Licked by hunger

It has been said that hunger can drive a man to the four corners of the kitchen in search of  food in order to satiate his hunger pangs. Woe betide you if you stand in the way of a hungry man.You will not win. To save yourself from any harm, let him have his way.

In many instances, my brain just shuts down when my stomach is missing the vital life force that causes my brain to propel my body forward. I just have to find food. I will turn the fridge upside down. The pots and pans will not and cannot escape my vigilant search for that bite that will infuse me with life.

Once I am done with that angle, I can smile and look around me from a fresh perspective.

When you consider the extent to which we go to ensure that all is well in the central command post and how many obstacles we overcome to get that area in order, you can only sit back and be amazed at the power of hunger and desire. It would serve us well to translate that drive and determination into all and every area of our lives.

Many of us get too comfortable with what we have and are too plain lazy to stretch beyond ourselves, consequently we stagnate. Like a body of water that lacks continuous freshness, we become stale.

Before very long, we are irrelevant to those around us. The company will kick us out because we no longer bring value to it. Our children will look for better role models because we do not seem to flow with them. Our spouses will begin to tolerate us as opposed to love us because we are no longer interested in looking after ourselves.

 Our bodies will slowly,but surely shut down because we ceaselessly fed it on unhealthy food and denied it the physical motion that lubricates it. Our minds will, like a disused muscle, lose its elasticity and like a zombie, we shall walk around with vacant eyes...

BUT, it does not have to come to this. In us is an inbuilt ability to transcend any and every circumstance. In His graciousness, God gave us the will power to decide: to wallow in pity or to take charge and move on despite the negativity that seem to overwhelm us. 

Once you identify that which causes you to hunger; that which shuts your brain down; that which propels you to go through, over and around any challenge in front of you, you will have mined a priceless gem in your heart.

The youth in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya shed their blood because their hunger for freedom weighed more than the fear they had for the ruthless and corrupt leadership that steered their countries. Thankfully for most of us, we do not need to suffer at the whims of other men in order to discover that unrelenting hunger that causes a sane human being to erupt with seething passion.

The honest truth is that, when your heart is licked by the flames of hunger and your feet rock to the pulsating beat of desire, nothing is impossible.

Your hunger for a healthier and fitter body will drive you to avoid all processed foods. You will fall in love with the organic stuff that builds each and every part of your body into that which is pleasing before God.

Your hunger for a fine tuned mind will drive you into the arms of great reading books where you will intercourse with great minds. Your thinking will be amplified in ways that you once thought impossible. Your approach to life will change. Your horizon will stretch much further than your eye can see.

Your hunger for better company will force you to sieve the company that you keep. Those that weigh you down with their negativity and cloud of pessimism are best kept where they belong: in the dung heap of "should have been or could have been."  As the parched earth welcomes the rains, you should embrace those that lift you up and shine a light into your possibilities.

When you are licked by hunger, there is nothing that will stop you from seeking that which will cause you satisfaction. It is just as well that hunger can only temporarily be satisfied. For every goal that you attain, there is another goal to aim for.

Gather the pieces of wood. Light them up. Stoke the fire. May the sparks join hands and erupt into a huge flame that will forever lick at your hunger.