To Succeed in Life.

“To laugh often and much; 

to win the respect of intelligent people

and the affection of children;

to earn the appreciation of honest critics

and to endure the betrayal of false friends. 

To appreciate beauty; 

to find the best in others; 

to leave the world a bit better 

whether by a healthy child, 

a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition;

to know that even one life has breathed easier 

because you have lived. 

Then, you have succeeded in life.”

― Ralph Waldo Emerson.



Michelle Obama in her Own Words.

"I admit: I am louder

than the average human being 

and have no fear of speaking my mind. 

These traits don't come 

from the color of my skin but 

from an unwavering belief in 

my own intelligence."

- Michelle Obama.

The most Important Lesson about Human Nature.

In 1989, I learned from my dog, one of the most important lessons about the human nature. From Lucky, my German Shepherd, I learned that when faced with life's travails, there is a huge difference between the words of a fellow human and that of a dog. When both say, "Hey, I've got your back", beware; because while the dog remains constantly behind you, keeping faith, you'll never know when the human disappears into thin air.

The Reason why Evil Thrives.

"If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?"

 

- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in his classical book, The Gulag Archipelago (1973).

Vanity Upon Vanity.

While in surgery following a heart attack, a middle-aged woman sees a vision of God by her bedside.
   " Will I die?" she asks.
God answers, saying, "No. You have 30 years to live."
  With 30 more years to look forward to, the woman decides to make the best of it. So while in the hospital, she gets breast implants, liposuction, a tummy tuck, hair transplants and collagen injected into her lips. She looks great...different from what she used to be.
  On the day she gets discharged, she exists the hospital with a swagger. But as she crosses the street, a rushing ambulance hits her and she dies on the spot.
   Up in heaven, the woman sees God and is livid.
"You said I had 30 more years to live!"
   "That's true," says God.
"Well, so what happened that I'm here so soon?" she asks.
God shrugs his shoulders and says, "Guess what? I didn't recognize you..."

(Culled from the Readers Digest).

The Philosophy which holds one Race Superior and another Inferior.

Until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned, there will be war everywhere.

And until there are no longer first-class and second-class citizens of any nation.

Until the color of a man's skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes.

And until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race, there will be war.

And, until that day, the dream of a lasting peace, world citizenship and rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting illusion to be pursued, but never attained.” - From the selected speeches of Haile Selassie of Ethiopia (Made famous by Bob Marley & the Wailers in the song “War”).

Sunday is Coming; Sunday Has Come by Ifeoluwa Olawole.

When I am afraid, worried, unsure, I like to think, Sunday is Coming.  I first learnt of this term after Hilary Clinton lost the election in 2016, in the email her pastor sent to her a day after she lost the elector. Let me explain. I think about how Jesus's disciples and friends must have felt the day (Friday) he passed away. The shame, the anger, the loneliness, the humiliation, the worry, the depth of the loss, the confusion. They had been following this man around for so long, proclaiming his royalty and sovereignty, proclaiming that he was King. Then, just like that he died, in what was a drawn out, humiliating, painful process. And apart from dealing with the loss of their leader and friend, they had to deal with the aftermath. In this kind of context, hope is lost. With this in mind, that day must have been a disaster.

Even though Jesus had told them beforehand that three days later all would be restored, in all the chaos they either forgot or just could not see a possibility of it.

If only they knew Sunday was coming. If only they knew life, redemption, joy, celebration were on the way,  then perhaps they would have gotten through Friday with just a little more peace. Because like he had said, indeed on Sunday he rose.

Amazing Grace
how sweet that sound
that saved a wretch like me
I was once lost
but now I am found
was blind...
but now... I see

Friday can literally be anything. Friday can be that depression that just would not leave you. It could be a cancer diagnosis. Friday could be job loss. Or, Friday, most notably, could be a deadly, highly infectious novel virus that we don't understand, but that has brought the world to its knees. Yet,

Sunday is Coming.

I like to take that approach towards life. The idea that though now it looks and feels bleak, laughter is coming. Joy is coming. Celebration is coming. Freedom is coming. And there is no better time to share this than now. So while it may be Friday now, Sunday is coming.

Sunday has come.

Please note that this is metaphorical, I don't know the exact day Jesus died but Friday represents whatever that exact day was, okay sweeeties? Okay. Let's continue. As the above email mentions, life is filled with so many Fridays. I am certain we can get through those Fridays if  we keep in mind that Sunday is on the way.

Some people noted there is no point to Easter because the Bible does not mention it or celebrate it or something. But the Bible also doesn't mention birthdays and wedding anniversaries, but we celebrate them anyway, so what really is your point?

Anyway, as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and the redemption it brought, it should empower us with hope and refocus our gaze on the fact that just as Sunday came for the disciples, Sunday is coming for us too.

I will leave you with this powerful rendition of Amazing Grace by Andrea Bocelli earlier today in Duomo di Milano.

Happy Easter, people!

Love,

I

Enjoy your COVID-19 Lockdown by Adeyemi Adefulu, MFR.

So many people who have called me are busy worrying over this stay at home period and getting stressed up. I guess some are,effortlessly, developing hypertension. This is I dare say is very sad.

Have you heard the biblical directives-“In every situation, give thanks” and “rest still and know that I am the Lord”?

If you have and you are still worrying it means you have not internalised the eternal message therein. Let me assure you that in the end everything passes away. Even COVIC-19 will pass away. For those who worry, this may be the beginning of their passage. But, my dear friend, you must make sure you don’t pass away.

The first thing to do is to stop agonizing over this period. Let me share my little experience with you.

I was 37 when the military struck in 1983. I had been in government for 4 years and 3 months. To this day, I am grateful to God for the opportunity to have served and wish I had done more. I gave the very best of my life in service. It was always what I wanted to do.

But I received an unjust, crude and inhuman recompense from the military government. Col. Oladipo Diya who was Military Governor in Ogun State thought I was so close to Onabanjo that there was no getting Onabanjo without getting Adefulu his political son. The whole purpose of his governance was bile. No wonder he is no more than a footnote of history.

I was subjected to the most scurrilous of interrogations and mental and physical torture. But they soon learnt that it was a waste of time. They had a wrong candidate. Onabanjo has run the most accountable of administrations which to this day remains a reference point. I had been prudent in my affairs before and during government. My affairs were so scrupulously document that I dazed their several panels with documents and accountability.

At a stage a Col Adeleke (I think that’s his name from Ondo town) after the final interrogation of the SIP- State Investigation Panel said to everyone, “now this is off the record- I want to learn from this young man. How were you able to keep records like this? If anyone asked me to account for how I spent my salary over the past 6 months, I can’t do it. Yet you have given us compelling records several years old which preceded this job. Did you expect that this day will come? You were obviously doing well in your profession, why did you accept a job like this?”

I will not go into my answer to the panel in this short discourse. Suffice it to say that I was in detention for 18 mths with no offense and no charges- not one accusation. I woke up from day to day with no idea of when my nightmare will end. I just stared at the outside from the distance daily and life went on without me. If I had died nothing would have stopped.

From across the road i looked at the gate of the Governors Lodge which swung open any time I was spotted in my hey days, from across the road every day for 16 months. I no longer mattered. The truth of life is that no man really matters. With or without you, life goes on.

Now back to my story, how about that? As I said, I was well under 40 with a young family. Getting heart attack from my experience or ending in Aro Psychiatric Hospital would have been very easy to accomplish.

But I learnt from very early in life that the challenge to a good life is to always look at the good or positive side of any situation. At a stage I said to myself “with all the tension from the terrible injustice being meted to me, somehow this was still an opportunity that must not be wasted.”

That meant I must use every moment well. From that moment, I ended up going to bed exhausted every night. At a stage I started reading the Bible determined to read it from cover to cover complete with commentaries here and there. I learnt to speak French taught by a prisoner from Togo, studied case files for prisoners on the death row and wrote legal opinions for their lawyers.

I wrote to some Attorney General colleagues of mine seeking reprieve for well reformed prisoners and I got quite a few of them pardoned. Mrs. Airat Balogun the then AG of Lagos State was particularly helpful.

One of my prisoner friends was a man called Baiyewu who was a childhood friend of Ayinla Omowura. When Ayinla became a famous musician Baiyewu was his Manager. They were both from a similar rough background, fought with knives and and bottles. On one occasion they had one of their scuffles. Ayinla has sacked Baiyewu and wanted to collect the motorcycle he had bought for Baiyewu.

He rode in his Mercedes Benz in search of a motorcycle. They met and a fight ensued. Baiyewu hit Ayinla with a bottle in the head and Ayinla died instantly. By the time I became a guest in Abeokuta Prison, Baiyewu had given his life to Christ and became an incredible influence in the prison. Every prisoner felt the influence of Baiyewu. He called them to prayer very early in the morning and late at night.

This condemned prisoner became a good friend of mine. If any man was ever totally and completely changed by the in living of the Holy Spirit, Baiyewu was a truly changed man. He saw Christ before he saw death because he told me, in confidence, a week before his execution, that his end was near.

Three days later Col. Diya came on a visit to the prison and signed that all the “fat” prisoners on death row be killed. Baiyewu was hung with 13 other prisoners in Abeokuta Prison wearing his best prison gear leading the others in singing to the gallows. We wept bitterly. But that’s the story for another day.

Needless to say that in the terrible condition of Abeokuta Prisoner I was very very busy. Today, those who are in the comfort of their homes for the COVIC-19 lockdown are complaining so much! This is futile.

My conclusion and counsel to everyone is that the challenge for you today is “what can I do at this time, how can I profitably utilize the time in my hands.” You may want to re arrange your wardrobes or kitchen, get rid of the many things you have around which you don’t need or do some reading, learn some gardening or baking etc.

You may even want to think about your future or rebuild the broken walls of your life. This can turn out to be a wonderful time you will never forget. It will not come again. The secret is to use it well and profitably. Enjoy your COVID-19 Lockdown.

I Remember a Great Man.

Today, I remember a great man. 

Papa James Olawole would have been 108 years old today if he had not crossed the threshold into the Astra plane as he did in 2005. He was not just my father and a live-in philosopher but also a sage from whom many people "tapped" wisdom and philosophies. There was a time some of my close friends made it such a regular habit to come seek papa’s wise opinions on various personal issues that I “threatened” to start charging them “professional fees”. 

It was papa that introduced me, among other things, to a spiritual school of thought that placed a very high premium on the act of charity. Initially, I disagreed with him a bit because he was also the same person that was in the habit of counseling me vigorously about being careful in doing too much. He would often back this wise counsel up with a Yoruba adage that says, “Oore ni'won.” (There is a need for moderation and caution in rendering assistance to people).

Papa however shook his head slowly as he gave a response that will remain forever in my consciousness: “On the one hand, as fasting cleans the body, so does the act of generosity purifies the soul. The more eager and cheerful you are to give, the better purified is your soul. On the other hand, the need for caution arises when doing certain favor to certain individuals. For instance, it's not wise to obtain a plate of food from someone and hand it over to another person. What if it contains poison?"

Pack the Plates.

Usually, my mum would leave some piece of meat for the person packing her plates after meal.

My motivation to pack her plate was the meat. On a particular day, the plate was empty and I just walked pass. One of my brothers came around, moved by a sense of duty and packed the plates. Mum thanked him and while he engaged both hands carrying the plates, she asked him to open his mouth as she dunked a mouthful chunk! The plate was empty, but her hand was full. I didn't see the hand, I only checked the plate. That lesson never left me.

The reward for packing some plates of responsibilities and duties may not be visible on the plates but wrapped within the faithful fingers of devotion, dedication and selfless service to humanity.

Many people walk pass their fulfillment by looking the other way from obligations simply because the plate poses with an empty reward.

I have since learnt that greatness is postpaid. Greatness is rarely advertised on the screen of reward but disguised like an empty manger bearing the burden of a full Inn.

You cannot predict the weight of a child by the size of his mother. If you missed the blessings of being responsible to your siblings, clients, partner, friends and others, the best thing an anointing oil from a pastor will do in your life is to fry your head for dinner in the 'canteen of frustration'.

So, be eager to pack the plates you find on the table of responsibility: at home, office, neighborhood, the associations you belong to, everywhere...

Don't look at or mind those making fun of you, be intentional and live a life of meaningful impacts in this side of eternity. 

In this life's journey, try to pack the plates along the way. And the Almighty God will reward you.

Nothing is Enough for the Man to Whom "Enough" is too Little.

 

"Nothing is enough

for the man

 to whom 'enough' is too little.

 If the gods were to listen

 to all the wishes

 and prayers of men,

 all of humankind

 would have perished

 since they constantly wish

 and pray for evils

 to befall one another."

 - Epicurus, Greek philosopher (341 BC to 270 BC).

Everything is Based on Mind,

“Everything is based on mind,

is led by mind and is fashioned by mind.

If you speak and act with a polluted mind,

suffering will follow you,

as the wheels of the ox-cart follow the footsteps of the ox.

Everything is based on mind,

is led by mind and is fashioned by mind.

If you speak and act with a pure mind,

happiness will follow you,

as a shadow clings to a form.”

- Buddha.

How Many Friends have you Taken for Granted?

Today, I received some bad news about the passing on of a dear friend. I feel ashamed to call my friend dear because I saw my friend slowly die and I did nothing. It began some time back, when I noticed my friend stopped smiling. Though I noticed, I never asked what was wrong. We live in a day and age of everyone minding their business. My friend's wellbeing should be my business.

 

Then I noticed my friend disappearing online. My friend stopped posting, was nowhere on social media. I never bothered to ask why. I was busy connecting with those who are active. Then my friend stopped coming to Church. We used to sit together in Church, serve. I never followed up why the absence. "I don't beg people to come to worship" I thought. 

 

Then I started hearing stories about my friend. In fact, I ganged up with others to gossip about my friend. We gossiped as if we were experts of how my friend should live. I gossiped, instead of reaching out. When I scrolled through my phone book list, I passed my friend's contact. I waited for my friend to speak to me first, knowing very well my friend seemed to be going through something.

When my friend did call, I ignored. I failed to reply the messages, too busy. Or, maybe I thought my friend was calling to ask me for money, based on the gossip I was told. I used to pray for my friend, but slowly I stopped. It appears that out of sight, out of prayers.

 

Then today, I was told my friend has died. My friend, all along was struggling, feeling alone, yet all I did was nothing but assumptions. My friend was stressed, depressed then committed suicide.

 

Here I am, asked to give a speech at the funeral, yet the tears I cry are for how I failed my friend when my friend was still living. My friend is not coming back for me to love better. Maybe if I cared things would have turned out different. 

 

Look back and see the friends you have pushed away, ignored or taken for granted. Call up that old friend, care for the one who has gone silent. People are going through so many issues behind those fake smiles and glossy social media posts; And all they need is a true friend.

 

Be a true friend before it is too late.

Never be Afraid to be in the Minority.

If you were to cook 3 cups of rice, would you add 3 cups of salt to it?
Certainly not!
So, in every preparation of rice, the rice always *outnumbers* the salt. Yet a little salt makes a *huge difference/impact* in the overall outcome.
In the room in which you currently are, look up at the ceiling...what is the size of the bulb compared to the size of the room? It is probably a ratio of 1:5000.Yet, *darkness flees* the entire space once the small bulb is *flipped on*.
If I am the "salt of the earth", and the light of the world, then "little me" has the ability to make big things happen.
Sometimes, because we feel *outnumbered or overwhelmed at the sheer magnitude of evil or wrong-doers*, we then choose powerlessness, and decide to go with the flow, not standing up for what we believe is right.
Little doesn't mean insignificant. We are *significant*. Our presence should make a *BIG* difference. Stop waiting to be on the side of the majority. They may be the majority, but they are the *trivial majority*, and we are the *impactful minority*.
While they are the *rice of the world*, we are the *salt of the world*. And while they are the *room*, we are the *light*.
Never be influenced by the society; but have influence on the society.

No One is Walking all Over Me.

What's the Matter with the World.

What´s the matter with the world,

has the world gone mad?
But there’s nothing wrong with the world…
it’s just us, the people that are in it.

You can depend on the sun to arise every day

while the moon follows suit in the evening
with one not disturbing the other…
But you can´t even rely on things people say.

Rain falls from the sky to nourish the earth

which, in turn, grows foods to enrich life.
Everything is in harmony with Mother nature
except you and me and our inconsistencies.
We are rarely in consonance with each other
due to bad blood, negativity and backstabbing. 

Therefore,

I want to know…
what’s really the matter with the world,
has the world gone mad?

(Adapted from Lou Rawls’ classic song, “What’s the Matter with the World?”)

We are Priceless to those who Love us.

A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20.00 bill in the room of 200. He asked, "Who would like to have this $20 bill?"

Hands started going up.

He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this."

He proceeded to crumple up the $20 dollar bill .

He then asked, "Who still wants it?"

Still the hands were up in the air.

Well, he replied, "What if I do this?"

And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty.

"Now, who still wants it?"

Still the hands went into the air.

"My friends, we have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to those who do love you. The worth of our lives comes not in what we do or who we know, but by who we are and whose we are. You are special. Don't ever forget it."

- Author unknown.

Searching for Happiness.

“People spend a lifetime searching for happiness; looking for peace. They chase idle dreams, addictions, religions, even other people, hoping to fill the emptiness that plagues them. Ironically, the only place they ever needed to search was within.” - Romana L. Anderson.



At the end of the day, you're just one Person Tola Adeniyi.

Has it ever occurred to you that you are after all just one person? As the great humorist and philanthropist extra-ordinary MKO Abiola used to say: “No one is a ‘four-man” [foreman]. “It is sheer flattery to call a man ‘four man’” he used to quip.

And really and truly, no one is ever more than one. People who hold offices and find themselves surrounded by retinue of servants and hangers- on get so carried away that they hardly ever have time to reflect on their positions in life. When a man gets down from his car and about a dozen people jostle to carry his handbag, he thinks that he is greater than the rest of the world put together. He gets so swollen headed and gets himself puffed up like a balloon. In that circumstance, he imagines himself to be more than what he really is: one person!

This piece has become necessary in view of the nauseating display of opulence by the privileged few in the society, who believe, wrongly though, that life is a straight line and there would never be fluctuations in their life situation. People elected into offices or appointed into positions get so carried away that in their daily dealings with their subordinates they exhibit an air of ‘I know it all’. In discussions on any subject under the sun, they parade themselves as if they are masters of all disciplines. A governor, who was a school drop-out a few years back, would be talking about aviation as if he was professor of aeronautical engineering.

A governor would be talking down members of his cabinet which may include professors and Senior Advocates as if he was an authority on electricity, engineering, medicine, hydro-dynamics and even molecular science. At that point in time, the governor sees himself as a compound of all those disciplines. He no longer sees himself as one person limited by the natural matter of being just a human being. One person! 

Traditional rulers who see themselves as representatives of Deities on earth really behave as if they are individually more than just one individual. No single person is 2 persons whatever the enormity and scope of the powers possessed by that individual. The case of traditional rulers is very peculiar in the sense that but for a serious misdemeanour, a King knows that he may hold his inherited position for life. And because he is blind to a consideration that his exalted position may change, he continues to behave as if he is more than one person. In fact, because he is addressed in the third person, he himself is deluded to the extent that he uses the plural noun or pronoun for himself. In speeches he talks of himself as ‘We’.

I believe it is important for every mortal to carry out the following simple exercise every morning: Go into your bathroom and strip yourself naked. Look around you. What do you see? If there is a giant mirror in your bathroom, for those who worship vanity, look at every anatomical detail in your physique. Look at your belly. Look at your buttocks. Look at your legs that are either swollen or are like the legs of mosquito. Look at the structure of those legs. Now you know you are alone with your two eyes and two lobes of ears. See how lonesome you are. See how much alone you are. In that moment, you are stripped of power and importance. You are just a lump of flesh mounted on a collection of bones architecturally put together by the Almighty Supreme Intelligence. It is just you. The lone you. Let your mind quickly race through what you have done in the last 24 hours and what you intend to do in the next 24 hours. Remember how you came into the world stark naked. Remember how you are pulled out of the womb or got pushed out by your mother’s powerful breath. What do you see?

At the end of the day, that is all you are. One person in his natural ordinariness. Nothing brings forth the reality of just being one person than the situation a 4-star General in the Military finds himself when he is retired or retires from active service. A once dreaded, heavily moustached fire-spitting top Military officer is now a powerless individual queuing up in the bank or at a gas station like every other common individual. At the time he was in service, he saw himself as a battalion. In fact if he was a General Officer commanding a Division, he might equate his power and his person to the entire officers and men of the Division.

It was like the situation of some Emperors of old who considered themselves to be the State. To them, they were the State, and the State was them. But this was a false and self-serving idea. And by the time such Emperors crashed, it was too late for them to come to terms with the reality of their absurdity. Either they got their heads chopped off or got seriously disgraced and humiliated as they were cut to size. There is eternal wisdom and attendant joy in realizing that we are actually not more than what Nature meant us to be. Power, position, influence and affluence are mere decorations to the body. They are all temporary acquisitions that are not skin deep. They do not make a person to grow into two persons, left alone to make he feel that he is bigger than a whole city, community or country.

All those parading the corridors of power and those who actually occupy the bed-room of power should bear in mind at all times that the power they hold and wield is a mere gown which can be removed from their bodies by the same process that put the garment on them. And when the garment is removed, it is the naked lonesome man in the bathroom that you are. This reality may even be made more pungent when you pay a visit to the mortuary. It is in the mortuary that you are confronted with the sight of great men and women of yesterday being tossed up and down in the frozen cubicles they are confined to in their lockers. Alone. Dead alone.

Now, the breath of life is still going in and out of your nostrils. You think you are god. You think the whole world is at your feet. And you behave as if you are a million persons rolled into one. When power leaves you, and position relocates to the man next door, you will discover to your chagrin that the multitude milling round you, and which made you think that you were more than what you were, would disappear. Have you seen some former Presidents lately? Have you seen some once powerful boxing world champions? Have you lately run into some former Military Governors? Have you run into some past richest men in their communities?

What did you see? One man or ‘four man’?

Affirmations for Spiritual Development.

Silver and gold belong to my father and according to His word; the glory of this latter house shall be greater than the former. And in this place the Lord will give me His peace. 

God is my rock.

In Him will I trust: He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge. He saves me from violence and in Him there is no impossibility. 

The Lord has sworn by His right hand, and by the arm of His strength. Surely, He will not give my corn to be meat for my enemies, and the sons of the stranger shall not drink my wine for which I have labored. 

I will eat the fruit of my labor and it shall be well with me. I have been bought with a price, the blood of Jesus. I am not my own; therefore I glorify God in my body and in my spirit, which belongs to God. 

Every day and in every way, I am getting better: spiritually, physically, financially, mentally, morally, and in all my endeavors. 

I am called for a purpose.

I will fulfil this purpose and I will arrive at God’s ordained destiny for my life. Nothing will cut me short. I will make a formidable impact in my world for the Kingdom.

I will fulfil my destiny by the grace of God.