Chapter 3
TAKING THE FIRST STEP, TAKING THE RISK
I don't know why but whenever a farmer goes to plant, he always knows that he will reap a good harvest and though at times he may pray that it rains, he doesn't hold back or stop hoping that he wont harvest. Instead he takes his chances hoping for the best.
That is a risk he takes. Risks are everywhere. Some people say that am afraid of taking risks, but did you know that fear is just something that we allow to take place in our minds? Unfortunately, we have learnt to be afraid of some things and chosen not to be afraid of others. I want to share with you how everything that we do in life is just another form of risk we take. Bear in mind that no result will come if a risk is not taken. You wont win if you don't play. You wont succeed if you don't try. You wont reap if you wont sow, you wont finish if you don't start.
When we want to sit on a seat, we take a risk. This is because the seat/chair may not hold you or rather may break and we end up hurt. When we go to sleep, we take a risk and this is because we may not wake up in the morning. When we get into the lift we take two risks, one we may not go to the floor we selected, and two we may not go the direction we wanted; (up or down) or we may get stuck on the way. When a team goes to the field to play, they take a risk since the match may never end or they may lose. When we talk to people, we risk since they may not answer or do what we asked and end up hurting us. When we fly, we take a risk since we may end up in the wrong destination. or even never reach our destination
The list may go on and on but what makes the difference in the different risks we take in life that lead us to fear others and some we don't even know that they are risks is the position we have put our focus. Where we put our focus determine whether we take the first step or not.
For example, if we picture someone who came to visit your place and knew he would stay late and therefore carried his torch/spot light. When time comes for him to live its totally dark and he has to go, he says thank God he carried the torch. His destination maybe a distance away and the light from the torch may not light more than 100 meters, but since his focus is on getting home, he doesn't care how far the torch can light, he only needs to see the range it can and as he moves on the rest will come to sight. If he was afraid that he cant see where he’s going then he couldn't start the journey. He couldn't also get home. Just like the light of the torch lit his journey home little by little, the same way does life. Life unwinds to us in phases and stages.
Martin Luther King Jnr. Said,
“ You don't need to see the whole staircase, take the first step in faith and believe you shall see the rest as you keep on moving”.
You don't need to know how you will get there, do what you can see for now. Use what you have. God has given you everything you need to be what you want to be. God asked Moses, what he had since that is what he would use. The widow in the old testament who went to the prophet to say she was in trouble due to her debt, she was asked what did she have and she said that she had a little oil. That oil was used to make the widow wealthy.
Right now you have all you need to start. Sometimes we may say that its too small but we need to try it out. If Moses would say, “I wont throw the stick down,” he wouldn't realize what he had and if the widow didn't lock herself up in the house and pour the oil into the many containers she had borrowed, she wouldn't witness Gods power. If Abraham didn't leave his homeland, he wouldn't be blessed. If David didn't fight Goliath by shooting at him Goliath couldn't die. If you have to see any results you must take the step of doing that which will course the result. For anything to happen, you must be willing to do something. The only way dreams become reality is when you will wake up and work on them.
Things don't just happen . We cause things to happen. don't focus on the how or the road there, focus on the end result. Put your eyes on the goal and get started. Before you shine you must arise, before signs and wonders follow you, you must be moving. For the plane to take off, it must be moving. If you start moving then God can take over. One of my best mentors says that you cannot change the direction of a stationery car. When we pray to God asking him to lead us yet we aren't moving I think of it as asking a driver to turn a vehicle that is not moving. Its better you start moving then it makes sense if you ask for direction and God will then lead you to the right point.
Sometimes what you are supposed to start doing doesn't seem like the one to get you where you should be. Sometimes it may require you to go against your ego and do the things that you wouldn't do at your level. I was jobless at some point and I went out to be a GSM SIM cards salesman and normally we were referred to as „hawkers. There was even one time when my dad was broken saying, "I used to see people hawking but my own son is now the one people shout at or look down at when he sales them lines on the windows of Matatus." However, being a salesman is the best thing that ever happened to me at that point because I got to learn the best of life's lessons at that point.
I learnt to treat people kindly and also to deal with different kinds of people. I learnt to appreciate hard work and many more other priceless lessons that you never get to learn at business school. Some things we may need to do may seem crazy but don't be afraid, just start doing something. Do something about what you have. If you keep postponing things, you're wasting another happy day you would have celebrated the harvest. Every morning you wake up; remember it is a piece of your future you're eating. The future comes every second we live yet we keep on thinking of starting tomorrow. there's no thing as doing it tomorrow because it will never come since every other day that comes has a “tomorrow”.
Don't be afraid of jumping due to the fear of hurting or breaking your bones, jump and see what happens. When you plant the seeds in the soil, you take a big risk, and the risk you take is that of the seed dying in the soil and you lose the little you had but also remember that you are taking a chance of getting more on what you had. Well, which one is better, holding on to what you have and eat it now or plant it today and harvest more for use tomorrow?
See, if you are afraid of sowing the seed, you risk the more. If you don't decide you've already made a decision. If you don't take the first step of the ladder you will never reach the top of it. The distance may seem to be so big and you don't think that you'll have patience to endure remember the Chinese proverb that says that a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. don't be afraid if you are moving slowly; only be afraid if you are not moving since you will only not get somewhere when you are not moving. But if you are progressing no matter how slow it is, you'll get there someday.
You may have a big dream, a million dollar idea or the best opportunity in the world but it doesn't stop here. By having the best grade of seeds doesn't guarantee a great harvest so long as the seeds are not planted. Planting is the step of taking action. When you keep aiming at a great harvest yet doing nothing or taking no action its just like an archer who keeps on aiming at a deer or gazelle and when he has the best shot he still keeps on aiming, aiming and aiming till the animal walks away. You have the grace to do that which you have the desire and drive. Especially if it is a God given idea, you better get started, otherwise it will be taken away from you and someone else will take your place.
“If you are going to enjoy life or if you are going to do any better, you have to take a step into the world of the unknown”. Stop using fear to lag behind and remember that without action nothing will ever be accomplished.
If you are a business person, a musician, an engineer, minister, etc. take a risk to do that which will change your life to the better. Write that song, write that book, develop that innovation, bring up that idea, play that game, paint that drawing, go to college and learn the new course, start dreaming, start thinking, start today, decide to get started. you'll do the first step & the rest will be history. When God says that hell bless the work of your hands ask yourself what is it that you are doing that the Lord shall bless?