SPEECH BY CELESTINA AKU YANNEY (MRS), TO THE YOUTH OF FIRST BAPTIST SCHOOL, COMMUNITY 5, TEMA

TOPIC;

HARDWORK AND DISCIPLINE IN THE YOUTH.

Hard work is defined as anything that challenges you. It pays through perseverance, resilience and discipline. The greater your capacity for hard work, the more rewards fall within your grasp. The deeper you can dig, the more treasure you can potentially find. Being healthy, getting organised, setting goals, making plans to achieve them and staying on track is all hard work. Even being happy is hard work. Your life will reach a whole new level when you stop avoiding and fearing hard work and simply surrender to it. Only through hard work can we achieve our desires and dreams.

Discipline is defined as a way of life. It has many virtues like being focused, staying healthy and avoiding problems. Many successful people in life owe their success to discipline.

Self discipline is nothing but training and controlling yourself and your conduct not only for personal improvement, but for the improvement of your professional life too.

The bible speaks profusely about hard work and discipline and its effects on us. I will give you but a few of these.

• In Proverbs 13;24, it says, whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.
• In Hebrews 12;11 it says, for the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
• Proverbs 13;24, it says, whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.
• Hebrews 12;5-6 it says……my son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.
• Proverbs 29;15 it says, the rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.

To be hardworking and disciplined takes a lot of sacrifice from you. Your parents, teachers, pastors have a huge job instilling these virtues into you but ultimately it takes your own mind your own determination to have these virtues.

As youngsters, being reproached, whipped and disciplined might irritate you. But remember, it is necessary to shape you and make you a better person to face the future. The future is for all of you, but you have to embrace it properly. If you do not have the fundamental virtues of hard work and discipline you will be unable to face the riguors of life. Out there you are on your own, and you will have to take decisions by yourself.

You are graduating to another level of your education. Some of you are moving on to Senior School, whilst the rest of you are now going to begin your mainstream school at newphaseblends.com.

Well, to those of you entering Senior school, there is a whole lot of issues you may be aware of, others you are not sure of, and others you are totally ignorant of. Out there you may have a lot of independence, you need the ability to make your own decisions, and think for yourself. Your parents will definitely not be readily available in any event. In such instances you will have to rely firstly on the holy spirit for guidance and discernment. Thereafter you may have to talk to your teachers, who will advice you accordingly.

There are various ways of getting yourself in track. In other words, staying in the loop, concentrating and disciplining yourself to achieve good results.

Let’s take the use of mobile phones in school for instance. They may be necessary but also a hindrance to your concentration on your school work. In my time, there was nothing like mobile phones and we still made it. We were able to communicate when necessary. These phones carry a whole lot of pressure on your youngsters. The peer pressure alone to use the most fashionable handset is overwhelming. I will personally advice against it. I would prefer you to contact your teacher, or housemaster or housemistress if you need to send your parents any message. After all, you have your mates around you, and whatever you want to tell them can be said in person. The use of social media like the all known whassup and facebook add another level of de-concentration which will definitely distract you from your books.

You need to concentrate on your school work, involve yourself in group work discussions, where you discuss each lesson on a daily basis. This study method helps a lot so that by the time you write your term exams you are very well prepared.

Discipline entails a lot of sacrifice. As youngsters you are under extreme pressure from your peers, regarding dating, friendships, fashion, to mention but a few. In disciplining yourself you will have to forego a lot of things. You will face discrimination from your peers. The use of your mobile phone will be curtailed. If necessary you might have to use a “yam” instead of a smart phone or forego the use of a mobile phone altogether.

Most of the time you will realise that there are a few people who are not interested in these things and still live happily in school. I would advice that you are better off associating yourself with this crowd. It may be difficult for you but it is part of the sacrifice you will have to make to be successful. Abstaining from bad company helps to shape you and discipline you. Usually in schools this peculiar crowd of people who do not engage in theses worldly exuberances are named the ‘krife’ group. You will again realise that these students are well organised and very respectful. Of course, if you are guided by the holy spirit your life is well controlled. If you give your life to Christ and live by his standards your life is organised and you excel in all you do. In Christ you will live and have your being.

Once you sacrifice the ways of this world, and live for Christ, your life is organised and you are disciplined. There are several things you will never do. You will also realise that you have more time to study, you concentrate on your self, there is no pressure on you, simply because you have given your life to Christ and avoided the wrong crowd. You will certainly excel in your studies and make yourself and your parents proud.

In my criminology lectures in the law faculty, there was this topic on vices, prostitution and armed robbery among the youth. There were always these catch phrases, ‘where do we go from here? ‘ ‘who is free?’

Well, look at it this way. In Christ, you are free, turn a blind eye to the ways of this world, don,t look back and move on. You have a better life ahead of you.

In the book of Proverbs, specifically chapter 22; vrs 6, it says train a child the way he should grow….’ . This means train a child the best way suited to a child’s unique make up, abilities and God given personality.

• As a child, you are valuable to God and yourself because of who you are, not because of what you accomplish.
• Note that it is impossible to complete every single assignment without errors
• Think about mistakes as opportunities to experiment, clarify your personal values, learn and improve your skills, improve your thinking and decision making
• Listen to your parents and others responsible for your upkeep
• You don’t have to be a perfectionist
• There are many ways of solving problems. You can think about it, talk about it and get things done.
• When you are done, celebrate the effort, not the result.
• Praise things unrelated to achievement such as generosity, honesty, kindness
• Reduce your pressure, don’t associate yourself with everything.

Remember that when you are disciplined, you have the potential be a leader. Discipline is a gateway to a successful future. To be a great leader you must be ready to serve.

Matthew 20;27 says ‘ and whoever desires to be the first among you, let him be your slave’. Remember, Jesus washed the feet of his disciples.

Brannon said ‘ If great and small work side by side, when it comes time to lend a hand, if all will turn their backs on pride, Christ’s servant heart they’ll understand’

Have a servant’s attitude to life if you want to be great. Great leaders are the best servants.

Matthew 20;26 ‘ whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant’. The story is told of a Dean of a Christian College. As a joke some boys smeared the walls of their dorm with shaving cream, peanut butter and jelly one night. When the Dean heard about it, he was torn between forcing the boys to clean it up or ordering the janitor to do so. Instead, he decided to clean it up himself. As soon as he started, doors started opening, students came out to help, and the bad boys themselves eventually came out and cleaned the walls. The boys were soo ashamed of themselves. Moral here is that because the Dean took the role of a servant arcannabis, he taught the boys a valuable lesson .

Lastly, I will end here with my all-time favourite quote in Proverbs 3; 5-6. ‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths.’

I wish you all a successful future. May the good Lord be with you and keep you safe.

Goodbye and stay blessed.