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Food for Living: Your Season is Coming
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
To succeed in life endeavours, everyone needs clear cut opportunities to utilize. But opportunities don’t come easy, and most times, one needs to go all out to create them. When opportunity comes, the big question one needs to ask himself is, is this for me? I say this because sometimes when opportunity comes, and the recipient is not equipped to handle it, it has the capacity to cause more harm than good.
In other situations, when one gets an opportunity, he can decide to take it up head-on and challenge himself towards positive delivery just as some schools of thought opine that when an assignment, job or opportunity, beyond one’s grasp, is given, it’s advisable to take it, learn through it and deliver exponentially. While all these have been proved, it is important for one to have a discerning spirit so as to understand when to take up an opportunity, and when to let it slide.
Personally speaking, I remember during my formative years in the USA, when I was privileged to be the Public Relations Officer for the Nigerian Lawyers Association, I wasn’t mentally, academically and socially ready to take on the tasks that come with the office. In all sincerity and humility, I took a risk to try my luck and as fate would have it, nobody applied for the position, I was literally elected unopposed.
When it was time to do the job, I had a hard time. My writing was indeed horrible. I literally learned on the job. In retrospect, if I am asked if I will do the same thing again, I will probably say yes simply because it afforded me the opportunity to network locally and internationally. Most of the resourceful people I know today were facilitated by the position. The position also enabled me to fail, and learn fast because I know that if I fail, the shame will first rub off on me.
Why am I saying this? The opportunity I got serving the Nigerian Lawyers Association didn’t come to me, I had to create it by taking a risk. Be advised, I was literally new in the USA, and yet to acclimatize with their writing style and professional lifestyle. Assuming I had to wait for a perfect time to take the opportunity, most of the opportunities I have today may not have been feasible. So, the opportunity cost for me was the associated mistakes I made due to my limited writing and human relationship skills.
Why is this explanation relevant to this article? As human beings, we all seek for opportunities to showcase what we have. Sometimes, when we have these opportunities and utilize them, we don’t get to shine, get recognized or even rewarded handsomely. There might be several reasons this may happen. It may be a case of not being prepared or the right season for one to be appreciated is not yet due.
I say this because we all have our time to shine. Your time and my time may not be the same. It’s imperative for one to understand there’s a season for everything on earth. In politics, sometimes certain candidates win an election due to the pulse of the nation or global practices. Every artist, athlete, pastor, politician, wealthy man, boss or employee has their time to shine. When one’s time and season comes, it can’t be stopped because the universe will conspire with humanity to bring it to existence.
The truth is, there is a time and season for everything. A time to be born and time to die. There is a dry season and a rainy season. There’s Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring season. There’s also a time to sow and time to harvest. All these seasons have what they are known for, and so it is difficult to manifest positively and successfully if your time has not come, unless by divine intervention. When you do what you are supposed to do in your season, you will be recognized and celebrated.
As an employee, your time and season for recognition and promotion is coming; as a student your time for celebration is coming, as a believer, your time for blessing is coming; as an entrepreneur, your time for business expansion is coming; as a broke person, your time for financial wealth is coming; as an athlete, your time for celebration is coming. The list is endless. So, pending when your time comes, continue to work on yourself by doing the needful.
It’s also instructive to note that if you manifest before your time, you will suffer failure, unfruitfulness and pain. This almost happened to me when I was the Public Relations Officer for the Nigerian Lawyers Association. To be honest, I screwed up sometimes, and had a hard time navigating my way. This is part of the price one pays for not being prepared for a job. My only saving grace was that I had superiors, who sometimes did the needful, and mentors who were like elders and fathers to me. These mentors encouraged me.
When faced with this scenario of undue manifestation, sit back and cooperate with your time and season. Just like you can’t rush destiny, you don’t have to rush your time. If you manifest at the right time, you will experience unprecedented blessings, divine location, open doors and breakthroughs. When your time and season come, you will be unstoppable. You cannot be extinguished, relegated or ignored. No power can cover or stop you. You will shine and blossom. Any power fighting against you will fail and be extinguished.
During your season everything will work for your good. Wherever you may be, favour will locate you, but if it is not your season, your sweat and labour won’t be noticed, remembered, recognized, honored and located. Ecclesiastes 3: 1-9 says there’s time for everything.
Question: Are you working according to your time? Are you working in your season? To know if you are working in your season, check if you are getting favours and recognition. If the answer is no, be mindful of your time so you don’t waste time and opportunities.
In conclusion, just like the time clock ticks, everybody’s time and season is different. So, while applying patience and perseverance in your pursuit of happiness, also ask the Lord to locate and bless the works of your hands at the right time because as you rightly know, the Book of life says every Good thing comes from the Lord.
Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator. He’s the founder of Gloemi. He’s a Transformative Human Capacity and Mindset coach. He is also a public speaker, youth advocate, creative writer and author of Design Your Destiny Design and Unleash Your Destiny . He can be reached via info@gloemi.com
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
Secrets are exclusive preserves of certain individuals or institutions. They are one’s advantage over others, in the sense of ‘there’s something I know, which no one else knows. No one can ever claim that they don’t have a secret, either in the good or bad light.
Secrets therefore, exist in the family circle, business terrain, academic environment, career/professional pursuit, health management, spiritual connectivity and even in everyday personal living. It is an undeniable fact that everyone has a secret that works for them.
Let’s take a minute to discuss some of the aforementioned secrets.
Family
Every family has a secret. It will be foolhardy for anyone to disclose family secrets. Most families die with their secrets. To understand how family secrets work, imagine the Coca-Cola company. The family is said to be the only one in the world that has the formula for the beverage; a trade secret that originated with its creator, John Pemberton.
It is said that not even all family members enter the room where Coca-Cola is mixed or manufactured for fear of the secret being divulged. Imagine where spouses have access to the room and the marriage goes south, there’s a tendency that a spiteful divorced partner might leak the secret and the rest as they say is history.
There are many secrets that bind many families which only the immediate family members know. In some cases, only the parents or grandparents know. They can decide to share the secret to either the first male child, first female child or even a member of the family that one considers rational. For instance, imagine where a family is faced with a peculiar life threatening illness which ordinarily might scare anyone who wants to get married into that family, it will be stupid for anyone to spit it out, that act alone can make the intending spouse to reconsider his/her plan to marry from the family.
Business
Every business has a trade secret. Trade secrets are what makes a business unique. Every business has a unique selling point. (USP), which is a distinct benefit that sets the business or product apart from its competitors. A shrewd businessman will never leak his secret to his employees or competitors. The best his employees will know are the values, the operational systems or structures of the business and how his mindset works. But what makes the business stand out is the mystery that one will need to unravel.
Academic
Every student has a distinct trait that makes him/her succeed academically. This unique trait makes the student exceptional. For any student to succeed in their academics, he must know himself and what works for him. While some might study at night, some might study during the day, others might just listen during the lecture and understand the key points.
It’s sad to see students, who haven’t discovered who they are and what works for them following students who have discovered who they are. For example, while some students have good listening and understanding ability, and can listen to lectures and read a little and pass their examinations, some other students will have to read the course material before the lecture, listen during the lecture, read after the lecture and read thoroughly for examination before they can get a decent grade.
In some cases, they might not get the desired grade. Some students will even party hard during the day and at night they study, while some will party at night and study during the day. So, you can see that while some students have discovered themselves and what works for them, some others follow them sheepishly. Moral: Know what works for you and do what works for you because according to Oscar Wilde, “be yourself because others are taken”.
Career/Profession
Every career professional has a secret that works for them. In the same way, every industry knows what makes it stands out. The secret of what makes someone in the entertainment industry successful is quite different from what makes someone in politics or law enforcement, energy, education, legal, or health sector different. They all have different strokes, and the ability of one to do the needful in addition to playing the associated game can be the game changer.
Health
Health is a personal thing. Nobody knows you more than you know yourself. To show you how secretive and important one’s health is, it’s been said that there are three kinds of life: Public life, private life and secret life.
Your public life is the life that is generally known by everyone. It is the character we exhibit in the public space. It can also be regarded as the image perception lifestyle; we don’t generally go around revealing our health status in the public domain except where necessary. The private lifestyle; this is the kind of life only our family and close friends know.
Again, we don’t disclose such pertinent information to them only where and when necessary, then we have the secret lifestyle which only us and our creator knows. In some cases, we go to the graveyard with this. Do you see why health is a personal issue which needs to be kept in a secret place?
Personal
As mentioned earlier, everyone is unique. One of the best things that can happen to anyone is knowing themselves, and knowing what makes them different. I strongly believe we all have seeds of greatness in us. What works for Mr. A might not work for Mr. B. Like I always say, you can copy my style, but you can’t be me because imitation is a limitation.
For instance, I have unique energy and inspiration when it comes to writing. I have developed a keen interest and passion for writing. If tomorrow I become very successful or attract a unique opportunity, and someone decides to try writing to attract similar opportunities, the person might fail because God is the one that decides what opportunities come to anyone nor matter how hard someone may work.
Spiritual
This is another interesting aspect of life. Life is indeed spiritual. There’s nothing that happens physically without taking place spiritually. Everyone has a covenant point that was assigned to them at birth. Once that covenant point is touched that fellow might lose their blessings, anointing or what makes them strong.
There have been many testimonies about this. For instance, in the Bible, Samson’s touching point was his hair. He knows his power lies in his hair, that’s why Delilah tried so many times to know the secret of his strength, but Samson refused to tell her. She tried to make him drunk, but Samson still has the power. Samson repeatedly lied to Delilah about the secret of his strength, first saying it was new bowstrings, then new ropes, and finally by weaving his hair into a loom. Each time, he easily broke free, but Delilah continued to pressure him.
Weary from her constant questioning, Samson finally confessed that his strength was tied to his hair, which had never been cut because he was a Nazirite from birth. Delilah then called for a man to shave Samson’s seven locks of hair while he slept in her lap. His secret was revealed. His hair was cut. He strength was gone.
Do you see that Samson’s secret place was his hair?
In conclusion, depending on what we are working on, we all have our secret strength and place. The onus is on us to cultivate and dwell on this secret place to avoid losing power and focus.
Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator. He’s the founder of Gloemi. He’s a Transformative Human Capacity and Mindset coach. He is also a public speaker, youth advocate, creative writer and author of Design Your Destiny Design and Unleash Your Destiny . He can be reached via info@gloemi.com
Amid growing insecurity in different parts of the country, Niger State Governor, Umaru Bago, has urged residents to defend themselves against persistent bandit attacks.
He insisted that his administration would neither negotiate with nor pay ransom to criminals under any circumstances.
Bago made the declaration during a visit to the Rijau and Magama local government areas, where several communities were recently attacked by bandits operating from the Kontagora axis.
The governor said the State has reached a critical stage that demands collective action, warning that ransom payments would only embolden the criminals and turn kidnapping into a profitable venture.
“I will not negotiate with bandits. I will not pay ransom.
“The moment we start paying, they will open shop on our heads and continue kidnapping people,” he said.
“The situation has reached a state of war that requires collective resistance. We are surrounded by enemies, but we will not give up.
“The constitution gives us the right to defend our lives and property, and we will do just that,” the governor added.
Describing the recurring attacks and displacement of residents as “embarrassing and unacceptable,” Bago announced plans to recruit and train 10,000 personnel into the state’s joint task force to strengthen community security and restore peace.
In a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Print Media, Aisha Wakaso, the governor also announced a total ban on all mining activities across Zone C of the state.
The affected local government areas include Magama, Kontagora, Rijau, Wushishi, Mariga, Borgu, Mashegu, and Agwara.
Bago explained that illegal mining had become a major driver of insecurity in the zone, noting that many miners had unrestricted access to forest areas considered unsafe for residents.
“It is suspicious that miners can enter the forests freely, yet the bandits don’t touch them. I have ordered the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to arrest anyone caught engaging in mining activities,” he said.
Governor Bago also reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to ending the cycle of violence and restoring lasting peace throughout the state.
The Nigeria Police have reportedly arrested human rights activist Omoyele Sowore.
Sowore was taken into custody at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
This was revealed in a post on X by human rights lawyer Inibehe Effiong, who accused the police and President Bola Tinubu’s administration of undermining Nigeria’s judicial system.
He wrote: “The arrest of Omoyele Sowore at the Federal High Court in Abuja moments ago is preposterous.
“The police and the Tinubu regime are making a mockery of our judicial system.He should be freed immediately. Stop the shenanigans.”
Sowore had earlier posted on Facebook that he was with Kanu Agabi, the lead lawyer for Nnamdi Kanu, at the Federal High Court.
According to him, Agabi disclosed that his team would be withdrawing from the case, leaving Kanu to continue his trial without representation.
