When we were young and growing up, we often did something we learned from the environment. When we have a squabble and score to settle with another person, we drew a line in the sand and dared the aggressor to cross that line if they had the balls. Another thing we did then was that someone takes sand in both palms and asks a quarrelling pair spoiling for a fight to hit one palm of sand if they really wanted the fight. Some very belligerent ones would not just hit one palm, they hit both.
What does this mean in the light of the present situation for us? Some of us inherited agelong conditions from tradition and these have become accepted as norm. It could be a long streak of poverty in a family. It could be a tradition of divorce or unsuccessful marriages. It could be early death or death of youths or not living beyond a certain age. It could be battling ill-health and such like conditions.
But, it gets to a certain time. It gets to your turn and because of a certain knowledge you have come into, because of a certain realization that you have, you begin to get a certain nudge from within you, and then you decide that you are going to put a stop to it. When it is your time, bad news must be replaced with good. You are not going to negotiate it downwards.
You take a stand against it. You decide to fight the one battle that all others before you refused to fight. You decide to confront the foe that has prevailed against all those before you. You decide it is you that will make history. You draw a line in the sand.
Drawing a line in the sand is the power of a true and compelling decision. You have weighed the odds, you have evaluated the risks that stood in the way of others, and you have discovered what is certain and what is uncertain. And you are willing to reverse the tide; to do what seemed impossible.
You make a decision. That decision must stand. Your one decision must prevail. You may not choose to make that decision today, but it is not a decision that you can run away from. Again, you may not have to wait till tomorrow because the circumstances of today may not be there tomorrow. Therefore, you have to take that step right now.
The nudge you received may not be without the subtle power of the Unseen Infinite One. A long bitter era may have suddenly come to an end and a new sweet chapter may be starting. Those who went on before may have been the sacrifice that paved the way for you to pick up the prize. This new chapter opens with you because you have been fore-ordained to carry the new banner of victory.
This was the role that Moses played. His coming on the scene was to change the narrative of his people. Abraham's coming on the scene was to open the patriarchal door of promise with the Divine. With Seth, after the birth of Enos, it was recorded that men began to call on the name of the Lord. David had to draw the line in the sand before he stood before Goliath. Before he negotiated the rewards with Saul, he had drawn the line in sand. He had made his decision to save his people.
For David to get to that junction of time, he had made a monumental decision that could either cost him his life or change his story and transit him to the summit at a very early age. He did something nobody his age ever did in Israel because he drew the line in the sand. He rescued and saved his country at a time it mattered most.
There is a time it matters. There is a moment that history has to be made. When the moment comes, you will know it because the codes have been written in your essence. But you must be courageous at that moment to take the bull by the horns. Courage is a love affair with the unknown. Something within you and beyond you nudges you. The conditions around you push you.
You must withdraw from your courage bank what you have deposited and grown over time. You grew the savings from the stories you had heard or read about the great exploits that men who in what seemed like hopelessness had made. They took the chance. It was an opportunity. They took advantage of that one opportunity. They saw something that no other person saw. It was the manifestation of their uniqueness and nothing was ever going to dissuade them from it. They did hazard their lives. They paid the price to win the prize. They drew the line in the sand.
Nelson Mandela drew the line in the sand when he and his cronies stood against the imperialistic apartheid regime. To go to jail, he had drawn the line in the sand. His incarceration meant liberty for his people. He saw freedom in that bondage. He may have imagined the worst. He may have envisioned death. But he decided that whatever would be would be. He must have assured himself that death comes from life. When he was buried in that notorious prison, he was the seed of freedom sown for South Africa. He took that great plunge because he drew the line in the sand.
Dean Graziosi is a protégé of Tony Robbins. He had an ugly family history of abuses from his forebears, but he decided he was going to put an end to it. Though he almost failed because he also divorced his wife, but because he had drawn the line in the sand, he tried again and with the second attempt, he did right the wrong in a phenomenal way. He made a decision. Dean is a business coach, mentor, author and leader. He has over 13 companies under his belt and jaw dropping success. He drew the line in the sand.
It comes at a specific time. Some conditions have to precede and activate the decision. Certain conditions have to lead one to draw a line in the sand; to take a stand against a continuous plague or unfavourable condition. You have studied much about what has happened to your forebears. You have researched it and you have seen a pattern. However, though it seems those same patterns are present in your case, you have also seen a leeway that you are leveraging on to change the narrative.
Every person that ever achieved anything of note must have made a decision. Such a man or woman must have drawn a line in the sand. Such a person must have done something that his or her forebears could not do or did not do. He or she must have drawn a line in the sand.
Someone said, I must break the jinx of poverty in my lineage. I must stop early death of not reaching 50 years old in my lineage. I will go to the ends of the earth to find a solution. I will seek the heavens. I will be with my Maker. I must receive my sling. I must receive my token. It is my own secret of the ages. It is my own secret codes wherewith I am able to challenge the status quo and shut the mouth of lions. This is the moment for me to draw the line in the sand.
To break the jinx of poverty, he said: Show me what to tweak, show me where to touch. But I say: You need not be shown what to tweak or where to touch. You need to find your own way. That way is a unique one to you. It is written in your palms. It is in your fingerprints. They tell your story. They tell the story of your yet to be accomplishments. They hold the key to your being. You have to find it. Finding it begins with drawing a line in the sand. Just a decision.
This is the call to action for you. This is a call to decide to bring down the walls of subjugation in your family. This is a call to action to change your own story. This is a call to action to make that move. It begins with drawing a line in the sand. Are you going to draw your own line in the sand now? This may be the opportunity you have been waiting for. It is only in your one decision.
You do not have to be any of the great names that have been mentioned. You only need to be yourself. You need to find your unique music and sing it out. Sing it out loud. Like Ogbo Awoke would say: Keep showing up. You never know what will come your way. To keep showing up means to stay persistent. Be a routineer. To do that, you must have taken that one decision to separate yourself from the throng. You must first draw your own line in the sand.
