Noah’s Ark Lessons
Here are some things I learned from the story of Noah’s Ark, peppered with my life experiences, to demonstrate what I learned from Noah’s Ark.
1) Always plan your actions:
The flood was not going to come anytime soon. And no rain or flood was forecasted. Noah started planning and building the ark slowly way before, and by the time the flood came, he was prepared. You live your life on a day to day basis. Fine. But the planner in you cannot afford to plan only on a daily basis. He needs to know the objectives/missions/visions for the week/month/year and sometimes in x years time. Plan your education. Plan the money for your education. Plan your career path, preferably aligned with your passion and interest.
Plan for your retirement, even if you’re 20.
2) Critics will always criticize:
Every time they pass by Noah building his ark, they always have something to say, usually negative. Critics will always criticize. That’s why we call them critics. But if you believe your mission is right and aligned, then you keep at it. You might have to miss some family functions to keep at your work. But there will come a day, the results-day, when things will come together as a worthwhile feeling, drowning all other past bitterness. And who knows, you would be in the critical position to give a helping hand who were busy enjoying themselves and not giving you a hand.
3) Age is just a number. Stay fit:
You can’t stop getting old, but stay fit. I do not mean just physically fit, but mentally, spiritually and emotionally. Noah didn’t get his super main mission-of-his-life until he was 600 years old! They used to draw, in my childhood textbooks, a 60-year old man as a hunched old man with a walking stick. Now, it’s hard to see such a 60-year old man. I just watched a 93-yr old dame doing the salsa dance with her 23-yr old partner in Somewhere’s Got Talent show. And we have a 93-year old man becoming a Prime Minister in Malaysia, long after his heydays, and still doing some rocking-ons for his country.
So, age is just a number, guys. I know how it feels when you past 30 and you feel you haven’t achieved. I know how it feels when you past 40 and you feel that 10 years have passed so fast and yet …. you haven’t achieved!
Most probably things might still suck at 50, or even 60. But what are we in this life for? Why not just keep trying until our game is finally over?
So, you owe it to yourself to ignore your age-number and concentrate on keeping fit and healthy cause that’s the real thing, not age, that will bring you down if unchecked.
4) Speed is not always an advantage:
The cheetahs were on-board and so were the snails.
It’s true that speed and quick-action is essential in many aspects. But if that happens to be lacking due to uncontrollable reasons, man tends to become no-action. He forgets about slow-action, thinking it’s basically useless. Slow and steady wins the race is not just some mild saying reserved for the kid’s moral textbooks. Many young-looking successful actors are not really young. Try looking at their background and you will see that they have endeavoured, persevered, learned and all those things took many many years with failures and minor successes until their big break comes.
So, go fast if you can. If you can’t, then go slow. Just go and keep going. That’s the main keyword. And you’ll reach your destiny.
5) Don’t look down on amateurs:
As the saying goes: amateurs built the Ark while professionals built the Titanic. We wouldn’t know what would succeed and what would fail, despite our professional opinions on them.
So, when you see some “bunch of kids” working on something you perceived as lousy, just give them the benefit of the doubt until the end, or at least after proven as lousy, not prematurely.
And what’s worse than the broken nose you will get when the people you labelled as losers suddenly overtake you as winners.
6) Remain faithful and optimistic.
No matter how bleak things look, if God is traveling with you, there’s always going to be a rainbow of peace on the other side of the storm.
Even if you do not believe in God, surely you must respect the notion that success comes to those who persevere and wait and not give up. Do not worry too much because worrying doesn’t help in any bit of your efforts. It’s just counter-productive.
Add a dash of hope and faith to your mission while working productively at it.
God willing, success will come one day. And you will sail the boat of success.
And so far, that’s what I learned from Noah’s Ark, and so can you.
Other Noah’s Ark links:
https://www.thoughtco.com/noahs-ark-and-the-flood-700212
Other Life Stories:
https://www.getchanuggets.com/category/life/
