Prayers & Motivational Poems for School, Work and Life

By Augustine Marah, HTC, BA, MA

Published by ATMs Writing & Publishing Co. MPO BOX 11294, Edmonton. Alberta. Canada. T5J 3K5.

Copyright 2005 by Augustine Marah All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided by Canadian copyright law.

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First Printing, 2005 Prayers; Poetry; entertainment Digitaly printed in Canada by PageMaster Publication Services Inc. www.pagemaster.ca

This book is dedicated to my two children: Michael and Catherine Marah

Acknowledgements
Many thanks to Lew Rodney and Jafi Penner for putting up with my requests to use their photocopier and above all, for being my first sounding boards with regards to the poems in this book. I also wish to thank my friend and colleague Dr. Joseph Mmabga for encouraging me to put these poems into book form. Finally, my deepest gratitude goes to Mr. Brad Willis who has touched my life in many ways that words cannot express. Without his timely intervention, my extended family would not have come to Canada. He is a polyglot lawyer with angel wings who has always flown in my direction whenever I needed help. Augustine T. Marah

Contents
Preface Introduction vii ix

Part 1
Awareness Beliefs Choices Dreams Education First Things First Goals Habits Inspiration Journey Knowledge Love, Gods Love. Mission with a Purpose Negotiation Order, Creating Order Out of Chaos Problem Solving Quality Risk Service Thinking Understanding Vitality Work Xpenses You ZEST for Life 1 3 4 6 7 10 11 13 15 18 20 21 23 25 26 27 28 29 32 35 37 38 39 41 43 47

Part 2
Affirmations Brain Careers Decisions Adult Education Future Guidance Gratitude Second Gratitude Hope for Africa Inner Strength Just Do It Kneel Down and Pray Learning Styles: Money Now, This Moment Opportunity Procrastination Quotient (Adversity) Readiness Success TIME Management Uncertainties Visualization Wind on My Back Xenophile Your H. E. L. P . Zenith of the maiden voyage Biography of Augustine Marah 50 51 53 55 58 59 60 61 62 65 66 68 69 70 72 74 76 78 80 81 84 86 87 88 89 91 92 96

Preface
Prayers and Motivational Poems for School, Work and Life
Many people have asked me why I combined prayers and poems in one book. The simple answer is that I am a doer, not just a talker. I like to see and experience new things. I like to make things happen. In other words, I like to create. Besides, prayers and poetry are of the same genre; they are both written in verse or stanzas. Now, as to how poetic the whole book is, I cant be my own critic. Ill leave that to those who have the qualifications to do so, do their critique. However, if I were asked to define poetry, I would say my favourite definition of poetry is the one given by poets, rather than those given by critics. Again, the reason is simple and straight forward; It is easy to make ourselves (into) judges, even if we are scared to death to go out and do what we ought to do. Many renowned Poets have defined poetry in their own way. Here are four definitions by four famous poets: 1. William Wordsworth: Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.

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2.

W.H.Aden: Poetry is memorable speech 3. Mathew Arnold: Criticism of life. 4. S.Coleridge: The best words in the best order. Apparently, nowhere among these great poets definitions do I see a complicated and brain-twisting definition of poetry. Poetry, to me, is just a way of conveying your ideas to serve the purposes for which they were written. Poetry is meant to be read, enjoyed and appreciated. In this book however, there is another dimension, many of the poems are also meant to be didactic or to teach. One of the main objectives is to motivate the (young / youthful ) reader to learn something (new) or refresh their memory of something they learned in the past. In fact, my hope is that young readers can also increase their intellectual baggage by acquiring new vocabulary. The new words or expressions they find in this reading are not meant to turn or tune them off or scare them away. On the contrary, they are meant to encourage the young reader to look up (the new) words and learn how to use them correctly in prose or speech, where applicable. Finally, I hope the reader finds some inspiration to follow his or her dreams in life, or at least, to follow through with unfinished tasks, after reading these poems. May God Bless You. Augustine Marah
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Introduction
Prayers and Motivational Poems for School, Work and Life
This book of poems was originally written as a companion book to a Youth Motivational Manuscript entitled What Do You Want Out Of Life? Therefore, the first 26 poems bear the same titles as the major chapters of the above-mentioned book. Though the intent of writing the poems was to keep the content of the poems the same as the prose material, as the writing continued, some of the poems took a life of their own and became more prayerful in content and form. Naturally, I had to let go of any control I thought I had over what I was writing. I did not put up any resistance to the flow of ideas. However, the original intent of building awareness, of infusing inspiration and a positive outlook on life still pervades the themes of the poems. If the down-toearth nature of some of the poems evokes some questions, it is because the primary audience is young adults and or youthful minds. The content is also meant to be didactic, realistic but not therapeutic. The book is divided into two parts: 1 and 2. The poems in part 1 are arranged in alphabetical order, starting from Awareness to Zest. Since the target audience are

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youthful minds, the poems were written from the point or opinion of a teacher who is actively engaged in the process of instructing his students. So in addition to the entertainment value, there is a very high emphasis on practical, realistic and life-applicable ideas embedded in these poems. Interestingly therefore, though it is poetry, it is not limited to fictional poetry, it is also life-affirming and life-enhancing poetry. Whereas Part 1 of this poetry book follows, poem by poem, the chronological arrangement of the chapters of the companion book What Do You Want Out of Life?, the poems in Part 2 of this book are entirely different. Unlike the poems in Part 1 which were written with some limitation to conform to the contents of the original book in prose form, the poems in Part 2 are free verse. However, they were written in the same vein and with the same intent as those in Park 1, instruction and entertaining. Having said that the poems have some instructional value, the author strongly admonishes readers not to use the poems for therapeutic purposes to replace their doctor, their psychiatrist, their spiritual leader or healer. Augustine Marah

Prayers & Motivational Poems for School, Work and Life

Part 1

Awareness
Lord, Merciful Father and Holy Spirit, I hereby supplicate for the gift of Awareness, the gift of attention and vigilance; for most of the time, my mind is carried away by the pressures of everyday existence. Shine your light upon my mind that it may catch a glimpse of your wisdom. I need the necessary sustained mental application to help me perform my duties at work and at home. Above all, I pray for self-observation and introspection in order that I may thoroughly observe my feelings, desires, thoughts and actions. Let me be a humble bearer of your light in my words and deeds.

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Prayers & Motivational Poems from a Grateful and Growing Soul

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