Check the Manual!


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So she could not wait to discard the old phone. It was quite embarrassing with keypad that appeared to be in Spanish. The keypad had virtually wiped off- the letters were not visible. To crown it all, the phone was was not even audible . Instead of ringing, it would vibrate. The camera was nothing to write home about. All it was capable of doing was receiving and making calls. She rarely brought it out in public to avoid ridicule.

Thankfully, without asking she got a "tear rubber" phone. It happened to be one of the latest model in town. Excitement and pride ran through her veins. Her heart leaped for joy. She set aside the manual of the new phone and decided to operate it with the " know-it-all" attitude. To her own detriment, she saw that she was limiting the capacity of the phone. It had several applications and buttons that she didn't understand. What was the best thing to do? Your guess is as good as mine. It was back to square one. She had to consult the  manufacturer's manual. It had all the details in it.

The  manual is a book with so many words.  Barely everyone has the time to go through all the stuff in it. People seem to be on the fast lane. Remember every man' s mountain is his ignorance. By reading the manufacturer's manual, one would get to learn,unlearn and relearn. It is a book of discoveries,sorting out common trouble shooting issues and best of all,understanding the product.

This scenario of the lady above reminds me of a book that I read by one of my role models-Dr Myles Munroe of blessed memory. In his book-Maximising your potential, he talked about living life to ones fullest. Doing all that one can do until there is nothing left to be done.

He sited a situation where he just got a player. Without consulting the manual,he found out all he could do or knew was play, stop, rewind and pause. And there were several buttons. It was until he had read the manual that he was able to know the function of all the other buttons and how to handle the player. The performance of a product is restricted by the limitation ones ignorance places on the function.By doing so, one never experience the full potential of the machine.

In reality,man is the product while God is the manual/manufacturer. For man to develop and refine his skills, fulfil his God-given destiny,capture his purpose,expand his knowledge base and do much more, he must seek help from his Creator. Man should be willing to break free from the norm and do everything he was called to do.

Having consulted the manual of her phone, she found out that it went beyond making and receiving calls, downloading musics and taking selfies, and that the phone was more of a mini computer, she could use it for presentations,develop spread sheets, save document, transfer documents, give commands, record and much more.  Reading the manual thoroughly was paying off big time.And the result- she was getting the best out of the phone.

Reference: Maximising your potential  by Dr Myles Munroe.

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