Unraveling The Irony Called LIFE

Posted on November 18, 2010 by Tito Philips, Jnr Leave a comment

Let’s face it; life is one heck of a thing! Pardon my tone, but seriously, who cares about life anyway? Isn’t it damn too demanding? If you asked me, I would say living is much harder than dying. I mean, it takes only a few seconds to die, but it takes a whole lot more to live. In fact, it takes an entire lifetime to make a life. Why? Because the skills needed to live takes a lifetime to learn. Unlike the school system where as a student you get the lessons first before you are given the test, life operates the other way round. In life, you get the test first and learn the lessons after wards. This is where the problem arises, because as long as you are alive, there’s just too much you have to put up with. Little wonder, many when they can’t stand the heat any longer, take the easier path–suicide. For them, that seemed to be the only way out, rather than confronting the challenges of life they choose to opt out. The truth of the matter is that, whether we choose to believe it or not, life is not fair! The earlier we accept this, the better for us all. Life is not only for pleasure (fun and enjoyment); it is also for nurture (growth and development). And when nurture rather than pleasure is the objective, the rules of the game have to change. Our focus must shift from existence (a life of ease) to significance (a life of increase).

I was precisely ten years old when I started pondering about the meaning of life. The very thought of it, made me wonder what on earth were we all doing here? What good is living anyway, if someday you would eventually die? Why is living so synonymous with dying? How does one reconcile this paradox of life? I mean, how can I possibly really live a life that I will eventually have to give up–die? To me, the whole idea of life was just too complex for anyone to really understand. It seemed like one big web in which all of us are trapped and are endlessly struggling to get out from. The painful part is that sometimes we end up being strangled by the very web that has been holding us down. Life seems like an endless journey too wide for anyone to cover within the allotted time. It seems in the end, that we always run out of time. Since there is so much to be done, we are caught up in the struggle of life; consistently trying to do all that we can within the given space of time.

Then what is the joy of being here, if we are not allowed enough time to do all that we want? In my own opinion, I could see a beginning and an end; the time of our birth; when we were born and the time of our death; when we die. What I didn’t quite understand were the moments in between; the moments between our birth and our death–the moments of life. So I made a commitment of understanding the real meaning of life my lifetime goal. Deep down within me, I knew there was something deeper. There had to be some explanation, a reason for life; one other than just living and dying–a reason other than mere existence.

The challenge was this; what more is there to life other than just living and dying–existence? As I grew, I discovered I wasn’t the only one with this challenge. Many others like me were equally battling with this paradox of life–existence; merely living and dying. It was now evident, life truly is complex. It is complex in the sense that it requires a lot of things from us. Once you have life, sooner or later you will discover the painful truth about life. Which is this; that having life means existence–being alive and to be alive requires survival–staying alive. This need for survival has been genetically encoded into our very being. It’s a natural inclination to want to survive–stay alive. And staying alive (survival), as we’ve come to know is hard work! The problem as I discovered with many over the years while studying and pondering over this subject, is not whether they want to survive, but rather, whether they desire more from life than mere survival.

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Why being Good is NO Longer Good Enough!

Posted on September 8, 2010 by Tito Philips, Jnr Leave a comment

Would you consider yourself a lazy person?

Laziness means resisting change, no more, no less. All human attempts directed at keeping things exactly the way they are is simply known as LAZINESS.

Let me break it down further; laziness is any action you take to ensure that “good things” remain as they are and that “bad things” change to good while you remain as you are. The underlying truth is to see laziness as all thoughts, actions or desire to maintain the status quo, whatever that might be at any given time. The status quo may be a thing, for example; a habit, a situation, an event, a belief, an idea or mindset. The status quo could also be a living thing, in this case an individual or a group. Whatever the case is, either a ‘thing’ or a ‘living thing’, laziness applies to them both.

How do I mean?

We are all pleasure seeking beings right from our birth, we shun pain and embrace pleasure all the time. This natural tendency to stick with one side of the coin at all cost even though it’s at our detriment is what being lazy means. We so easily want all the good things of life wishing that they never end. I’m not saying that’s evil or bad, of course not! I also want all the good things of life to keep coming and never stopping. However, ‘good’ often times than we would like to agree with, is the root of all laziness. Everyone seems to be satisfied with ‘good’ that we’ve suddenly forgotten that there’s still more to be beyond ‘good’; there’s still more to have beyond ‘good’; there is still more to do beyond ‘good’. We have all settled for the ‘good‘ even though we have the capacity to do much more than good!

You are probably asking yourself this question now, “Is ‘being good’, ‘having good’ or ‘doing good’ now a wrong or bad idea?” Well, you are half right! While being good, having good things or doing good things is not necessarily a bad idea, it’s the lazy idea. The fact that something is not bad does not mean it’s the best. We are not only to seek the good and stick with it once we have it, NO! That’s the lazy man’s philosophy. All those who seek only the ‘good’ are lazy. Why? Because after ‘good’ comes ‘better’ and after ‘better’ comes ‘best’ and after ‘best’ comes ‘great’. ‘Good’ is just the first level out of four levels of success in life. Settling for the ‘good’ and being satisfied with being good, having good and doing good is not the end of success, it’s only the beginning!

The lazy ones are those who get to this first level of success and are satisfied. All they ever do afterwards is to play it safe. They become defensive by building a security system that ensures things don’t get better or worse than it is already. They focus on security, safety rather than freedom. They fight to maintain that level of success rather than preparing for the next. They keep their cups full rather than emptying it and making room for more. They lock, shield and restrict themselves from all sources of change. They become contented with mediocrity; trying to live a static life in a dynamic (changing) world. There is only one way they can go –down!

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PRAYER | the kind God never Hesitates to answer!

Posted on August 24, 2010 by Tito Philips, Jnr 2 Comments

‘Pray as if it all depends on God and work as if it all depends on you!’ – CS Lewis

Prayer is a universal principle that is highly misunderstood. As much as it is talked about, it is often wrongly applied by many. So, in this edition of Quality Life Nuggets, permit me to share some insights about prayer. But before I proceed, I think a little clarification will suffice. For the record, I’m not a pastor. I only received the inspiration and started writing this piece in a bus while reading a business book by Jim Colins; ‘How the Mighty fall’. It wasn’t my idea, I guess, I’m just being used here. So pardon me if this comes as a surprise to you. As I’ve always believed, we are all instruments in the hands of the almighty; our job is not to ask why (question that which is being done through us), our job is to comply (obey and submit to the process). The MESSAGE is greater and far more important than the MESSENGER!

The purpose of prayer is not to summon God to come work FOR you, but to attract God to come work WITH you. The fact that God CAN do everything FOR you doesn’t mean He WILL do everything for you no matter how much and how hard you pray. You can pray all you want, but that won’t move God to come work FOR you, it will only move Him to come work WITH you. Meaning; you will attract God when you begin to do the work the kind of desire you want requires. Here’s what I mean.

Prayer is the source of spiritual strength for physical work. It is not a substitute for work. Prayer is the invisible power that energizes us to do the necessary work required for our expectations to become a reality. After praying, you must go to work. Prayer is not an alternative to work nor is it an antidote for work. Prayer is the source of energy needed for work. After prayer comes work. Prayer gets us prepared for work. It doesn’t replace work; rather it inspires work and gives direction to our work. We don’t pray not to work; we pray to receive strength for work. Prayer is the guarantee that our work will yield the desired results.

There’s a verse in the Bible that best captures the essence of prayer and it’s this; “Faith without works is dead.” In case you didn’t know, here’s the mathematical version of that bible verse;

Faith – Work = No result!

The lesson here is to understand that faith alone isn’t enough to bring about the results you want when you pray; your prayer must go hand-in-hand with work. Because our faith in God is expressed through prayer, many people simply pray and think that’s enough. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting that faith isn’t important, no. The point I’m trying to make is this; no matter how much you pray and how big your faith is, it’s never going to move God to work UNTIL you move to work. In fact, the bigger your faith is, the greater your work will be. That is; more faith equals more work and not the other way round. This straight forward verse in the bible has clearly stated the standard on which God expects us to apply our faith in Him, but yet a lot of people still find it difficult to follow. Why? Perhaps because they feel it’s only God’s responsibility to bring to pass whatever it is they want. I wish it were like this, how sweet would life have been? Very, very sweet, right? NO! Very boring!

Imagine having to do everything for your children. Like going to school for them, eating for them, thinking for them, making friends for them, playing for them, sleeping for them, choosing for them, etc. What do you think would become of them? Yes, I’ll say it; they will become garbage. Totally useless. The very essence of bringing them to life itself would have been abused. If you could do everything for them, then why did you make them? For the fun of it? Certainly not! Likewise, God is not responsible FOR us; He’s only responsible TO us. He’s not interested in living your life FOR you, that’s your job. He wants to live it WITH you. Meaning; He will only answer and come work WITH us when we call (pray) to ask for guidance, support or assistance in living our lives. Just like a child would ask His/her parents to help with their homework.

God won’t show up TO work unless you are set FOR work. Being set for work means your job is to consistently strive to meet your own part of the bargain, as CS Lewis rightly said; by ‘Praying as if it all depends on God and working as if it all depends on you!’ He’s not going to go the whole nine yards FOR you, but He has promised to go the whole nine yards WITH you. No wonder there are 365 “FEAR NOTS” in the bible; one for every single day of your life. Every day He says to you; “Fear Not for I am WITH you”.  How can you be certain that He’ll always be there WITH you? He will, Because He is the one who sent you. Knowing that He’s always there WITH you; that consciousness of HIS presence, is the whole essence of faith. So, stop using your faith to pray away work, instead, start using your faith to pray for more grace (guidance, support, inspiration, ideas, strength, favour, etc) to do more work!

PRAYER IS BEST ANSWERED WHEN REQUESTED AS A FUEL TO DO MORE WORK!

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LIVE PREPARED –why it’s important to live each day like it’s the last!

Posted on August 10, 2010 by Tito Philips, Jnr Leave a comment

“If death where to come knocking on your door, what ONE reason would you bring up that can convince death of giving you a second chance at life?”

Today, I asked the question above on my facebook status and got some pretty nice comments from my friends. The question prompted people to really think about what was most important to them in life; like fulfilling purpose, making a difference, asking God for forgiveness, showing someone important in their life how much they meant etc. Quite interesting isn’t it?

But here is the irony of it; if we can implicitly sum up all the things in our lives and come up with an answer that might cheat death, why on earth are we not doing that one thing every other day of our lives? Why wait till death came knocking before you start doing the one thing you cared so much about all your life? Why wait till you have a near death experience before you begin to live your life like it was meant to be lived?

Imagine if Michael Jackson waited till he had a near death experience before he made his bestselling album “Thriller”. Imagine if Steve Jobs of Apple had to wait till he had an august visitor called Mr. Death before he launched the “ipod” or “iPhone”. Imagine if Thomas Edison didn’t spend most of his lifetime working on inventions like the light bulb all in the name of waiting till he had a near death experience. Imagine if Mark Zuckerberg waited till he nearly passed away before creating facebook, would you be reading this message right now? I could go on and on coming up with names of people whose lives have left an indelible mark in history. People whose names may never be wiped off the surface of the earth. Just imagine if they had all chosen to wait till they nearly passed away before they began living their lives each day like it was the very last.

We have somehow found a way to put off all the important things in our lives till only God knows when all in our quest for survival. We have forgotten to live and have only been existing doing things which makes us feel empty deep down inside. Seriously, I don’t quite get it. Why would I put off living for the ONE thing I truly cared about till I nearly lost the very thing (life) which was given to me to make that one thing happen? Why wait till you are about to lose the chance of making your life count before you realize how empty your life has been all these years?

We all seem to be forgetting one thing; in life nothing is ever guaranteed. If you are staking your neck on the fact that there is still more time for you to start making your life count, what if you dropped dead right after reading this sentence? The thing we must always have at the back of our mind is the fact that life in its very nature is highly unpredictable. Nothing is for sure. So postponing your very best life till further notice doesn’t seem much of a great plan. I mean, what’s stopping you from living your great life now? What’s stopping you from going all out to do those things you truly care about right now? Why push it till later when you are not even guaranteed of seeing that later?

Here’s the deal, take it or leave it. You are never going to get a second chance from Mr. death on the day he comes knocking if all your life you’ve never gotten down to doing the things that truly matter to you. Why would Mr. death keep you on earth any longer, when despite all the years you have spent on earth you never thought for once how you could use your life to make the world a better place for all to stay. If you didn’t do it when you had all the time in the world, what’s the assurance you would make any difference now knowing fully well you are running on extra time?

We have all been given a life to be used for something worthwhile; now is always the best time to act on those things we truly care about. We never can tell what will happen next. So always live prepared!

Go Make a difference today and always!

Always,
me;
Tito Philips, Jnr.

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HOW TO FIND PEACE IN ALL THINGS!

Posted on June 26, 2010 by Tito Philips, Jnr Leave a comment

“When you’ve given your ALL and there’s nothing more to give other than your life; right there and then is the definition of PEACE!!!”

How do you know that you have given everything? How do you know that there is nothing more to give?

When your good works and your intentions no longer worth anything to those you do them for. When they interpret your doing good as evil and in your deepest of hearts you sincerely have a clear conscience about their accusations, when they complain about the same thing they praised you for, when rather than being cooperative they become competitive, when the good you do is consistently being falsely questioned, when they focus more on your weakness other than your strength, when they begin to expect you to do what you don’t have the required talents and gifts to do, when they want you to convert your ability to do good in one area to another area beyond your strength, when they begin to say “Are you the only one?”, …right there and then, nothing else will matter to them than to see you dead!

When this happens, DON’T KILL YOURSELF BECAUSE OF THEM! REJOICE for you’ve found PEACE! You find PEACE when your good is no longer considered enough and regarded as inadequate. When there’s nothing more to give other than your life because those you consistently serve have chosen to ignore the good you do; right there and then be at PEACE for the fault is not yours. Why? Because no one person can do all the good there is in the world. There will always be so many more good left undone. Your task is to find the good you’ve been created to do and let others worry about doing theirs also. You MUST not kill yourself trying to do the good you were never created to do. When the world begins to ask you to, there and then, is your moment of PEACE for it shows you did well and now they want you somewhere else wish you can never be!

You will be wrong to complain or feel rejected, don’t bother defending the good that you do, they know BUT have only become envious and desperately want to see you fall. Instead enjoy the PEACE that comes from within …the peace of knowing that all you ever did somehow Made A Difference truly for true PEACE can only come from within!!!

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