YOU CAN LIVE, UNLESS...

 8TH APRIL, 2014

You are born to be great, irrespective of where and when you were born. Greater still are the things you can challenge yourself to do.

Greatness is not an accident. It is not reserved for a chosen few born in a particular place or time. You were created with a purpose, and that purpose carries within it the seed of greatness. But becoming the great person you were born to be will not happen by itself. It demands character, discipline, perseverance, and a willingness to look inward.

Inside every person lies a unique gift. Your first responsibility is to search within yourself to discover what you can do best not just for your own benefit, but for the benefit of mankind. Once you find it, you must think carefully about how to nurture and develop that gift.

How Do You Know Your Gift?

Many people ask, “How can I be sure that what I am feeling or doing is truly my gift?”

The answer is often found in your passion and your peace. Your gift is that thing you do with natural joy, that thing you are willing to do even without pay, that thing that gives you a sense of fulfillment when you do it for others. When you are confused, ask God to make your love for that gift stronger and your path clearer. Love and consistency are often the confirmation of a true gift

Once you have identified your gift, the next step is to deploy it. Do not keep it hidden.

The Challenge of Deployment

One of the biggest challenges in fulfilling your purpose is not discovery, but deployment knowing how and when to use your gift.

Many young people with special and unique gifts face this very problem. They discover their gifts and even develop them to a point, but they never put them to work. They are waiting for the perfect time, the perfect platform, and the perfect resources. And while they wait, the gift begins to fade.

Let me share my own story as an example.

In October 2005, I discovered that I have the gift of writing  and by writing, I mean everything that has to do with writing. I was excited about this discovery. I started to develop it, but I made a mistake that cost many gifted people their future. I thought I needed a huge sum of money before I could publish my first copy.

Because I was waiting for big money, I did not start. All I actually needed was to start with whatever little I had. A single printed page is more powerful than a perfect book in your head.

Moreover, I made a second mistake. I became comfortable just talking about my gift. I had no printed copy, yet I went around telling my friends what I could write.I was satisfied with the development stage and neglected the deployment stage. I nearly lost my gift completely. But because God knew the reason He gave me that gift, He restored me.

Start Small, But Start Now

This is what I want you to understand: Never think you need a grand beginning to deploy your gift. If you wait for a huge beginning, you will become discouraged when it does not come, and discouragement will kill your passion.

Think instead of starting with the little you have. Start in your room. Start with your phone. Start with one person. Start with one article, one song, one drawing, one business idea. As you take those small, faithful steps, your passion will grow and your capacity will increase. Your small beginning will open the door to its fullest fulfillment.

History proves this. Most great people in the world had very small beginnings. They were not disturbed by their humble start because they had their eyes on a great end. They understood that little beginnings are not a sign of failure; they are a process of building.

If you agree that greatness often starts small, then why not deploy your own gift with the little you have? Never let where you were born determine where you will end up. You cannot choose the place of your birth, but you have every right and every choice to determine where you want to be on earth and what you want to become.

You Must Decide Now

I find it amusing when I ask some friends, even those in tertiary institutions, what they want to be in life, and they answer, “I will know after school.”

My question is: What if you do not complete school? What will you do then?

You do not need to complete school before you know what you want to be. In fact, knowing what you want to be will help you make better use of your schooling. If you do not know what you want to be, how can you even know what you can do best? Your vision for your future is the compass that helps you identify your unique gift from God.

Everybody has a special gift. Your assignment is simple but profound: discover it, develop it, and deploy it for the benefit of humanity and for your own fulfillment.

Remember this: A gift becomes truly special only when it serves mankind at the point of need. A gift that is never used is as good as no gift at all. And being comfortable with only developing your gift, without ever deploying it, can lead to the complete loss of that gift.

You were born with something the world needs.

You can live unless you do not know.