In view of your destiny, you are hereby invited to please stop what you are doing right now, pause for a brief moment and consider trustworthy wisdom for your social safety, personal success and professional soaring in the next season of your life.
- Whereas some people’s appointment with you is to be yearned for like a visa to your dream vacation destination, some other people’s short visit should be avoided like a plague or at least not allowed to be longer than a sneeze. So, make the next appointment with care.
- Wisdom – just like foolishness – can be socially acquired, transmitted through friendships. So, put your social environment under a microscope today.
- While some people are wise, the bitter pill to swallow is that others are stupid fools who can be described as bad, wicked or evil. So learn to tell the difference.
- You first make friends and then those friends end up making you. So make your friends carefully.
- Your friendships are the hatchery for your character, the determinant of your habits, and the contributing factor to your morals and/or manners. So welcome them into your life.
- You can choose whether to be friends with the wise or the stupid, but you cannot choose the consequences thereafter. They automatically choose you. So do not take your choice lightly.
I came to the conclusions above after listening to the following words, in part:
“Your friends either increase you, decrease you or neutralize you… Wrong relationships will kill your joy, passion and faith… Anybody that is a ‘waster’ – not an investor, let them go… When right people get into your life, right things start to happen… I can love you but I don’t have to make you my friend… Choose your relationships wisely — people that are going to be a blessing, not a burden. Be with people who motivate, inspire and positively challenge you.”
Those were the words of Rev. Lucy Natasha in a short video clip I watched today. Curiously, I checked out different translations of the two scriptural references she made. I put the different expressions together and below I share them with you before finally leaving you with some questions to ponder:
- 1 Corinthians 15:33 — Stop being deceived or fooled (even by yourself): Wicked friends lead to evil ends. Evil companionships corrupt good morals. Bad friends will destroy you. Bad friends will ruin good habits. Bad company ruins good morals. Bad companions ruin good character. Evil communications (companionship) corrupt good manners.
- Proverbs 13:20 — Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm. This is because wise friends make you wise, but you hurt yourself by going around with fools. So, be friends with those who are wise, and you will become wise; choose fools to be your friends, and you will have trouble. Yes, if you make friends with stupid people, you will be ruined. A companion of fools shall be destroyed.
Questions to Ponder:
I have always said that if you walk with nine fools, you become the tenth. Similarly, the good news is that if you walk with nine wise people, chances are very high that you will become the tenth. Therefore, I invite you to think about the following 5 brief questions:
- Who are my current friends – those I often communicate with, listen to, and spend time with?
- What kind of people are they? Which kind of adverbs can I use to describe them?
- Since wisdom – just like foolishness – is acquired, what am I currently acquiring in my social circles?
- Since the wise lift me up with their instruction but fools bring me down unto destruction, in which direction am I headed based on the nature of the majority of my friends? Am I going up or down?
- What must I do about my honest social assessment from answering the questions above?
It is time to find wise people today! And once you find them, do not be too busy for their influence. Do not be too proud to learn from them. Do not be too preoccupied with proving yourself that you fail to see the invisible treasures in them. While with them, you are rubbing shoulders with your destiny. Take it as a holy opportunity.
You can now continue what you were doing (especially if it takes you up)!
Live. Love. Lead.
#YouWillManage
