The grasshopper is an insect that is not more than 1 to 7cm in length. It’s an insect that dwells in the grass.

From what is said above it is evident that the grasshopper is a relatively small insect and you can imagine when you say someone has the mentality of a grasshopper. This is the title of my discussion.

“The grasshopper mentality”

This life is known for just one thing and that is; life throws jabs and punches at people. Some gets heavy punch while some get fairly light punch. Some are not so lucky they get punched hard in the face or in the stomach. But in all what you think of yourself is what will determine your level of strength to fight back.
If you just sit there and say well this life is hard oo. Haha!! It’s just tossing me to different angles and you decide to just sit and watch, then you have the grasshopper mentality. Some are so scared of the future that they just don’t want to bother trying. They rather sit in a position and keep complaining about the difficulties and the challenges, they will sit in one spot and talk about how the government policies is not making things work and how the economy is disturbing their lives. They have not started the quest but they are already discouraged. When you are easily swayed and discouraged then you have the grasshopper mentality.

Due to so many circumstances some have lost the zeal to fight on. Some are already boxed into a corner; some don’t even see themselves as worth living not to talk of trying to make a head way in life.
The self esteem and self worth of so many are not encouraging.

Like the popular story in the bible about the Israelites in Numbers 13 from the first verse to the end you will find out how the grasshopper mentality can affect the destiny and the future of a person or group of persons or even a generation.

Imagine God brought the Israelites out of the land of bondage (Egypt) with a powerful hand and after they have journeyed for years... Remember the journey to the Promise Land was not supposed to last for more than 40 days but eventually they spent 40years roaming in the wilderness. Eventually they got closer to the Promise Land.

Before they went into the land, Moses gathered twelve men to go and spy the Promise Land. Before I move on everyone has the time of being in bondage and also the time of freedom. The time also to go into your Promise land but when you get to the gate of your Promise Land what do you want to see?, is it the challenges or the good that is in the land?.

When the 12 spies got into the Promise Land, they went through all the land and took note of how wonderful the land was. How it was green and flowing with milk and honey. But deep inside them, out of the twelve spies ten already had the mindset that the land was out of reach even when they have not tried. I can imagine the men discussing among themselves that “chai! See as all these people are tall ooo, hmmm if Moses self see these people he go know say we no fit fight these people”

Some of us leave the dance floor even when the music has not started.

But out of the 12 spies two people were singled out and they were Caleb and Joshua.

When they came back they said ha!! The land is actually flowing with milk and honey o!! The land is good for habitation BUT the people there are giants. If we go they will crush us like paper and throw us into the fire because we are just like grasshoppers before them.

So many people are living with series of BUT(s) that has kept them in perpetual bondage. Take a closer look at yourself and evaluate yourself. If you find out that you frequently make use of the word BUT, then you need to re-examine yourself because it’s a sign of the grasshopper mentality. You keep having excuses not to try something you need to look inward.

Numbers 13: 33 “And there we saw giants, the sons of Anak, which come out of the giants, and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers and so we were in their sight”.

Can you imagine? They saw themselves as grasshopper first before the sons of Anak saw them like grasshoppers. The lesson here is that how you see and portray yourself is the same way other people will portray you. If you see yourself as a grasshopper then others will see you in the same vain.

Another thing is when you let the fear of the unknown to weigh you down you will be like the grasshopper in the sight of your challenges. Challenges are meant to strengthen us and make us stronger and fearless. If you are not faced with challenges you cannot evaluate your strength and your weaknesses. If you easily chicken out of competition and challenges then you have the grasshopper mentality. And the dangerous part is that you will never succeed or achieve anything with such mentality.

Let’s take a look at Caleb and Joshua, they went with the other ten spies but they had a different report, they said though the land is filled with giants we can go ahead and take the land. You know what? They saw opportunities where others saw hindrances and challenges. If not for Caleb and Joshua am very sure the Israelite will still be in the wilderness till tomorrow. Their report was able to stare the Israelites up and they went ahead and claimed the land

What is the difference between the 10 spies and Caleb and Joshua? They had different mentality. One had the grasshopper mentality while the other had the achievers mentality.

The difference is:
One will achieve and the other won’t
One will succeed and the other won’t
One will try but the other will just sit in a spot for years because of fears of the giants in the Promise Land.

The truth is there is no Promise Land without its own giants, you just have to look past them and you will see the milk and honey flowing in the land

No matter what life throws at you try to doge it so you can peep and see the goodness in the land when you see it try as much as possible to get

Caleb and Joshua never knew if they could actually overcome the giants but they believed if they try they can, so try and don’t just fold your hands and accept defeat even when the battle has not started.

Discard the grasshopper mentality because it leads retrogression, limitation, stagnation, backwardness, abject poverty, failure and at the end sorrow but the achievers mentality will spur you to greater height, greater level of achievements, you will be limitless and you will succeed.

Thanks for your Time.

AFOLABI JISOLA

http://www.mynaijareality.com/2016/01/article-grasshopper-mentality-by.html

God bless you, this piece is really going to be helpful