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Your Actions Today Will Impact Your Tomorrow

June 11, 2017

 

When I started motivational writing, it was more for myself than the world outside (my head). I was just collecting the positive ideas and thoughts I experienced on a day to day basis (not for public consumption), just for myself.

Then a friend introduced me to the idea of blogging and since I love writing (and reading) I embraced the idea 100% even though I was initially afraid of people not liking my posts or enjoying my articles. My mission then was one; inspiring or motivating at least one person every day. Over 400 articles later, I realize it still is, but now more than ever, there is this urgency to do even more. I have a deep desire to ignite a fire in everyone who reads my articles so they become inspired to go after their dreams and live their lives for the purpose they were created for. I live my life every day with a desire to be a positive influencer of society. That's why in addition to blogging, I am now stepping into Vlogging. You can visit my Youtube Channel for more on this.

Why am I thinking in retrospect regarding my writing and blogging? Because earlier this week, I got a lovely surprise when someone sent me a message and introduced himself as an ardent reader of my articles on this column. This was very humbling considering when I called him and got to find out who he was, I realized my writing now has a life of its own and is no longer mine alone. There are people out there who get inspired by the 1000 plus words I put together every week and to me, this is the best reward anybody could ever give me.

What I also realized is that this thing I started with so much fear over six years ago has come of age. It somehow reminded me of a game I used to love playing called “connecting the dots”. I’m sure it still exists in some several magazines today but now that I think about it, starting the blog and then the column in this newspaper (The Guardian On Sunday) was part of several dots that needed to be connected in order for me to get connected to this reader who communicated with me this last week. Of course there are many other people I have gotten connected to through this very column and my blog, and I thank them all for being avid readers of Thoughts in Words. Thank you all and may the good Lord continue blessing you.

Thinking about the connections I’ve gotten through the column reminded me of a story I once shared on my blog the first year I started it. Kindly allow me to re-share that same story here with you today.

One day, a poor boy who was selling goods from door to door to pay his way through school, found he had only one thin dime left, and he was hungry. He decided he would ask for a meal at the next house. However, he lost his nerve when a lovely young woman opened the door. Instead of a meal he asked for a drink of water. She thought he looked hungry so brought him a large glass of milk.

He drank it slowly, and then asked, “How much do I owe you?”

She gently looked at him and replied, “You don’t owe me anything. Mother has taught us never to accept pay for a kindness.” 

He said, “Then I thank you from my heart.”

As Howard Kelly left that house, he not only felt stronger physically, but his faith in God and man was strong also. Before that moment, he had been ready to give up and quit.

Year’s later that young woman became critically ill. The local doctors were baffled. They finally sent her to the big city, where they called in specialists to study her rare disease. Dr. Howard Kelly was called in for the consultation. When he heard the name of the town she came from, a strange light filled his eyes. Immediately he rose and went down the hall of the hospital to her room. Dressed in his doctor’s gown he went in to see her. He recognized her at once. He went back to the consultation room determined to do his best to save her life. From that day he gave special attention to the case.

After a long struggle, the battle was won. Dr. Kelly requested the business office to pass the final bill to him for approval. He looked at it, then wrote something on the edge and the bill was sent to her room. She feared to open it, for she was sure it would take the rest of her life to pay for it all. Finally she looked, and something caught her attention on the side of the bill. She began to read the following words:

“Paid in full with one glass of milk” ..... Signed, Dr. Howard Kelly.

Let’s think about this for a minute.

How would things have turned out had she not given the little boy that glass of milk? What if he had died then out of hunger? What if he had not gone to her doorstep that day? What if her mother had not taught her how to be kind to people?

My guess is that she would never have met Dr. Howard Kelly.

Friends in everything you do, always do it with this thought in mind; what goes around come around. It may not come around in your lifetime but one day someone close to you will either pay for something negative you did, or they will benefit from something positive you did to/for someone some day. Every single thing you do today is a dot waiting to connect to another dot but you will never really know what the full picture is until you look back and see what you have connected. Will the picture be a good one or a bad one?

This reminds me of the famous Stanford Commencement speech given by Steve Jobs in 2005. In the speech he said, “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

Whatever you are doing today will one day connect to something else. You just have to make sure that whatever you are doing will be worth connecting to in future. Remember, you are creating your future today, not tomorrow. What you do today will impact all your tomorrows. Decisions you make (or not make) today will impact how your life turns out tomorrow (in the future).

If I hadn’t started this column, it is very likely that I would never have had a part in shaping the destinies of the people I have had an impact on through my articles. It is very possible that I would never have met the gentleman to whom today’s article I attribute.

My parting shot today is this; “Live every day knowing that it is a dot that will eventually connect to another dot.

Make every dot count.

PS: This article was originally published in Tanzania's Guardian On Sunday on the 11th June, 2017, under my weekly column "Thoughts in Words".

 

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