The Climb

The Climb by Miley Cyrus

I can almost see it
That dream I’m dreaming but
There’s a voice inside my head sayin,
You’ll never reach it,
Every step I’m taking,
Every move I make feels
Lost with no direction
My faith is shaking but I
Got to keep tryin
Got to keep my head held high

There’s always going to be another mountain
I’m always going to want to make it move
Always going to be an uphill battle,
Sometimes I'm going to have to lose,
Ain’t about how fast I get there,
Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side
It’s the climb

The struggles I’m facing,
The chances I’m taking
Sometimes might knock me down but
No I’m not breaking
I may not know it
But these are moments that
I’m going to remember most yeah
Just got to keep going
And I,
I got to be strong
Just keep pushing on,
cause

There’s always going to be another mountain
I’m always going to want to make it move
Always going to be an uphill battle,
Sometimes I'm going to have to lose,
Ain’t about how fast I get there,
Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side
It’s the climb

There’s always going to be another mountain
I’m always going to want to make it move
Always going to be an uphill battle,
Sometimes you're going to have to lose,
Ain’t about how fast I get there,
Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side
It’s the climb

Keep on moving
Keep climbing
Keep the faith baby
It’s all about
It’s all about
The climb
Keep the faith
Keep your faith

Goodbye, MJ

Finally, I am ready to let him go.....Michael Jackson and I grew up together...I connected with his songs way back when he was still with Jackson 5. Ben, I'll Be There....When I started strumming the guitar, it was his songs that became my favourites. Then, in my varsity days, he went solo and had so many hits. We would rushed to the common room just to watch him sing Beat It, all one hundred of us in the cramped room. Those days there were no MTV and every video clip was magic.
Later, when i got married, and had a son, he became my son's favourite singer too..That is how transcending he is and then, when the media became preoccupied with his 'weirdness', i sensed that he was just lost and very alone...Anyone could see that he was troubled but no one could help him...As I watch his videos again, I cannot fathom how someone so talented could be so unsure of himself. How someone so gifted could be so lost without his Maker.
I stayed up late to watch his memorial on tv. The minute Mariah Carey sang "You and I must make a pact.....' from 'I'll be there' the tears started and continued throughout the show. When Brooke Shields went up to give her farewell speech, I was sobbing too cos i could see that her friendship with him was genuine and special.

My cousin sent me a big box. In it, there is a CD of his greatest hits and a special issue of Time magazine on his life...there is more space for his memorabilia but none can ever replace the empty space he left behind....
May you finally rest in peace now

The Victim Trap

My favourite author has this to say as a motivation....
The Victim Trap
Stephen Covey: Author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness

Half of us spend time on urgent things—and not important things. It's like an urgency addiction: We need what we're doing to be pressing, or we feel guilty about it. But to succeed at change, you must become the creating force of your own life. That means instead of focusing on the urgent thing—it acts on you—you must focus on the important thing and making it happen—you act on it.

One habit that gets in the way of success is the victim mentality. I worked with Viktor Frankl, a Nazi prison camp survivor, for many years. His initial response at the hands of his captors was, Why do I have to suffer so? But later he began to change the question to, What is life asking of me? Each time he started to feel himself the victim, he would find someone suffering more and give half his meager rations to the person. His mantra became, "He who has a 'why' can live with any 'what' or live with any 'how.'"

I phoned Viktor before he passed away and told him how grateful I was for his life's work. He said, "Stephen, you talk to me as if I'm checking out." He was in the intensive care unit. He was blind. His wife was reading to him five hours a day. And yet he said he had two more projects he was trying to finish up.

Even if you feel like a victim of your circumstances and have no formal authority, try to create your own moral authority. Show that you have personal courage.

Being faithful in little things

Was reminded today about Joseph's story in the Bible. Joseph is Jacob's favourite son. His ten older siblings were jealous of him. He was sold by his siblings to be an egyptian slave. Yet, he did not complain about his negative circumstances. Instead, he rose and shone and his talents made room for him. He could have given up as his situation was impossible. Yet, he chose to remain faithful, doing what he can and he soon found favour with his boss. Again, he met with unfavourable circumstances. His boss' wife became interested in him but he spurned her advances...she accused him of molesting her and her husband threw him into jail...yet, again, in jail, he found favour and the warden put him in charge of all the inmates. One day, his boss had a dream and only Joseph could interpret his dream..Later, his boss made him in charge of Egypt. When famine came, Joseph is the one who eventually saved his family. Joseph rose in power from slave to ruler of Egypt.He eventually saved a nation from the famine.
The lesson to be learnt from Joseph's life is what matters is not so much the events or circumstances of life but your response to them..Joseph did not ask God 'Why' but instead his attitude was 'What shall I do now?' He was very aware that God was with him all the way.