WHAT GIFT IS IN YOU?
S eated on the podium, in a hall filled with young undergraduates, was one woman in the midst of three men I knew. She, an unknown face to me, was about to make a lasting impression on my entire being. The highly respected academic, the very successful IT Entreprenuer and well sought after Banker each made their deep and insightful comments to the undergrads but her life story held the crowd breathless. A woman who at 40, that age defining moment for so many, didn’t know what to make of her life nor what her purpose on earth was, looked at the last N1,000 she owned and wondered what she was going to do.
Her career as a secretary had left her dissatisfied and feeling less than she was and the prospects of a better life had long ago dissipated. She was lost in a world so many of us are all too familiar with. What was it about her life that turned things around so dramatically that within the span of 7 years she had transited from one who was so lost to a confident leader executive? She fell back on the one thing she loved to do, something she had a natural affinity towards, swallowed her pride and began to cook. The N1,000 was less than $10 and all it could make was a few helpings of Moi-Moi (beans pudding) but in this she was determined to become the best.
Every man when created, has been equipped to excel in the world by a unique gift placed in them by The Almighty. That gift is fashioned and shaped by the circumstances surrounding the individual and honed by the choices made along the way. When understood, it forms the crucible upon which a life’s purpose is built and gives meaning to the daily existence we live and this was exactly what occurred in that ladies life. The humble beans meal took her to the White House where she became the first person ever to serve Moi-Moi there. She has met UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and addressed world leaders from the platform of the Clinton Global Initiative. Her $6 investment morphed into an catering enterprise worth more than $150,000 in annual sales and as the good book says “seest thou a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean (obscure) men.” Check yourself, are you standing before kings? May the Lord help us see the gifts in us today.