How to avoid the pitfalls of life
Just like the famous snake and ladders game, life is a complex maze of paths that lead to an ultimate end.Unlike movies, life is never a straight forward event that one can predict; it’s a journey of twists and turns that involves ups and downs, depending on the point one has reached.
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Although largely unpredictable, experience has shown that one can avoid various pitfalls if the right guidelines are followed.
This is what Revered Albert Ocran sought to achieve in his message titled: ‘snakes and ladders.’
It was replayed on the Springboard, Your Virtual University, on Joy FM on Sunday..
He explained that life was not a straight line journey that required a person to travel from the beginning to the end and disembarked thereof.
Instead, he said it was a complex journey that is often flooded with traps and enablers, similar to what exists in the snake and ladder game.
“Each of us is on a journey with God that has a beginning and an expected end,” he said.
Drawing inspirations from some Biblical readings, Rev Ocran said experience over the years had showed that life was full different snakes and ladders, which collective have an impact on the progress one can make.
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“The third lesson we can learn is that our journey is either hindered by snakes or helped by the ladders. Snakes bring us down and ladders bring us down,” he said.
That notwithstanding, Rev Ocran said it was the actions and decisions of people that will determine whether one will be hindered by snakes or helped by ladders.
The game of life
Rev. Ocran said the future of an individual in the game of life is determined by one thing, which was movement.
“Just keep moving ever forward. Do not stop at the foot of a snake and throw away the dice. Just keep moving. Get up again, and keep moving.”
“You might like to pause for a moment to recharge the batteries or even have a little cry but then persist and on the way, learn from your mistakes or misfortunes until you reach the finishing line as a seasoned victor,” he said.
To avoid the snakes, Rev Ocran said it was crucial for individual to make a decision to move from strength to strength, navigating oneself and carefully avoiding the snakes to rather stay on the ladders.
He said the book of Ecclesiastes 10:8 the Bible warns about the impact of snakes when it says “he who digs a pit will fall into it and whoever break through a wall will be bitten by a serpent.”
Voice of temptation
He cited the voice of temptation as one of the dangerous snakes (hindrance) that particularly appear at particular times on the journey of life, explaining that there were some that turn to appear at the beginning of the journey or at the tail end.
“The snake of temptation often offer short-cut, for instance, to make more money you need to falsify a document and get the money faster.”
“So, temptation offers financial, emotional short-cut but it is important to focus on the journey,” he said.
“However, at the end of the day, it is not the number of ladders or snakes that you face in your life that will determine your fate; it is meeting the finish line successfully that really matters,” he added.
Voice of pride
Explaining further, Rev Ocran said one thing that every individual needed to watch out and avoid was the voice pride.
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He said experience had shown that the more one progresses, the more likelihood he/she was prone to habour pride.
While admitting that commendations were good, he said they could be the trigger points for pride to set in, which, if not watched and nipped in the bud, could return to hurt the progress of the person in the journey of life.
“The snake of pride throws out comparative phrases and makes us look bigger than we really are. Friends, when you reach 30 years, you will hear people saying ‘you are doing well.’
“When they say that it does not mean that you are doing more than someone who is 85 years and the temptation to allow pride in increases.
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“But when we succumb to the voice of pride, we will slip and come back from the little progress we have made,” he said.
He also urged against selective obedience, explaining that the situation where people chose who to obey and disobey could be a trigger point for failure in the future. — GB