What are those things that are good? What are those things that are necessary? What are those things that are important? Those are the things that we must prioritise, not necessarily those things that we desire.
Solomon made silver to be as stones in the City of Jerusalem and everyone thought that Solomon had performed a great feat.
God would have looked down from Heaven above and just smiled because to Him silver is nothing but stones. Diamond, gold, silver, tin and coal are all stones – carbon.
We have only placed mental emphasis on them, and so we excavate them, purify them and make them shine.
They have no value in themselves than we have reposed in them. Solomon merely reduced silver to its appropriate value. How? He caused a shift of attitude from what seems popular to what is right, good and important.
It behooves the leadership of Nigeria to put the most important things first.
To put first the things, which make for life and survival; to put first the things, which make for a worthy future, to put first the things, which make for the pursuit of life and happiness, to put first the things, which serve the good of all, to put first the things, which make for growth and development.
To put the welfare of the citizens above all else. To put first the things which make for values of integrity, commonwealth, life and goodness.
A lot of us pay too much emphasis on the things, which are not important.
Where we live, the type of cars we drive; and what clothes we wear, whether they are in vogue or not.
We get so immersed in brands – Gucci, Fendi, and Louis Vitton. We carry bags that will challenge other bags.
We use jewellery and accessories to challenge other jewellery – yellow gold, blue gold, reverse gold, Brazilian hair, Indian hair, Togolese hair, et cetera.
How we place emphasis on things that are temporal; things that we will leave here on earth.
The land in Mushin is definitely not less valuable than that of Victoria Island. It is just a question of the mind. Perceived values have ruined so many and pushed them to take outrageous decisions.
Some men will give up their wives for a morsel of food. Some women will give up their husbands for meals. Some parents will give up their children just to be like someone else.
We need to change our thought frame.
There was the story of a certain wealthy and elegant lady who was on a ship sailing the high seas. The ill-fated ship hit a rock and it was certain she would sink beneath the belly of the seas.
Tug boats were quickly lowered and all the passengers were moved there. The captain announced to the distressed passengers to quickly get on the ship before it sank and get what valuable possession they may have on board.
This elegant lady quickly rushed to her private cubicle on the ill-fated ship. She came back quickly as everybody watched expecting to see her appear with vanity boxes and costly personals. She just had something in her cupped hands.
That heightened the curiosity of fellow passengers. The captain boldly walked up to her to know what could be so precious to this wealthy lady. She opened her hands to two oranges.
“Two oranges?” “That was all you went for back into the ship?” the rather shocked captain said.
“Yes,” replied the lady, with satisfactory contentment, “I suddenly realised that we still have eight days to spend on the sea and I cannot eat my gold.”
Most of the things we seek in life are mundane and valueless. It is what you invest in others that adds values to you not what you keep for yourself. Your possession is best used when it benefits someone else.
Your money is best utilised when it is re-invested for the benefit of many. You must develop the right attitude to the things you own. Don’t let what you own own you.
There was the story of a man who had a bar of gold which he considered extremely precious. He found a place to bury this treasure and he would dig it up daily just to admire it and bury it again afterwards.
That was his daily rite until some mischievous gang of boys found him out.
They dug up the man’s gold and replaced it with a huge stone. When this man arrived at the site, he dug up as he would, but his gold had become stone.
He ran berserk. He screamed and cursed all over the place. One of the boys lashed back at the wild man, “But all you do with this thing is admire it and go back home.”
