The Nigerian social media space has been agog with the news of Chef Hilda Baci’s attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the longest time spent cooking, currently at 87 hours and 45 minutes. Wow!!! This roughly translates to 3 days, 6.25 hours spent cooking, and her target is 93 hours, (3 days, 7 hours, and 30 minutes) with only an hour of rest every 12 hours. This means if she breaks the record (at the time of this article, she was at 76+ hours), she would have just 4 hours of rest in 93+ hours of cooking to break the record. What a fantastic feat of endurance and determination.

As I pondered the driving nature of the task Hilda had set herself to accomplish, it occurred to me that the human mind is so powerful. I am certain that the thought crossed her mind in one moment, and as she continued to brood on it, that thought began to come alive. At a time, that thought began to shape the course of all her choices, eventually leading her to the point where she could now begin the attempt to make a record that has won her the admiration of a nation. Just like Hilda, we often have moments when thoughts with the tendency to catapult us into global relevance cross our minds, but what do we do with them?

In today’s devotional, we will be looking at how we can maximize these moments, but first, let’s look at the scriptures.

Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And the Lord said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them.— Genesis 11:3–6 (NKJV)

One of the key takeaways in this story is the fact that God acknowledged that nothing would stop these guys from accomplishing their goal. Knowing that God doesn’t waste words, when he says nothing will stop them, God has factored in death, hunger, lack of materials, technological inadequacies, finances, etc., yet he said nothing would stop them. This shows us the level of power our thoughts wield; if only we can follow through on them, it can make us achieve feats of global or even divine proportions.

Now, from Hilda’s record attempt and the guys from Babel, we can deduce 3 fundamental lessons;

1. Never leave thoughts the same way they come. Allow your thoughts to always push you to the point of asking the relevant questions that will begin to incubate them to the point where it now receives life. For Hilda, this might mean researching the current record and asking questions about building endurance for that duration. For the dudes at Babel, this might mean surveying, drawing, and even financial implications.

2. Build a team of vision sharers and bearers. Genesis 11:3 used the phrase “Come, let us…” the ‘us’ in that scripture is indicative of the fact that collaboration was sorted. A lot of visions and goals have died because the original bearer was trying to fly solo. Oftentimes, the inability to ask for collaboration is a sign of insecurity, which is a form of pride; and as the Bible admonishes, the only derivative of pride is a fall (Proverbs 16:18).

3. Act swiftly. Some persons have brooded so much to a fault without engaging in any outward action to put a figure to the subject of their broodings. In Genesis 1, we see how God began to speak (action) just immediately after His Spirit had brooded over the waters. In the same vein, as God carriers, we should be swift to carry out action that will cause our thoughts to come to life. For some, this might mean enrolling in that course that will set you on the way to being a high-earner or to becoming more influential. For others, it might mean breaking a habit to have and live a better life. The most important thing is to act on that thought.

As we step into a new week, one certain thing is that we will have potential life-altering/transforming thoughts, but the real output of our lives is what we do with those thoughts. Over and above the pointers above, let us submit all our thoughts to the Holy Spirit. He will help us to phrase the right questions, build the right collaborations, and take the right action that will lead us to our testimonies of glory.

See you at the table of winners, and have a great week.

Nonso Orji

@nonso_orji