This new year is well underway and I’m pretty sure that your expectations are soaring. Just in case your expectometer is still glued to the zero mark, I want to encourage you to step on the gas a little bit. We all need expectations to keep us moving hopefully, in the right direction.

That is exactly what we all need, that kind of momentum for our lives. I usually like to state my point emphatically in the concluding part of every article I write but as a way of stepping out of the norm, I’ll state it right here; Regardless of the prevailing circumstances, you can still live your best round of life this year.

Why do I say this? Am I just trying to be Mr. Motivator, the one to get everyone’s hopes up and make them feel good about themselves at all cost?

In response to this question, I’ll like to state that I’m not just one dewy-eyed idealist who denies the circumstances of life. Far from that, I accept these circumstances and encourage others to do same.

However, I examine different perspectives of these circumstances. Each perspective comes with its own meaning and effect, some helpful to the cause of fulfilment in life while others are not so helpful.

The choice, or rather the decision, always lies with the viewer to choose the perspective that they want to function with. I’ve chosen mine and I think the view is awesome from here. Let’s see what I’m talking about.

Today, there are families that have lost their means of livelihood and are shut up in their homes owing to the pandemic. The severity of this effect differs from one family to another, and I must add one individual to another.

So where’s the hope in all this? some incessantly ask. I’ve found that when people ask this question it is because they can’t see any reason to hope and believe for the better. They usually expect their situations to give them a reason to hope.

Hope roars in silence that despite the contrary circumstances you are secured and still on the path to something great.

What we are familiar and most comfortable with is hope and progress with the prevailing circumstances but there’s also a thing like hope and progress regardless of the circumstances.

Consider how Joseph in the Bible was still a success regardless of the fact that he was in prison or Isaac prospering in times of famine. All of them had a common denominator- the commanded blessing of God.

This blessing makes even the harshest of circumstances nothing more than a toothless dog. It may bark at you, but never get a bite of you. My venerable reader, I’ll encourage you to forge ahead regardless of the contrary winds because we have the commanded blessing which is so rich and free in Christ.

Life means different things to different people. To some, life is like a roller coaster; they go up with so much expectations only to come crashing down with the same intensity of disappointment. On the opposite end, there are those who see life as a blissful adventure of growth and mastery. These two contrasting perspectives seem to be the main camps from which we navigate our lives; the others are skewed towards either of the camps.

I once had a friend who was a faithful resident of the first camp. Anytime we had the opportunity to engage in an honest conversation he kept telling stories about all that was going wrong in his life. He tried on a few occasions to be positive, maybe in an attempt to give me some breathing space from all that negative talk, but sooner or later he got right back to his stories of misfortune. A lot of times as I listened, I wondered how he made big stories of misfortune out of some of the things that he had gone through. Honestly, I knew I had been through worse things but to me, it was just part of the challenges that life presents, nothing more- nothing special. However, I knew that there couldn’t be any worst time to share those experiences than when he was busily pouring his heart out. He had to be the hero of his story; and I also had to be the biggest fan of the hero.

Sometimes when we see someone who isn’t crestfallen and complaining, we are often tempted to think that life hasn’t given them anything to complain about. When we remain in our own stories as heroes, this seems all the more to be true. However, as we step out of our own secured world of happenings, we’ll realize that life happens to us all. What fundamentally differs is how we respond to life. When fresh egg, carrot and coffee are put into the same boiling water; the fresh egg hardens, the carrot softens and the coffee diffuses to decolourize the water. It isn’t the boiling water that treats them differently. The battles that life presents us are internal; discouragement, disappointment, resentment, hopelessness, self- pity, grief, loneliness among others. The rich, poor, young and aged all fight these battles. How we respond to these battles is what makes all the difference. So when going through a hard time, know that you are not the unfortunate one among us. You are living just like we all are and sometimes the not-so-good experiences may hover around.

As the curtains are gradually drawing over this year, let’s make it a point to respond positively to life. One of the best ways of doing this is to dwell on the good things in your life and interpret the not-so-good experiences in the light of the good things you have in your life. From the story of Joseph in the Bible, we understand that the value of a blessing far outweighs the hills of misfortune. Consider all the good things you have in life- these are the blessings. The resilience, inspiration and strength that we require for the journey of life will only be thwarted when we dwell on the bad. If you happen to dwell in the bad lands, then put your lovely hand into mine and let’s take this leap of faith together into the good land that flows with joy, peace and security.