Are you a Mackerel? (5)

By Tope Popoola

I have many acquaintances but few friends I can go to when I want to be inspired. Their enthusiasm is infectious. One hour with them literally puts you on mental steroids. Look for such people to be friends with. But more importantly, seek to develop yourself into one.

Motivation without an inspired motive is nothing but mere emotional excitement. It doesn’t get anyone far. This is why great friends provoke your thinking faculties even while giving you the required therapeutic benefits of their company. True friends connect at a level deeper than personal wants. It is heartbeat connecting with heartbeat.

Finally, genuine friendship is PURPOSE-CENTRED. Friendship is of God, orchestrated by God to advance His purpose in our lives. When you take purpose out of relationship, all you have is an acquaintanceship.

This is perhaps why we cannot operate true friendship with human philosophies, else friendship becomes an avenue to serve selfish ends.

Too many times, we are set in our expectations and so cannot identify the fact that some relationships that on the face value appear to be inimical to our personal interests are actually designed to move us to the next level.

Can you imagine calling someone who betrayed you to your enemies “friend”? That is exactly what Jesus called Judas who betrayed him. (Matt. 26:50).

Earlier, he had called Peter who was against his going to the cross “Satan”! What did he understand that we also need to? Your real friend is the man who moves you closer to your destiny even if done in the most unpleasant circumstances.

So while at it, you may need to go and make peace with the boss who sacked you, an incident that made you go into business, becoming a successful employer of labour! If you had stayed on that job, where would you be now?

Make peace with the teacher who called you names in school and whose skepticism provoked you to become an A student. It happened to Myles Munroe, world acclaimed leadership expert and prolific author who was labeled “stupid monkey” in elementary school by one of his teachers.

With the encouragement of his mother and the comfort and assurance of scriptures, his grades changed and he passed out as the top student in the school and has gone ahead to be a world-class citizen.

Several years later, the same teacher gave his life to Christ while reading one of Myles’ books!

There are so many people around you now that you regard as enemies but without whose provocation you would never have made progress. Thank God for them and go out of your way to bless them. They are friends wearing a disguise!

I conclude with this story. A jobless man applied for the position of "office boy" at Microsoft. After the interview, the HR manager told him,"You are employed. Give me your e-mail address and I'll send you the application to fill in, as well as the date when you may start".

The man replied "But I don't have a computer, talk less an email"."I'm sorry", said the HR manager, "if you don't have an email, that means you do not exist. And whoever doesn't exist cannot have a job in Microsoft."

With only $10 in his pocket, he went away with no hope or idea at all about what would happen to him when the money was exhausted. Suddenly, he had a flash of inspiration and decided to go to the supermarket and buy a crate of tomatoes.

He then sold the tomatoes in a door to door round. In less than two hours, he had doubled his capital. He repeated the operation three times, and returned home with $60.

Suddenly, it dawned on him that he could survive this way. He increased his rounds and his money doubled or tripled daily. Shortly thereafter, he bought a cart, then a truck, then his own fleet of delivery vehicles.

Five years later, the man had become one of the biggest food retailers in the US.

In planning his family's future, he decided to have a life insurance. After discussions, the insurance broker asked him for his email address so he could mail the necessary documents. The man replied, "Sorry I don't have an email address".

The broker answered curiously:"You don't have an email, and yet have succeeded in building such a huge business empire. Can you imagine what you could have been if you had an email?!!"

The man thought for a while and replied: "Yes, I would have been an office boy at Microsoft!" – concluded.

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