ARE YOU A GRASSHOPPER?

Are you a grasshopper?

In a popular Bible story, a group of spies went into a land to gather intel on it and they came back with an interesting report.

While they affirmed that the land was indeed beautiful, flowing with milk and honey, ten of them interjected their wonderful advertorial with a rather depressing statement about the occupants of the land, and by extension, themselves...

How they saw themselves...

And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

They saw the opposition as giants, and in comparison saw themselves as grasshoppers, and then concluded in their hearts and by their words that the opposition saw them as grasshoppers too. A conclusion they came to on their own, without any supporting empirical evidence.

Their revelation caused panic, as the multitude of people who never visited the land to confirm this ill-advised report drank up the depression, lock, stock and barrel, and began to fear so much that they desired to go back into slavery, which they believed would be easier than to contend with the opposition they hadn't even seen with their own two eyes.

This wonderful case study speaks volumes about how many human beings think, speak and act. It shows how the fear of the unknown causes one to seek comfort in familiar territory, even when such territory is unpleasant and unprofitable. How the fear of paying the price for success can make one belittle the prize of success, and subsequently take away the appetite for succeeding.

Above all, it explains how viral and believable bad news is, when juxtaposed with good, and how one or two people (in this case ten people) can give such a venomous version of an event they witnessed with such vigour and vitality, that it quenches and quietens the version of others, making other versions less believable even though it may be true.

What is most painful however, is that the multitude allowed the ten spies to make inferences about them and their abilities without as much as asking themselves whether such inferences were a true reflection of their image and capacity. One would have expected someone (other than the two more confident spies) to rise up and tell the ten spies to speak for themselves. If they felt like grasshoppers, that was on them. It was their own self-image.?

Their own self-image...

"If you see yourself as a grasshopper and feel like a grasshopper, that's you! I see myself as a giant and feel like a giant! I refuse to be a grasshopper and I refuse to allow someone else to transfer his own view of himself to me and make me see myself the way he sees himself, when we are different people! I refuse to turn back and lose this great prize that I have come so far to collect simply because ten fearful people?are so afraid that they're ready to throw away a great opportunity without making a single attempt at taking it."

And therein lies the lesson. Don't allow anyone tell you who you are and aren't, what you can or cannot do, and where you can or cannot go! Don't allow them project their own failures onto you and make you feel incapable or unqualified to attain the heights they fell short of.

Tell yourself you are a giant! Taller than whatever obstacle that can rise up between you and your goals. You will not be gaslit, you will not be made light of. If everyone has failed before you tried, tell them that they never tried it your way.

Don't let people tell you things like "That company doesn't employ second class lower graduates" or "That your business will never work in this country" or "That your degree is useless in this job market." Respectfully disagree with them, study your target and the uncover novel paths to attain it. Believe that nothing is impossible and nobody ever achieved anything by not trying.

Another group of people in an earlier chapter of the Bible came together in unity of purpose to attempt to build a tower tall enough to reach heaven, so they could make a name for themselves.

The reason for the Almighty halting their attempt left us with an invaluable lesson - Nothing they imagine to do will be impossible for them!

?Let that sink in today and let it clear out every contrary view you have of yourself and your abilities.

You are not a grasshopper and nothing is too difficult for you.

Go out there and conquer this month!

To your success,

O.A. Williams?

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Copyright ? 2024 Olayinka A. Williams - All rights reserved.

PS. Tell me how you see yourself. Let's hear some powerful affirmations in the comment section.?

Thank you.?