The Human Mind 8

I warmly welcome you to this Wednesday edition of Leading Right. My name is Abiodun Fijabi.

The mind is the faculty for reason. It is responsible for our thoughts and feelings. We have no choice but deal with the mind because it is an essential part of our being. We are in a thought world and we are thinking centres.

Look around you today and see the nature – the seas, the vegetations, the mountains… They are all part of creation. God spoke them into being. Now before every speech there is contemplation – a thought process. You will recall that the Bible says that we speak out of the abundance of our hearts. We consciously or unconsciously speak what we think. The creation that you see, adore and stand in awe of is a product of words that originated from a thought process. Little wonder, we hear God say, “Let us create…” The creation is a product of a thought process.

We can conclude that God ignited the creative fire through His thought. And we, all of us, are part of that creation experience. To be sure, man, is the crown of God’s creation. He is God’s masterpiece. Not just in design but in purpose. There is no doubt that man is a marvel. He is the product of a divine intellect. But he is even more marvellous in his purpose. He is a little god, if you do not find that sacrilegious. He was fashioned with a purpose as God’s representative – to exercise dominion over His creation. To the extent to which he aligns with God, he can be incredible – perhaps limitless in his ability.

One of the powers God shares with man is the same power that produced man – the ability to think. God wants man to do what he has done and still does – think of an idea and nurture it to reality. The Original Thinking Centre behind the universe is our God. He is before all things and by him all things hold together. Even so, each of us is a thinking centre created from the Original Thinking Centre. We are expected to continue the creative process that God ignited. I think that was why he created us last and I think that was why he blessed us like he did. As a friend would put it: “God began but did not complete the work of re-creation from a formless and shapeless world to that of an astounding beauty. He created man in his class and empowered him to continue the work of re-creation and to complete it.”

You are a thinking centre. You were created to generate thoughts that will shape both your life and the world around you. If that does not make you feel great and act great, I do not know what else will.

The Human Mind 7

Welcome to Leading Right. I am Abiodun Fijabi.

Have you heard of Russell Conwell? He was the founder of Temple University. He was an accomplished orator, minister and philanthropist. He was famous for his speech, Acres of Diamond, which he delivered more than 5000 times with astounding success. It is still the most delivered speech in the world to date. In the speech, Russell told the story of Ali Hafed – a man blessed with a farm and many orchards, but was still discontented. He wanted more. So he sought out the village priest and asked for guidance. The priest advised him to look for a river with white sands. There he would find diamonds - many diamonds. So Ali left his family with neighbors, sold his farm and went in search of diamonds. For years Ali searched, never returning to his family.

Out of frustration, Ali took his own life. He died penniless.

While Ali was busy searching for his great wealth, the new owner of Ali's farm put in a lot of hard work to put the land to a productive use. One day, as his camels were drinking from the river that ran through Ali's property, he saw a strange rock. Pulling it out of the stream and examining it, he was in awe. It was a very large diamond.

That farm became the site of the world's largest diamond mine! Right there in Ali's back yard was the river with white sands the priest had spoken of.

What is the moral of this story? Within each of us lies our own acres of diamonds - our own silver mine. Our minds have been created by God to provide all that we will ever need. Our success in life is not "out there." It is within us.

It has been said that granted the liberty, half of the Nigerian population would love to migrate to Europe and North America. While some are washing dishes and sweeping the streets of London with chains of degrees, other Nigerians are discovering that their acres of diamonds reside in their minds and not in their locations.

Dear listener, we are divine beings, gifted with all the ingredients necessary to create our own abundance. But we must honor that which we have been given and not attempt to become that which we are not.

Be faithful to your God-given mind. Let it soar above the prevailing circumstances and you will discover that your much desired acres of diamond lie within you.