The time factor

By Tope Popoola

As the kings’ chief magician, Opidan, had taken the art of magic to another level. Highly revered in the kingdom for his mind-boggling magical feats, he had become something of a local celebrity. His craft was so respected that his performances became the highlight of special treats reserved for the king’s most important guests.

He was riding high on the crest of the fame until one day when, in the course of a command performance, he pulled a stunt that both ridiculed and enraged his master. The penalty? Death by beheading! He was promptly arrested and incarcerated to await execution. The day before he was to be beheaded, Opidan sent a word to the king:“Your royal Majesty, please spare my life for another year. Within that period, I promise to teach the royal horse how to talk.”

Though bemused by such a preposterous proposition, the king obliged. Opidan was to be locked up in a private room in the king’s stable to give him all the privacy required for his assignment as well as prevent his escape. That same night, one of his friends in the palace came visiting.

“How could you have made such a ridiculous proposition? Where did you hear or see that a horse ever talked? Even the best of magicians in the world couldn’t possibly accomplish that feat. You have only bought more trouble for yourself” said the concerned friend.

“No. I succeeded in buying more time“, replied Opidan, “A lot can happen in one year. The king may die. I may die. Or the king may remember some noble deed of mine and change his mind. And who knows, perhaps, just perhaps, a horse may even talk!”

There are two materials that life offers us all to succeed with. The first is time and the other is opportunity. Opportunities come within the framework of time. Every moment counts as the clock of life ticks away. If like Opidan, you had one year more to live unless you accomplished a great feat or you were on the death row and you had to make a value case for your life to be spared, what would it be?

Can it be compelling enough to warrant your life being spared? If you can make your request as specific – even if as ridiculous – as Opidan’s, perhaps, just perhaps, life may be benevolent enough to give it to you. The king didn’t grant Opidan’s request because he wanted Opidan to live longer, but because Opidan offered a value, even if incredible! And the king was willing to give it a try.

Think of the fame - and maybe fortune! - that a talking horse would bring to him and the kingdom. Consider how pleasant it would be to have a horse you didn’t have to bridle since you only needed to tell him what you wanted.

As for Opidan, his request came as a result of his decision to keep hope alive, firm in the knowledge that as long as there is life- and time - anything is possible. In time, what was sacrosanct sometimes becomes variable. In time, what men considered canon fall into the realm of myth. In time, opportunities become achievements and achievements metamorphose into legacies. In time, theories become fallacies. And vice-versa.

In a certain realm of time, the atom was the least indivisible particle of an element. In another, it was split to neutrons, protons and electrons. When Henry Ford came up with the idea of the motorized wagon (car), even Thomas Edison was one of the people who scoffed at the idea! Time proved some right and some wrong! After Ford succeeded with the car, the pundits of the era pontificated that the fastest speed possible to man was 30mph. Obviously, they didn’t reckon with time’s capability to throw up the Wright Brothers.

Stop complaining about what you lack. As long as you have time, you have everything you need to succeed. Write the cheque for your future to be drawn from the bank of time. Even if men have written you off in the present, make a compelling case for succeeding as a form of showing them that time is the most accurate prophet. God gives you time to prove His commitment to your success. You succeed or fail in time.

However, time is not directly responsible for either of these two outcomes. You are! Like the catalyst that it is, time merely affords you the platform and space to translate opportunities and dreams to the reality of accomplishments. Time never dictates the figure you write on the cheque. It simply pays, according to the strength of your deposits – in time!

Remember, the sky is not your limit, God is!