Glory means Beauty, Splendour that is so overwhelming and
powerful. It is synonymous to Honour, Valour, Praise, Pride, Exaltation, Joy.
A Youth is a state of being young or the early part of one’s.
It could also mean the Juvenile state of a being. It never lasts forever.
In the bible, Proverbs 20:29 tells us that “The glory of
youths is their STRENGTH”. That means a youth is a person who is full of
Strength and highly adventurous whether married or not even if he /she makes
mistakes in the process, he/she should be ready to learn from them and continue
on the journey to success using a new and better Experience. Permit to say that
that so many Youths have lost their Glory to Laziness and Distractions.
As at the time of my writing this article, today is the
burial ceremony of a great ICON in Nigeria, late Prof. Albert Chinualumogu
Achebe born on 16th November, 1930 in a small town of Ogidi -
Anambra state (and died on 21st March, 2013) wrote one of the most
widely read book (over 8 million copies sold and translated into over 50
languages) as a youth (age 28) – THINGS FALL APART. Though full of so many
challenges such as being born to a very poor parents (fisherman), a dropout of
a prestigious course (medicine) and of course losing the scholarship he had in
the process, graduating with a poor result of second class lower division as a
pioneer student in the first university that was ever established in Nigeria,
University of Ibadan, Joblessness after graduation and also his novel being
rejected by over twenty publishers in the U. K. at its first publication, still
refused to be discouraged and have excuse but has now been known as the
greatest successful fighter against Racism and the best promoter of the African
Culture. Most times I wonder why he was not given the award of the ‘Nobel
Laureate’ Price like his School mate Prof. Wole Soyinka.
LESSONS I HAVE LEARNT FROM THIS RENOWNED ICON
1.
Being
a Lover of Books, no wonder He became a professor in the Brown University, USA
until his death. “Readers are truly Leaders”.
2.
He
learns from every situation within and around him.
3.
Always
draws closer to Elites, those who were more knowledgeable than him.
4.
Highly
Intelligent, no wonder the novel ‘Things Fall Apart’ is highly educative and
shows true intelligence of the Author.
5.
He
had a highly rated Creative mind, never
wanted to do what others were doing, that is why ‘Things Fall Apart’ is widely
appreciated for its Uniqueness (The first of its kind in its days).
6.
He
Never gives Up. Even when faced with so much challenges of joblessness,
Rejection, Poverty, Auto-accident. He kept his Ambitions alive and still
continued to try other ideas until he got it right.
7.
He had
a drive. Even when he failed out of his medical course in school, he decided to
re-seat for the entrance exam immediately but now in the course he had always
had passion for (which is telling stories and promoting his culture) and today
he is celebrated as a legend in Modern Literature.
8.
He
was Adventurous. He took out time and much effort to make findings on how best
to achieve his ambitions. He did this by reading (the bible, magazines, novels,
motivational books, journals) and meeting like-minded people so as to gather
every necessary information.
Therefore the areas in which the glory
a Youth is expected to show forth includes but not limited to these eight
points (Qualities) listed above as the lessons I have personally learnt from
this great ICON. In conclusion, Any youth who can possess all of these and
above all Walk with the Holy Spirit in every of his/her endeavours is very
close to showing forth his/her Glory to the whole world and shine like the
Brightest Star in the midst of a thick darkness.
For: The Youth Ministry
Joshua Umoh
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