ambition and your vision. Prepare yourself for the long-haul. Like Elijah, you may need supernatural strength along the way. Elijah had to be fed by the angel. ‘And the angel of the Lord came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee. And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God’ (1 Kings 19 v 7 & 8). ‘But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint’ (Isaiah 40 v 31). When you are ready, pursue your calling with vigor and zeal!
Don’t forget the landing platform
This week we have been celebrating the men and women who have been working for the organization I work for, for many years and who have just gone on retirement and some on voluntary separation (retrenchment). Some of these people had worked for this organization for as much as 40 years. You don’t find such loyalty, dedication and stickability in this day and age. I salute and respect their hard-work. But as I look at them I wonder if all of them ever made it out of the launch-pad in all these years. I don’t doubt their contribution to this organization but I wonder, in all those many working years, if they ever got to contribute profitably to this life and to their purpose for living. I leave it to them ponder. But here are man and women who have come to the end of the road. Everything that flies has to land at some stage. What did they build in all these years which they will find as they go back home? If you have been catapulted from your launch-pad, remember that someday you will have to land. As you pursue your calling, your ambitions, your career or your business ventures with vigor, don’t forget to prepare your landing platform, for some day you will need to land. Don’t pursue your calling at the expense of those that matter in your life. When the job is finished and done and the farewell party tables have been cleaned and stacked, it’s your family that you will be left to face. Will they open their arms to accept you to land in their lives? When your time-slot for this life is expired, it’s your Creator that you will be left to face. Will He open His arms to allow you to land in His eternity?
Don’t forget the landing platform!
Peter Mbada
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