With permission, I have extracted this picture-quote from Pinterest. All rights reserved worldwide.
While leafing through a colourful history book at the Kenya National Library in Upperhill, Nairobi, a couple of years ago, I came across a startling fact that the Sun will cease to burn about five billion years from now. (Yes, you heard it right - five billion years from now!) That means life on Earth will also cease to exist at around that time because it is the Sun that sustains us all on this grand and magnificent planet.
Methinks that when life on Earth will be about to end, God will summon the living and the dead for final judgement. On that Judgement Day, God will not first ask us to recite the Ten Commandments. No. Instead, He will inquire, "What did you do with the life and talents that I gave you?"
Life is a gift from God, as are the talents that each of us has. And like any other gift, we are the ones in charge of making our lives beautiful and our talents meaningful.
My friend Ngishili Njuguna aptly compared our talents to a vase gifted to us. We can choose to hide the vase under the bed where it cannot be broken. Or we can choose to put some flowers in the vase and then display it in the living room where visitors can see and appreciate it.
Hiding the vase under the bed for fear of it getting broken has not made it meaningful. But putting some flowers in the vase and showcasing it in the living room where everybody can see it, has given the vase some meaning and purpose.
Similarly, the talents God gave us are meant for brightening the lives of others. We are all created to bring hope and inspiration on Earth. So we ought to utilize our talents bravely instead of hiding them for fear of criticism, rejection or ridicule.
However, there is a catch here: A vase is good for showcasing flowers but will break easily when used as a hammer for nails. Likewise, other than knowing what our talents are, it is also important we have insight on where to apply them most effectively.
I don't know about you but for me, I have already identified my talents. They are walking, jogging, reading, writing, singing, socializing, networking, piano-playing and public speaking.
What is wonderful about my talents is that they are diverse enough to make each day of my life exciting. My prayer is that God helps me convert those talents from, as someone quipped, something I have to do to something I love to do, and that He opens for me doors of earning a living from some of those talents.
My beloved reader, I beseech you to also join me in this exciting journey of living our lives beautifully and using our talents meaningfully. Identify your talents. Take time to develop them every day. Persevere when things seem not to be unfolding according to your plans. And remember these words of Samuel Johnson, "What we hope ever to do with ease, we must first learn to do with diligence."
This is the cover page of Donald T. Phillips's "The Clinton Charisma: A Legacy of Leadership" which I once saw on a bookshop shelf in downtown Nairobi. Unfortunately, I have never had a chance to lay my hands on the book. As I have written before on this lovely blog of mine, I first read the autobiography of Bill Clinton when I was a first-year student at JKUAT in 2007. Then I reread it two more times in the next few years that followed. And from what I gleaned from the autobiography, I now agree with Donald T. Phillips, the author of The Clinton Charisma: A Legacy of Leadership, that Clinton was a true leader; that is, a person genuinely interested in improving the welfare of people.
And how did Bill Clinton develop the heart of leadership? First, from the stories he heard from his relatives when he was a boy. Here's what he had to say about those stories in his autobiography:
I learned a lot from the stories that my uncles, aunts and grandparents told me ... that everyone has a story - of dreams and nightmares, hope and heartache, love and loss, courage and fear, sacrifice and selfishness. All my life, I've been interested in other people's stories. I've wanted to know them, understand them, feel them. When I grew up and got into politics, I always felt the main point of my work was to give people a chance to have better stories.[1]
Bill Clinton also acquired the heart of a leader from his mother. Here is what he said in his autobiography about the influence his mother had on him:
It was she who taught me to get up every day and keep going; to look for the best in people even when they saw the worst in me; to be grateful for every day and greet it with a smile; to believe I could do or be anything I put my mind to if I were willing to make the requisite effort; to believe that, in the end, love and kindness would prevail over cruelty and selfishness.[2]
Having acquired the heart of leadership from his mother and relatives, Bill Clinton went on to deliver speeches later on in his life that clearly brought him out as a man of the people. Take for instance his benediction speech to his high school class in which he prayed that God would:
leave within us the youthful idealism and moralism which have made our people strong. Sicken us at the sight of apathy, ignorance and rejection so that our generation will remove complacency, poverty and prejudice from the hearts of free men ... Make us care so that we will never know the misery and muddle of life without purpose, and so that when we die, others still have the opportunity to live in a free land.[3]
Then let's look at the following inauguration speech he delivered when he was elected governor of the U.S. state of Arkansas:
For as long as I can remember, I have believed passionately in the course of equal opportunity, and I will do what I can to advance it.
For as long as I can remember, I have deplored the arbitrary and abusive exercise of power by those in authority, and I will do what I can to prevent it.
For as long as I can remember, I have rued the waste and lack of order and discipline that are often too much in evidence in governmental affairs, and I will do what I can to diminish them.
For as long as I can remember, I have loved the land, air, and water of Arkansas, and I will do what I can to protect them.
For as long as I can remember, I have wished to ease the burdens of those who, through no fault of their own, are old or weak or needy and I will try to help them.
For as long as I can remember, I have been saddened by the sight of so many of our independent, industrious people, working too hard for too little because of inadequate economic opportunities, and I will do what I can to enhance them.[4]
And finally, let's look at the following farewell speech he delivered towards the end of his presidency in the year 2000:
I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Toni Morrison once said I was the first black president this country ever had. And I would rather have that than a Nobel Prize, and I'll tell you why. Because somewhere in the deep and lost threads of my own memory, are the roots of understanding of what you have known. Somewhere, there has been a longing to share the fate of the people who had been left out and left behind, sometimes brutalized, and too often ignored or forgotten.
I don't exactly know who I have to thank for that. But I'm quite sure I don't deserve any credit for it because whatever I did, I really felt I had no other choice.[5]
Those two speeches of Bill Clinton that I have quoted above adequately testify that Bill Clinton was indeed a true leader - don't you agree? No wonder he presided over unprecedented era of peace and prosperity in America during his presidency.
***************** [1][2][3][4] & [5] I have extracted this passages from My Life by William J. Clinton, published in the United Kingdom in 2005 by Arrow Books.
"Always be full of joy in the Lord; I say it again, rejoice! Let everyone see that you are unselfish and considerate in all you do... Don't worry about anything; instead pray about everything; tell God your needs and don't forget to thank Him for His answers. If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand."
~Phillipians 4:4-7 (TLB)
About the Author
Name: Thuita J. Maina Nationality: Kenyan Lives in: Kiserian, Rift Valley, Kenya Mission: To inspire the world to godly living, one person at a time.
Just For Laughs
There was this drunkard named Azoge who loved drinking at Josiah's Bar. On being told a certain Hon. Nanga was flying to America to be conferred a law degree so that he could be admitted to the bar, Azoge replied, "Why fly all the way to America to be admitted to the bar while you can get into Josiah's Bar any time?"
The 7 Deadly Sins
Pride
Envy
Gluttony
Lust
Anger
Greed
Sloth
Author's Note
I am learning to treat life as a journey, not a destination. So I am trying to enjoy each day as I anticipate to fulfill my dreams especially meeting my soulmate and traveling abroad. Tomorrow may never be mine.
Fun Facts
The fear of having no cell-phone service, running out of battery, or losing sight of your phone is called Nomophobia, reportedly affecting 66% of people.
A single Google search needs more computing power than it took to send Apollo 11 to the moon. The Apollo computer was less equipped than a modern toaster.
Besides being some of the biggest names in the tech industry, HP, Apple, Google and Microsoft share another commonality. They all started in garages.
~Extracted from Codingforums.com
Health Tip
So many of us take for granted the wonderful construction of the human body and the workings of its various parts. Some of us even expect it to function efficiently with less than the minimum care and attention. Learn the much you can about your body and how the care of it can help to give you that greatest blessing of all - good health.
Wonders of the Modern World
The Simplon Tunnel
The Sky-scrapers of New York
The Boulder Dam of Colorado
The Panama Canal
The Golden Gate Bridge
The Taj Mahal at Agra in India
The North Sea Oil Drilling Rigs
Great Example for Politicians
"My life in politics was a joy. I loved campaigns and I loved governing. I always tried to keep things moving in the right direction, to give more people a chance to live their dreams, to lift people's spirits, and to bring them together. That's the way I kept score."
~Bill Clinton
Scientific Marvels
Space travel
Heart surgery
Fibre-optics communication
Concorde
Computers & Radios
Anesthetics
The atom bomb
My Supreme Desire
Although I'd like to be rich and famous, my supreme desire is to be radiant: to radiate health, cheerfulness, calm courage and goodwill. I wish to live without hate, guilt, worry, jealousy, cynicism and envy. I wish to be honest, natural, confident, clean in mind and body - ready to say "I do not know" if it be so and to treat all men with kindness - to meet any loss, failure, criticism and rejection unabashed and unafraid.
Greatest American Presidents
Abraham Lincoln
George Washington
Thomas Jefferson
Franklin Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Woodrow Wilson
Andrew Jackson
Making Peace With the Past
"Dwell not on your past. Use it to illustrate a point, then leave it behind. Nothing really matters except what you do now in this instant of time. From this moment onwards you can be an entirely different person, filled with love and understanding, ready with an outstretched hand, uplifted and positive in every thought and deed."
~Eileen Caddy
Toughest Colleges to Get Into
MIT
Princeton
Harvard
Yale
Stanford
Brown
Columbia
Why You Should Trust God
"Men and women who turn their lives over to God will find out that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities and pour out peace."
~Ezra Taft Benson
The 7 Greatest Scientists
Albert Einstein
Isaac Newton
Galileo Galilei
Nikola Tesla
Aristotle
Archimedes
Charles Darwin
You Matter
"Always be yourself. Never try to hide who you are. The only shame is to have shame. Always stand up for what you believe in. Always question what other people tell you. Never regret the past; it's a waste of time. There's a reason for everything. Every mistake, every moment of weakness, every terrible thing that has happened to you, grow from it. The only way you can ever get the respect of others is when you show them that you respect yourself and most importantly, do your thing and never apologize for being you."
~Unknown
The Most Industrialized Nations
United States
Japan
Germany
France
United Kingdom
Italy
Canada
Keys to Success
"...in his effort to withstand temptation, to economize, to exercise thrift, to disregard the superficial for the real - the shadow for the substance; to be great yet small, in his effort to be patient in the laying of a firm foundation; to so grow in skill and knowledge that he shall place his services in demand by reason of his intrinsic and superior worth. This is the key that unlocks every door of opportunity, and all others fail."
~Booker T. Washington
The 7 Social Sins
Politics without principle
Wealth without work
Pleasure without conscience
Knowledge without character
Commerce without morality
Worship without sacrifice
Science without humanity
Cherish What You Love
"Cherish your visions, cherish your ideals, cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts - for out of them will grow all heavenly environment, of these if you but remain true to them, your world will at last be built."~James Allen
The World's Largest Cities
London in England
New York in the United States
Tokyo in Japan
Berlin in Germany
Chicago in the United States
Shanghai in China
Paris in France
Benefits of Optimism
"In terms of success, optimistic people out perform their pessimistic colleagues. Research shows that they are consistently promoted higher and make more money while working fewer hours than those who think pessimistically. Optimists also contribute more significantly to social progress. It is the optimists who start and run successful companies, who win elections and carry out reforms, and who make breakthroughs in the realms of science and technology."
~Pepe Minambo
The World's Greatest Lakes
Caspian Sea in the Commonwealth of Independent States, C.I.S. (formerly U.S.S.R)
Lake Superior in North America
Victoria Nyanza in Central Africa
Aral Sea in C.I.S.
Lake Huron in North America
Lake Michigan in North America
Demonstrating His Love
"Take your communication for instance - the way you address others. It ought to be with loving, gracious and edifying words. Never talk people down. Never use words that hurt and demean people. Communicate excellently with others without destroying their self-image or making them feel sorry for themselves. Talk to people in a way that they never forget the excellence of your words, the love and grace of Christ that you communicated. It's how God wants us to love."
