Back in the day, as recent as the 90s, digital photography was non-existent. Everything was film-based and the century old American company, Kodak, ruled. Kodak was founded in the late 1880s and became a giant in the photography industry in the 1970s. They were so big and so successful they practically pushed their competitors off the market. In the late 1970s, Kodak had an 85% market share in cameras and 90% market share in film. They were peerless in this space and indeed every captured memorial moment by a photographic click was nicknamed Kodak moment. But here we are. Every captured moment and sharing of these moments have gone digital and most young people, 20yrs and under may never have heard of Kodak.
Today we talk of new big icons – Apple, Microsoft, Google, Samsung, amazon, Toyota, Coca Cola and the likes. They rule their space. It might be too far-fetched to contemplate that they will not be this iconic in some 50 years or 100 years to come. But we have had too many examples before to suggest it is impossible for them to disappear or become ordinary. Kodak was over a century old before it filed for bankruptcy protection. I grew up with Hi5 yet I cannot be sure my 5yr old son will grow up into his 20s with facebook. Therefore, between my generation and his, could well be the appearance and disappearance of really strong revolutionary communication techs such as Hi5, Snapchat, Facebook, Wechat, Instagram, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Tiktok, FaceTime and the likes. Nothing is permanent. Dine-in restaurants may no longer be needed and businesses with big investment in brick and mortar restaurants will have to close. Banking halls are already emptying up and church auditoriums may get smaller than bigger. Smartphones and computers may disappear. And cars and all forms of transportation of humans and goods will evolve significantly. Does anyone remember the Casio digital diary (The Organizer)? Nothing is permanent.
In the same way, the leadership position you occupy today is not permanent so have the end in mind. The day is coming when you will move on or be moved on. The privileges and authority you have as a Leader was conferred on you by virtue of the position you occupy and those will be left behind with the position when you have moved on. The only thing that will go with you is the respect your earned whilst leading – how you made people feel, not what you did.
And so is your pain – it is not meant to last. Indeed, very soon, you will not remember it. Don’t make it permanent by nurturing it. Do not accommodate it longer than you ought to. Treat it as the guest that it is meant to be and quickly see it off. Pain, failures, misfortune and their family members are meant to toughen you, to make you grow, to cause you to rethink and/or refocus, and to flip over to a new page. Like a fresh wound, it hurts badly but surely it will heal. It might become a scar but that’s all it will be – a reminder of what you went through.
The book of Ecclesiastes has been appropriately styled The Confession of King Solomon. Scholars have noted that, “the writer is a man who has sinned in giving way to selfishness and sensuality, who has paid the penalty of that sin in satiety and weariness of life, but who has through all this been under the discipline of a divine education, and has learned from it the lesson which God meant to teach him.”
The wisest King that ever lived then concluded after his extended divine study of this world that EVERYTHING is meaningless; that there is nothing to anything in this world. We have all received the burden of a lifetime of work; working our fingers to the bone yet nothing to permanently show for it because what we work for will not last, neither will we. But we have given ourselves to the pursuit of success through our work which is nothing but temporary. Truth is, God gave us work and it was not meant to be a burden. It was originally His work handed over to us. But did God define success as we do today?
We have not always been told the truth about success. The truth is that, it does not last. The human capacity is expanding so exponentially that what was an extraordinary feat a generation ago is only ordinary today. What took extraordinary effort to accomplish is now routinely surpassed with ease. Sometimes we wonder why it even stood as a record in the first place. And what we have not been told by successful people is that, they no longer feel successful after they have achieved the success. They yearn for more not because they want to be successful again, but they wonder what that success was really all about. Once there, unlike everyone applauding, they don’t see the big deal anymore. The feeling might linger awhile but only for a while. Human success and satisfaction are a mirage. True success is spirit deep not skin deep.
God wants us to live to our fullest potential and be fruitful regardless that what we labour for is temporary and a chasing after the wind as the Preacher in Ecclesiastes puts it. He wants us to live well and enjoy the work He has gifted us. But He has also set eternity in the heart of man that we will long for Him, perhaps seek Him and find him through our work. And so He reminds us with many other happenings like earthquakes, thunder, lightning and the ramifications of pandemics like covid-19, that we ought not to forget that all our pursuits are temporary and there will be no meaning in them for us without anchoring it in Him. For no one can truly enjoy work and life without God. All of man’s efforts without God will not bring him fulfilment. We give ourselves so uncompromisingly to work to reach the highest summit of our work life as though it is the blessing of life. We call that success yet the next day, we feel empty, an insatiable longing for something else. Work will be a curse to you without the blessings of God.
I recently saw a video clip on WhatsApp of a touching story of two lizards in a Japanese hollow wall. The feet of one of the lizards had been mistakenly nailed to wood during the construction of the wall. Yet for about 5 years it survived, stuck to one place in-between those dark hollow walls. Apparently, another lizard had, for those five long years, been untiringly bringing the trapped lizard food daily to ensure that it survived. They both hoped that one day, the nailed lizard will be free and they will be together again. Like that trapped lizard, you don’t need a lot to survive in this world. When you are really stuck and left with no choice, like covid-19 thought us, you will realize that you don’t need a lot of the things we work for, to live. You need family and you need God. Never be too busy with work that you abandon your loved ones and God. It is meaningless; a curse of work.
