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I have come to realize that there are most of the activities we were involved  in during our childhood stage, which we still do repeatedly, in young adulthood and adulthood. We don’t draw the curtains entirely on a stage in life when moving into the next, say from childhood to adolescence.

Most of these things we still do, but this time around with a deeper understanding,  and with the aim of culminating in something beneficial, impactful, and with a substantial result in mind. It makes sense why the human developmental growth stages are referred to as transitional stages. It paints the picture that it is from one level to another, where each stage is a prerequisite for the next.

Let’s move into the nitty-gritty of  some of these perpetuating activities we journey through life’s transitional stages with.

I see Solomon, a 27 year old porter in his workshop, moulding a very big vase to house a sweet bunch of flowers. As I watched Solo closely, it reminded me of when he was an 8 year old lad. He used to soil his hands and shirt with a mountain of clay from his backyard garden at home almost every day, while his mother kept yelling most of the time from the kitchen intermittently,  “Herh, Solo! I’ll come right at you with the cane if you don’t stop soiling yourself and that expensive shirt!”

Wait a minute! But coming back to Big Solo, his hands and apron are equally stained too. But in a few hours’ time, we see Big Solo’s work coming out as an expensive and beautiful piece, to add value and beauty to life. Oh, and lest I forget , his artifacts are now exported to 7 countries on a weekly basis. Little Solomon’s projects back then were valueless, never got well completed, and left unattended to for weeks, because he didn’t want to incur mommy’s wrath.

Moving on, I came across an angry dad who had sternly grounded his 10 year old daughter from touching any electrical appliance at home for a whole month. I watched on as the man complains to his friend “that little girl of mine keeps fidgeting with my dad’s old faulty tv and radio sets we have packed off into our garage. She keeps loosening and re-fixing some parts. I have told her over and over again, that those aren’t toys for girls”  As narrated to me by little Priscilla (now Auntie Priscy), her dad’s discouragements didn’t stop her, and it took her a great deal of doughtiness to sail through. She is now one of the finest and smartest electrical engineers in Africa, and a famous Entrepreneur in the engineering field.

Selorm also tells me of how that he remembers being very inquisitive when he was little. Even after 27 years, he could still narrate to me an instance in class where he was asked to stay outside for a while because his seemingly numerous questions were distracting the class. He confirmed that he could ask a question after every paragraph read by their English teacher. He quickly continues by saying “… I believe anyway, that it is this same thing that I still do, but this time around, in a more organized way, and of course on an international platform .” Selorm is an International journalist stationed in Ireland, but journeys through all the continents as and when the need arises. His interrogative, critical thinking and objective analytic skills have made him a great asset to the international media community.

My cherished reader, I am pretty sure you are getting the head and tail of the write-up now.

Can you imagine what would have become of Solomon, if he had ended up in a fully air conditioned office, with an occupation he doesn’t even really enjoy? How on earth then, would we have been able to benefit from his impact?

And of Priscilla, if she had not held onto what she knew how to do best, to further perfect it, we would have been lacking the developmental work of an electrical entrepreneur by now.

We could now be in our rooms, and know the happenings in almost every country on the globe, even to their respective atmosphere temperatures, as if we were there ourselves. How interesting. Selorm is one of such professionals who make that a reality for us.

I would simply put it this way, we can only become what we are, or become what we are not. The latter has now become a great challenge for many children to battle with. One may disagree though,  but a survey by getting on the streets, moving  from home to home, speaking to groups of students,  and asking them what they wish to become in the near future, and why they would want to get into a particular field of profession, or take a particular direction in life, would confirm this.

This brings to bare how crucial a role certain factors such as environment (exposure) and family (esp. Parents) play in what a child becomes.

The characters in this write-up are great examples of environment and people factors, and the end-results of their place in shaping the outcome of a child’s dream. A close look at the brief life course of the characters reveals the unsupportive nature of parents and teachers.  ( Parents could equally be fully supportive on the other hand. But the aim of this write up is to highlight the cruciality of Parents’ role and disposition towards the full harnessing and realization of a child’s potential )

It is of great concern imagining the number of children, and even adults, who have been influenced or coerced to pursue a profession or life course which is directly opposite to their passion, and of no interest to them,  maybe just to satisfy a guardian or parent’s wish. In such an instance, we end up having nurses who are not really nurses, engineers who are aren’t actually engineers, lawyers who are intrinsically artisans , and the list continues. I am not saying people should put all their eggs in one basket (limiting oneself to one area, while there are other potentials to explore), but it is a matter of great concern when one pursues an altogether-different course at the expense of one’s original life’s course.

No matter what has happened,  and the life course you have found yourself on, if you know and are convicted that you are not living out what God made you for, quickly pause, take time off to get your direction well, and hit that divine course for your life. It is still not too late. I read of a woman called Virginia Feigles, who at the age of forty-four, decided to go to college to become an engineer  ( I’m sure she had realised that it was a field her passion and zeal had been attracted to all those years ). However ridiculous it might sound, Interestingly, she pursued that dream against all odds. She mentioned of the many stultifying responses she received from both family and friends, but still pursued her goal. In the end, she successfully graduated as an engineer, had great job offers, and in the end, lived with fulfillment in the area of her profession. 

When every child is growing up, there are two things involved, to become what they are, OR to become what they are not.’The Maker’ has already made you, including all that you will become. Work at becoming exactly that ,and not what you are not.


Great Grace be upon us all.


Shalom!