My dear child, you are you doing today? I am sure you are doing well. I am glad you are settling well into school.  I saw that you almost held on to me as I hugged you after dropping you in school earlier today. It is well my dear child. We must suffer it to be so now for another cause. It is called the cause of education. I must tell you it is an excellent cause. I remember the words of Nelson Mandela on education. The sage said, ‘education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the son of a mineworker can become the head of the mine, that a child of farm workers can become the president of a great nation. It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another.’ I believe that this little time that we are apart for few hours in a day is for a worthy cause. I know you miss me and I miss you too.

I think I should continue with our discussion, the 12 Commandments for Your Difference in 2014:

3. Live committed to all-round development: as we have discussed during our Family Time-Out, which you like to abbreviate as FTO, we are tripartite beings. We are spirits, who have souls and live in a body. Therefore, we must pay attention to our development in all these areas. Do you know what I have found my child? Many only pay attention to the body. Fewer pay attention to the soul and lesser number pay attention to the spirit. I will not spend much time on the spirit because I have dealt with it in the first commandment. I assure you that if you can follow the first commandment fully, you will develop spiritually.

Today, I want to pay attention to your soul. My child, do you know that your soul is the seat of your mind, your will and your emotions? Your mind is the seat of your thinking faculty. Your will is the seat of your decision-making faculty and your emotion houses your senses; it is called you five senses, taste, sight, touch, smell, earring (auditory).

Can I shock you my child? If your soul is left unto itself it will not develop and if it develops, it will not be positive. It will pick all the negative things and soon become your number one enemy. Your soul will not develop positively on its own. You must develop it.

You are wondering, where to start from? I feel you my dear child. I will break it down. All the members of your soul (mind, will and emotion) are united; they receive instruction from one source and speak through one source. The members of the soul have appointed the mind as the seat of discipline. This is how it works my child, the mind instructs the will and the will instructs the emotion. How do you discipline you mind, you bring it in contact with the right knowledge. The right knowledge comes through your eye-gate and your ear-gate. It therefore means, you must read books that can develop your mind and also listen to stuffs that will do same. Please read more of true-life-story of great men and women. Also watch their movies and documentaries. Do not listen to too much of the music that the majority of your mates listen to; they cannot help you too much. Trust me my dear child, they cannot help you, I repeat. In fact, if I must tell you the whole truth, they are poisonous to your soul…You mean it? Yes, I am very sure.

Before you give your mind to any material, ask the question, what value does this add to my present and future? I need you to understand that the information you deliberately feed or allow into your mind will determine what you know, what you know will determine your values, your values will determine your habits, your habits will determine your relationships, your relationships will determine your rewards, your rewards will determine your significance.

I know you are a child and you want to have fun but I charge you my child, have fun but do not have fun for fun. You know what, your life as a child is not a rehearsal for your adult life. Your life has started now. If you take the right decisions now, particularly in the area of developing your mind, all you will need to do is to manage it for the rest of your life. The reverse is also true, if you take the wrong decisions also, you will live to repair it for the rest of your life. As your parent, I wish I had known this early in life. Your friends who make jest of you today will surely come to seek your help tomorrow.

I must charge you finally today, my dear child that it is not too early for you to take life seriously and begin to pay the inevitable dues for greatness. John C. Maxwell once share what his father told him when he was growing up, ‘John, it is either you pay now and play later or you play now and pay later but whichever one, you choose, know that you will surely pay.’ I must inform you that the likes of William Colgate, Benjamin Franklin, Sarah Breedlove Walker, Bill Gates, Myles Monroe, Ben Carson, John Foppe and our own world-acclaimed, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, just to mention a few took life serious from their childhood. As I said before childhood is not equal to foolishness. It is not equal to weakness and it is not equal to irresponsibility. I urge you to take responsibility for your mind today. I charge you today, read, read and read. I charge you to read your school books and beyond that, I advise you to read books like Gifted Hands, Think Big, 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teenagers and many more. If you want to know which other books, you can read, please let me know, you can be rest assured that I will advise you accordingly. When you read, take notes of the lessons you learn and how you can apply same to your life.

You are created for greatness my dear child; it is my responsibility to point you to it. Surely, I will do. I know God, who gave you to me has given me grace.

Wow…I didn’t know this commandment will this much of our time. Anyway, I am consoled with the fact that it is worth the effort. I think we should adjourn till tomorrow…What do you think? Thank you my child for staying through this discussion. I look forward to continuing tomorrow. Do have an INSPIRED day.