Create Your Future -Archbishop Margaret Idahosa

The distance between your starting point and destination is a void which can only be reconciled by action, and action is the final translation of thoughts and decisions into reality. Action is self-generated and self-propelled, but to realize itself, it must use external materials to gain impetus and to achieve its purpose. Thus, it is a step taken to bridge the gap between intentions and set goals.

Nothing illustrates this than the spider. What is remarkable about this little creature is its ability to create from within itself. The size of the spider web is in it. It alone can decide what it wants, whether the web will be big or small according to the dictates of its demand.

To begin, it looks into a point ahead of it and spits the first webbing. It springs straight and true and then gums. The spider quickly runs on the web ligament, moving highly across it and gets to the end of the line then it takes another look at the points and spits again. The webbing gums again. The spider quickly runs across and spits again to another point. It does this four times and in this way.

It is when it finishes weaving the web that it sets its trap which will trap flies and other insects which will become food for it. The flies and insects will come and the hard working spider will begin to feed fat, hardly leaving the vicinity of its home and the reward its labour has brought.

 

Now what is remarkable about this spider story?

1) The size of the web is within the spider. It alone can determine the size, whether is going to be a tiny thing in the corner of a room or if it is going to be woven across the path in the jungle. The size of your dream is in you and it is only you that can determine whether it is going to be a little apology hanging in the corner of a space or it is going to be so large that it will compel the applause of an appreciating audience and history.

2) The spider consistently and continually sets goals as it spits from one post to the other and as it sets its scaffold. To do this, it measures its goal carefully and ensures every webbing spat will always hit the target. You also need to set achievable goals and spit into your future. The spiders spit are its reach to the future. Your goals must also remain your total preoccupation. Become so preoccupied with them, as you focus. After this spit into your future.

3) The various post represent the goals you must consistently set throughout your life. Life consists of consistent goal setting. You achieve one and set another. These accumulated goals which you regularly achieve determine the level of your success in life. Therefore there is no definite success, for success can be defined in terms of the number of goals that have been achieved. Struggle to achieve your goals for the road to success is always under construction.

4). Never be frightened by the size of your dream. The spider web is always bigger than its owner. Let your dream be bigger than you.

5) Be meticulous in the construction of your dream. The spider always is. One cannot but wonder at the symmetry of the spider’s web design. One little square moves from the centre to another in a sequence of size that is amazing. It faces its daunting task without hesitation. It does not leave what had to be done till tomorrow. It does not procrastinate. So do not procrastinate. Step on to that work and little by little your dream shall become a reality as you put one layer upon the other.

6). Buy your tomorrow. Don’t sell it. The spider always has eyes for the future. It builds a web that is not only strong enough to take its weight and the food that will come its way, but also strong enough to withstand the vagrancies of the elements and the weather. So have eyes for your tomorrow. Do not be like Esau who sold his tomorrow for his today. You need to know that Jacob who cooked that pot of lentils was hungry before he cooked it, but he saw the opportunity that was in the tomorrow and he purchased it from Esau. Esau unfortunately could not see the advantage of securing the future and so he sold it to Jacob to gratify his today. You need to know that today has limit and the future is limitless.

7) There is always a harvest after labour. Harvest does not come before labour, it comes after it. Do your work now when you can and the harvest will come. Remember to prepare and mend your net. Peter mended his net and took the harvest of fish that came after the Master commanded. The spider weaves a strong and tight web with attention to close symmetric pattern and structure. No fly that gets into the spider web escapes; neither does any insect. So, mend and prepare your nets so well you do not leave any hole for the food you expect to escape.

God is the bringer of the harvest but he expects you to prepare the ground for the harvest. Do not play games with your life. Life is not a game of rehearsals… it is a game of reality.

Make something out of your life. Do not stand gazing at the moon, but start creating your future.