It is an infallible truth that the heavens, the earth and all creatures therein were all fashioned out into existence through a spiritual process. Through process, this earthly existence was set in a unique and non-perfunctory pattern. Process teaches that before things happen tangibly, a round of happenings must precede them. Before a baby is conceived in the womb, a process must be set in place in the fallopian tube stringed by God in a woman. Before the baby is born, a gruelling process of labour (short or long in duration) must precede it. Before laughter comes as a prize, my friends, a price must be paid to access it. After encounters are entwined in a necessary process, laughter comes as a complement. Our God is the Father of process.
An event jostled my memory recently and that is what I share in this treatise. About seven years ago, my second son came home with so much excitement after a brutal football game with their dreaded German Town opponents. “Daddy, I won the MVP award”, he screamed, bubbling with joy. I was proud of my boy. The prize he received was a small golden helmet presented to him before a cheering crowd. This meant a lot to the 12-year-old who had always been dreaming to play in America’s National Football League (NFL) one day. Twenty four hours after, however, my MVP boy started complaining of pain in the anterior parts of both legs, left knee, bilateral elbow areas, and left ankle. His countenance had lost the excitement splashed on his face just 24 hours earlier. My beloved son had to deal with some distracting generalised pain. I then said these words to him; “Son, there is a price you pay for every prize you receive in life. Pain is the price you pay for winning the MVP. It will not last forever; but for now, let’s deal with it”.
Before every crown of victory, there is a crown of thorn. For every MVP (Most Valuable Player), there is a MVP (Most Valuable Pain) that comes with the process of winning the title. If all you seek is a path of ease to success, your life will not be at ease. There is a pressurising price to pay for every precious prize you seek. Life is not a Jacuzzi gyration where things come easy. It is not a pleasure cruise to the Cayman Islands or the Bahamas. It is an active duty on a battleship. Ask people who have become somebody in life, at every point they sure had to deal with some pain. You may be a billionaire or millionaire with thousands of men and women at your beck-and-call; you will still have pains. And you may be a peon begging on the street curbs; pain will become part of your living. That is the process. If you are reading this treatise and you have found yourself in a bout of nagging pain, the reason may be because you are valuable and venerable. If you are valuable and venerable, you are vulnerable. We are all vulnerable to pain, hurt, disappointments, betrayals, conspiracies and criticisms. They are all painful experiences. Pain comes with every reward and recognition of the grace of God in you. The good news is that you have an inner fortitude to absorb the shocks that come with hurt and pain.
Life is a hut full of hurt. To prosper in business, the requisite process hurts. To lose weight, jumping on the treadmill and eating right hurt. To write a good book, hours of research and months or years of re-reading and editing hurt. Anything that will announce you to the world as a great man or woman is preceded by a process that hurts. What will burst out for you in blossom and bloom must hurt. But anything that hurts does not necessarily halt a dream. It exalts the dreamer. To possess, process is an essential prerequisite.
I say this to thousands of young people that God has called to me all around the world. No one can skip requisite hurdles before becoming a sensation. No one becomes an overnight sensation that the world celebrates. We all begin all endeavours with the hope that sooner than later, our names will hit the stand. We all embark on endeavours in expectation that what we have to offer will be celebrated, and the whole world will be looking in our direction for a lasting relationship. But be reminded that the king sitting in his palace today started off as an infant who grew up in the process of time to be a man who later became a king in the process of time. High-rising buildings standing tall in your city started with some four pillars before they became buildings worthy of note in the process of time. Everything in Life is about process. Upon the trampoline of process, success is fashioned. To possess anything that is precious, you must go through requisite process that may be hellacious. Only a respecter of process will not have their expectation cut short. You cannot rush success. You cannot clamour to be an overnight sensation. People who do end up failing, falling, and embarrassing themselves. And following a process is the price we pay for receiving the prize.
If you have ever visited a shopping mall, then you have an idea what life is. Life is like a shopping mall full of all the things we want. The difference is that, in the regular American shopping malls, for example, you pay with one currency -the dollar. At the shopping mall of life, the currency is adhering to the process. All the things are in there for anyone who is willing to pay the price. If you’re not willing to pay the price, you’ll end up a window shopper. He who hungers for a prize, but not ready to pay a price deceives himself.
How did I deal with my son’s pain? I took a Mentholatum balm I brought from my home-town, Imesi-Ile, 5,000km away, and applied it liberally on the affected parts of his body. While rubbing in the balm, he cried in more pain. But later, he felt relieved. As you read this, I ask: Are you in some MVP (Most Valuable Pain) right now? It’s because you are a MVP (Most Valuable Player)! Only a Most Valuable Player suffers Most Valuable Pain. Before you can boast of a prize, you must be willing to pay the price. It is God’s ordained process.
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