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'Once there was a great wrestler whose back had never known the ground. He wrestled from village to village until he had thrown everybody in the world. Then he decided he must go and wrestle in the land of the spirits, and become champion there as well'.

'He went, and beat every spirit that came forward. Some had seven heads, some ten; but he beat them all. His companion who sang his praise on the flute begged him to come away, but he would not, his blood was roused, his ear nailed up. Rather than heed the call to go home, he gave a challenge to the spirits to bring out their best and strongest wrestler. So they sent him his personal god (chi), a little wiry spirit who seized him with one hand and smashed him on the Stony earth'

Chinua Achebe ~~~ Arrow Of God (African Trilogy)

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LESSON: People should learn to do things in moderation. We should never allow pride to get better of us, learn to know when to pull back. No one wrestles with his personal god and triumphs. Your personal god is like your maker, your providence, your guiding spirit, your provider. No matter how strong you are, you cannot defeat your personal god.

More Inspirational & uplifting words daily to help you get more out of life.

In the midst of every crisis lies great opportunity.

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said: "I am blind, please help." There were only a few coins in the hat.

A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.

Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, "Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?" The man said, "I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way. "I wrote: 'Today is a beautiful day; but I cannot see it.'"

Both signs told people that the boy was blind. But the first sign simply said the boy was blind. The second sign reminded people how fortunate they were to have their sight. Should we be surprised that the second sign was more effective?

Morals of the Story:
1. Be thankful for what you have.
2. Be creative and innovative- Think differently & positively.
3. When life gives you 100 reasons to cry, show life that you have 1000 reasons to smile.
4. Face your past without regret but handle your present with confidence and prepare for the future without fear.
5. Keep the faith and drop the fear.
6. It's a beautiful thing to see a person smiling, but more beautiful if you are the reason for the smile!
7. Faith is not only about everything turning out OK but more about being OK no matter how things turn out.

Let's share this. May be you'll touch someone's heart and become the reason for the smiles on their faces.

Cherish friends who make time for you amidst their busy lives. But truly treasure those who put aside their own schedule when you're in need. 💚

Mention such friends in your comment.

Somebody needs to see this today.

Stop being afraid of what could go wrong and start being excited about what could go right.

LOVE OVER ALL

150 years from now, none of us reading this post today will be alive. 70 percent to 100 percent of everything we are fighting over right now will be totally forgotten. Underline the word, TOTALLY.

If we go back memory lane to 150 years before us, that will be 1872, and none of those that carried the world on their heads then are alive today. Almost all of us reading this will find it difficult to picture anybody's face from that era.

Pause for a while and imagine how some of them betrayed their relatives and sold them as slaves for a piece of mirror. Some killed family members just for a piece of land or tubers of yam or cowries or for a pinch of salt. Where is the yam, cowries, mirror, or salt that they were using to brag? It may sound funny to us now, but that is how silly we humans are sometimes, especially when it comes to money, power, or trying to be relevant!

Even when you claim the internet age will preserve your memory, take Michael Jackson as an example. Michael Jackson died in 2009, just 13 years ago. Imagine the influence Michael Jackson had all over the world when he was alive. How many young people of today remember him with awe, that is if they even know him? In 150 years to come, his name, when mentioned, will not ring any bell to a lot of people.

Let us take life easy, nobody will get out of this world alive. . . The land you are fighting and ready to kill for, somebody left that land, the person is dead, rotten, and forgotten. That will also be your fate. In 150 years to come, none of the vehicles or phones we are using today to brag will be relevant. Biko, take life easy!

Let love lead. Let’s be genuinely happy for each other. No malice, no backbiting. No jealousy. No comparison. Life is not a competition. At the end of the day, we will all transit to the other side. It is just a question of who gets there first, but surely we will all go there someday.

Note : The photo is of an art installation created by Ghanaian artist Kwame Akoto-Bamfo in 2010, displayed at that time, I believe from the video, at the National Museum of Peace and Justice in good ole Alabama.

Jewel Fitila