My thought on this topic will be hardly expressed without telling you about a brave soldier and also a civil engineer, Henry he was called.
Just as it is with everyone, he had a dream; not of riches or fame neither of material or class. He just had this dream to destroy the enemies bridge that holds the captivity of his people. He has a plan; he had the passion this was a perfect plan and nothing was amiss; he has perfected his promise of tomorrow.
He was waiting for the perfect time. Here comes my first advise; “there is no perfect time, just start anyways“.
As always in every sweet story, the moment of difficulty came he was taken captive through this same bridge before he could destroy it. You should note the second advise here; “dreams are for free men, do all you can to build your dream to remain one”.
Again Henry settled and wondered why his perfect plan never worked and blamed it on external factors; his enemies for taking him, his people for not giving enough support. I guess you already know my third advise ; “Never blame others for your own errors, set strategies instead to correct them”.
Henry wept: he never had a plan for this, the plan wasn’t perfect after-all. Yes again I say; “you can never have a perfect plan against life challenges, you only improvise with new dimensions to your dream”.
This wasn’t enough for Henry but now as a slave, he had to work. Hearing that he was a civil engineer, he was given his own dream: to destroy the bridge and more to it a reconstruction of a mighty, more beautiful and stronger bridge. He was to be in charge of the other slaves and of course, slaves from his very own hometown. He built for days and toiled at night. He planned each day and worked like a mule. He didn’t even have a choice because the work was inspected daily. He could be killed for building a wrong structure. As we know, a slave’s life is of worth only to him or herself. So my fifth advise will come from a popular quote, “If you don’t build your dreams, someone will hire you to build theirs” .
One day after the long days of shouts, agony, trials, toils, anguish, humility, rage; he finished and folding his arms to look at his own work, he could swear it was the best thing he has seen in his life. YOU could see the light in his face and the bridge was graced by the rising ray of the sun, it was a day the sun shone most beautifully.“You can always do a better job than you are right now, sometimes think of the worst circumstance you might be in and the best of what you can do“
Not to move out of the context life places at every turn, a new challenge again arose, it was supposed to be his happiest; his own people walked back through the bridge with a stronger force to destroy these enemies. Now is the time for this bridge to be destroyed, they said to him. Again the air of freedom breezed through; he has been restored to a man, but not at the price of his bridge he thought. He had worked so hard to see this happen, this was his lifetime achievement, he would rather die than watch it taken away from him. “With new challenges comes new opportunities and in every opportunity , never ever lose sight of the original plan“.
At once he gathered his fellow slaves, and they fought against their own people, with blood, dust and in sweat, they lost their lives defending their bridge. It was over. He had lost. With these the last advise from the story, “Never justify the wrong cause even when it is with a right intention; focus on the foundation of your dreams, it is your RESET button”.
In conclusion, It is expedient at this point to note that dream, plans, aspirations gives us the image of the ideal tomorrow, the challenges we encounter along the way explains to us the realities of tomorrow. With time, you will realize that you are living with an improvised version of your dream, it is of no use therefore to dream without the consideration of its realities. So let me end by giving the ninth advise, a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt ; “the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams“. So let us keep the realities of our tomorrow at heart till next week Sunday when we talk again.