HELLO MI NEIGHBOUR | Focus on fulfilling your God-given role on earth

Hello mi neighbour! ‘Tough times don’t last, tough people do’, and ‘when the going gets tough, the tough gets going’. These motivational quotes are designed to help each of us navigate life, especially in lean times, and yes, lean times always come. They’ve been a part of the human experience since the dawn of civilisation.

Preparation for life’s journey must be done early, as no one knows what setbacks or delays one may encounter along the way. Our best bet is to try our best at all times: put lots of important things under our belt. The more things we have under the proverbial belt, the better our chance at resisting/withstanding the hard knocks of life, which sometimes come in torrents. Time wasted on life’s trivialities may cost us dearly: stymied growth and loss of important battles. Fill in the blanks.

Note those things that we need to avoid, and even teach our children about them if they are to escape a life of perpetual defeat or become a nuisance to society. And yes, there are people in high society who have become nuisances to our society, but that’s another conversation. And please do not go labelling anybody before removing the ‘beam out of your eye’, now. I’m not here saying that we should turn a blind eye to people’s indiscretions, mark you!

Our actions and decisions must inure to the growth and development of others. As the well-being of our brothers and sisters becomes a part of daily priorities, unexpected/unusual blessings will flow in our direction. For, “Whatever a man soweth that shall he also reap.” Only if more people knew that, eeh? So sad. Many fools die of thirst right at the overflowing fountain of the cool spring water. How come? Ignorance, laziness and a wrong attitude. Watch those choices which ignorance, laziness and a wrong attitude cause us to make. Hope I am helping you. Hold on, don’t leave just yet.

So life comes with many hard knocks, and the ill-equipped to answer at the first knock could be out by a TKO. Being unable to find someone who knows how to answer, in those moments, could even make matters worse. When all is said and done, many times the answer is right there in plain view, but masked by one’s tendency to complain and the wrong attitude towards workable solutions.

If from the very get-go we expend all our energies on complaining about a seeming crisis, the solution will remain in the dark. If we take the attitude that however formidable the challenge or insurmountable the mountain, we will overcome, we WILL overcome.

By recognising that where our limitations peak, unlimited power to do the impossible is available, the way ahead will become less daunting and the path to a bright future will take on a brighter dimension.

Listen to this my neighbours, you and I are gifts to this world. We are here to make statements, sing songs, plant trees, paint pictures, draw plans, open doors, hold a hand, shine a light, give a smile, etc, to help make this world cleaner, lovelier and more hospitable for everyone who passes through this part of the universe. By discovering and fulfilling our Creator-given role today, we will realise that the things that we do just for self-aggrandisement, only limit our enjoyment of this green space called earth.

So, let’s not focus so much on getting tough for tough times, but on fulfilling our God-given role on earth and prepare for life after earth. Please remember that we have no greater earthly duty than to love our neighbours as ourselves and to do unto others as we would want them to do unto us. ENJOY!

WE ASK YOU AGAIN TO HELP US HELP A NEIGHBOUR WITH ITEMS BELOW:

1. Stove, bed, mattress, building materials, sewing machine, table, chairs, second-hand settee, etc.

To help, please call Silton Townsend @ 876 884-3866, or deposit in NCB acct #351 044 276. Alternatively, send donations to Hello Neighbour, c/o 53 Half-Way Tree Road, Kingston 10; Paypal/credit card: email: zicron22@yahoo.com. Contact email: helloneighbour@yahoo.com. Visit https://us01.z.antigena.com/l/DmlprPqXAArlikt_u_KgSGZPiJL7xLfXU7QBecp3n3....

Townsend exclusively manages the collections and distributions mentioned in this column and is neither an employee nor agent of The Gleaner.