I’ve reached the land of corn and wine,
And all its riches freely mine;
Here shines undimm’d one blissful day,
For all my night has pass’d away.

Chorus
O Beulah land, sweet Beulah land,
As on thy highest mount I stand,
I look away across the sea,
Where mansions are prepared for me,
And view the shining glory shore,
My heav’n, my home forevermore.

The Saviour comes and walks with me,
And sweet communion here have we;
He gently leads me with His hand,
For this is heaven’s borderland.

A sweet perfume upon the breeze
Is borne from ever vernal trees,
And flow’rs that never fading grow
Where streams of life forever flow.

The zephyrs seem to float to me,
Sweet sounds of heaven’s melody,
As angels, with the white-robed throng,
Join in the sweet redemption song.

Source: https://austinbhebe./2012/08/26/o-beulah-land-sweet-beulah-land/

I have just recently lost my advisor and it has been a period of deep and sober reflection. I am not seeking to understand why he should have died so suddenly neither am I seeking some clarifications on why God didn’t intervene.

As I have had and I’m having time to reflect, I can’t but wonder how funny life is. A day after his demise and I’m making inquiries on getting a new supervisor! Folks around are moving on with life – forging new alliances, re-aligning partnerships, re-strategizing etc. While the body of a great scholar is still cold in the morgue, life moves on! I never expected life to standstill albeit momentarily or for nature to blast out aloud in honour of the demised prof.

I saunter quietly into the auditorium for his lying-in-state and I am greeted by a wooden box which houses the corpse of my advisor. After all his accomplishments and awards and laurels and publications and contributions to scholarship and the larger academic community, my advisor is housed in a wooden box. This larger than life and ebullient guy is put there in a box for public viewing and for re-assurance as to the certainty of his demise.

I look across the auditorium and I sigh deeply. With all these laurels and achievements, my advisor had failed to reproduce himself. Of course, he has kids who should take after him, but glaring there albeit subtly was the fact that my advisor’s demise had created a vacuum. I pick out a colleague of his (a full professor) who was there with his student (also a full professor) and my sigh this time is deeper.

It dawns on me that his untimely demise robbed him of this precious gift of succession – grooming a worthy successor. I think of all our exploits and planned research and my heart sinks. I recall ‘the plan’ and efforts meant at positioning our research group in the limelight. We were having tremendous success churning our Q1 rated research with real impact and were taking a step further to go multidisciplinary.

I remember my daily routine of visiting ResearchGate, wondering and scheming about a day when my RG score would match and beat my advisor’s. I remember my sleepless nights this past year and the bouts of ill health I had to go through all because of ‘the plan’. When I see the end of my advisor and take a second look at ‘the plan’, I am moved to tears.

As I think about him and his brief time here on earth, I begin to learn bitter lessons –
• Life is a personal journey – despite the pain of bereavement felt by the wife and kids, no one accompanied him to his final resting place. At the grave, his family performed the dust to dust rite and retreated to allow sand to be poured on the box containing my advisor. No one joined him there! He is going to spend from this night onward alone there at the cemetery. I’m typing this tribute in the comfort of my room. He will be there and with time be probably forgotten as nature takes its toll on the box and his corpse.
• Freely live life – my supervisor was a dreamer and quite energetic fellow however, I would not want to live life with a moments care about many issues. While I must plan and make adequate arrangements, I must live life free of unnecessary encumbrances. I must have ‘me times’ where I take out sufficient time to rest my body and mind. Holidays and leisure times must be planned for adequately and regularly. Travels, picnics, skiing, cart racing, golfing etc. are some activities in my bucket list. In living to impact and affect lives, I am vividly reminded that it is only the living that can influence the living.
• Have a legacy – Hmmmm, this is important. An inventory of my advisor’s graduated students presents a shocking fact. He had not left any legacy behind. It is not uncommon to hear statements like ‘Ah, prof was a workaholic’, or ‘Ah, prof used to send emails as late as 2am’ or ‘Ah, prof was a smart man’. These are just passing statements that have not translated into a legacy of ‘I’m going to do a, b and c because of prof’s influence’. There is no one he has produced who could effectively enter his shoes. I am learning a bitter lesson from this. My goal as a future academic must be from end to end – to see my advisees graduate and reach greater heights than I can attain. I must create that environment for my future advisees to thrive. That environment must be free of control mechanisms on my part to contain them! They must be allowed to be the architects of their lives. While I guide them, I must give them the needed allowance (no matter how painful) to evolve and metamorphose into a product of their own making. This is necessary to enable them own their lives and live it with fulfilment. I must affect lives beyond religious sects and ethnic circles. My influence must not be within a sphere that is racially or religiously bigoted. My influence must transcend race, religion and locations. My interest in people must be to primarily discover themselves. My legacy is in the successes folks I come across make out of themselves.
• I am not indispensable – That my advisor is dead doesn’t mean my supervision ends. No, shockingly, a replacement is in line to succeed him. Another person gallantly enters to enjoy without stress all his labours! His demise has not caused any serious pause or problem. Ways would always be sought to circumvent the vacuum his demise has created. I am taking some serious decisions that fellows around aren’t okay with. Have I paid them any attention, No! Do I care about their feelings or disappointments, No! We all were gathered to eat and be refreshed at the residence of the late great prof – what an irony. Everyone has moved on with their lives! I am thus building a very resilient backbone to withdraw without a moment’s hesitation from activities when I am convinced of the need to without being bothered about anyone feelings! Yar’adua died in office and today he is only mentioned en passant.

Dear prof, we may have had our differences, but one thing is certain, it has been a privilege working with you. Your demise notwithstanding, I have taken it upon myself to see that your dream and passion for research impact especially in our chosen field doesn’t die. Never mind, you have lit a fire within me, and no matter how little, it is going to continuously burn bright.

I look forward to comparing notes with you when we meet someday in yonder on how I bested your records and accomplishments! I can see you chuckle.

Till we meet again, goodnight!

1. Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide;
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me.

2. Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see—
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.

3. I need Thy presence every passing hour;
What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s pow’r?
Who, like Thyself, my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.

4. I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness;
Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.

5. Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies;
Heav’n’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

Source: http://library.timelesstruths.org/music/Abide_with_Me/

Accept the assurance of my most sincere condolence even though I didn't read it to the end

Chukwuka16:

I’ve reached the land of corn and wine,
And all its riches freely mine;
Here shines undimm’d one blissful day,
For all my night has pass’d away.

Chorus
O Beulah land, sweet Beulah land,
As on thy highest mount I stand,
I look away across the sea,
Where mansions are prepared for me,
And view the shining glory shore,
My heav’n, my home forevermore.

The Saviour comes and walks with me,
And sweet communion here have we;
He gently leads me with His hand,
For this is heaven’s borderland.

A sweet perfume upon the breeze
Is borne from ever vernal trees,
And flow’rs that never fading grow
Where streams of life forever flow.

The zephyrs seem to float to me,
Sweet sounds of heaven’s melody,
As angels, with the white-robed throng,
Join in the sweet redemption song.

Source: https://austinbhebe./2012/08/26/o-beulah-land-sweet-beulah-land/

I have just recently lost my advisor and it has been a period of deep and sober reflection. I am not seeking to understand why he should have died so suddenly neither am I seeking some clarifications on why God didn’t intervene.

As I have had and I’m having time to reflect, I can’t but wonder how funny life is. A day after his demise and I’m making inquiries on getting a new supervisor! Folks around are moving on with life – forging new alliances, re-aligning partnerships, re-strategizing etc. While the body of a great scholar is still cold in the morgue, life moves on! I never expected life to standstill albeit momentarily or for nature to blast out aloud in honour of the demised prof.

I saunter quietly into the auditorium for his lying-in-state and I am greeted by a wooden box which houses the corpse of my advisor. After all his accomplishments and awards and laurels and publications and contributions to scholarship and the larger academic community, my advisor is housed in a wooden box. This larger than life and ebullient guy is put there in a box for public viewing and for re-assurance as to the certainty of his demise.

I look across the auditorium and I sigh deeply. With all these laurels and achievements, my advisor had failed to reproduce himself. Of course, he has kids who should take after him, but glaring there albeit subtly was the fact that my advisor’s demise had created a vacuum. I pick out a colleague of his (a full professor) who was there with his student (also a full professor) and my sigh this time is deeper.

It dawns on me that his untimely demise robbed him of this precious gift of succession – grooming a worthy successor. I think of all our exploits and planned research and my heart sinks. I recall ‘the plan’ and efforts meant at positioning our research group in the limelight. We were having tremendous success churning our Q1 rated research with real impact and were taking a step further to go multidisciplinary.

I remember my daily routine of visiting ResearchGate, wondering and scheming about a day when my RG score would match and beat my advisor’s. I remember my sleepless nights this past year and the bouts of ill health I had to go through all because of ‘the plan’. When I see the end of my advisor and take a second look at ‘the plan’, I am moved to tears.

As I think about him and his brief time here on earth, I begin to learn bitter lessons –
• Life is a personal journey – despite the pain of bereavement felt by the wife and kids, no one accompanied him to his final resting place. At the grave, his family performed the dust to dust rite and retreated to allow sand to be poured on the box containing my advisor. No one joined him there! He is going to spend from this night onward alone there at the cemetery. I’m typing this tribute in the comfort of my room. He will be there and with time be probably forgotten as nature takes its toll on the box and his corpse.
• Freely live life – my supervisor was a dreamer and quite energetic fellow however, I would not want to live life with a moments care about many issues. While I must plan and make adequate arrangements, I must live life free of unnecessary encumbrances. I must have ‘me times’ where I take out sufficient time to rest my body and mind. Holidays and leisure times must be planned for adequately and regularly. Travels, picnics, skiing, cart racing, golfing etc. are some activities in my bucket list. In living to impact and affect lives, I am vividly reminded that it is only the living that can influence the living.
• Have a legacy – Hmmmm, this is important. An inventory of my advisor’s graduated students presents a shocking fact. He had not left any legacy behind. It is not uncommon to hear statements like ‘Ah, prof was a workaholic’, or ‘Ah, prof used to send emails as late as 2am’ or ‘Ah, prof was a s

Na Oko be dat?

Chukwuka16:

I’ve reached the land of corn and wine,
And all its riches freely mine;
Here shines undimm’d one blissful day,
For all my night has pass’d away.

Chorus
O Beulah land, sweet Beulah land,
As on thy highest mount I stand,
I look away across the sea,
Where mansions are prepared for me,
And view the shining glory shore,
My heav’n, my home forevermore.

The Saviour comes and walks with me,
And sweet communion here have we;
He gently leads me with His hand,
For this is heaven’s borderland.

A sweet perfume upon the breeze
Is borne from ever vernal trees,
And flow’rs that never fading grow
Where streams of life forever flow.

The zephyrs seem to float to me,
Sweet sounds of heaven’s melody,
As angels, with the white-robed throng,
Join in the sweet redemption song.

Source: https://austinbhebe./2012/08/26/o-beulah-land-sweet-beulah-land/

I have just recently lost my advisor and it has been a period of deep and sober reflection. I am not seeking to understand why he should have died so suddenly neither am I seeking some clarifications on why God didn’t intervene.

As I have had and I’m having time to reflect, I can’t but wonder how funny life is. A day after his demise and I’m making inquiries on getting a new supervisor! Folks around are moving on with life – forging new alliances, re-aligning partnerships, re-strategizing etc. While the body of a great scholar is still cold in the morgue, life moves on! I never expected life to standstill albeit momentarily or for nature to blast out aloud in honour of the demised prof.

I saunter quietly into the auditorium for his lying-in-state and I am greeted by a wooden box which houses the corpse of my advisor. After all his accomplishments and awards and laurels and publications and contributions to scholarship and the larger academic community, my advisor is housed in a wooden box. This larger than life and ebullient guy is put there in a box for public viewing and for re-assurance as to the certainty of his demise.

I look across the auditorium and I sigh deeply. With all these laurels and achievements, my advisor had failed to reproduce himself. Of course, he has kids who should take after him, but glaring there albeit subtly was the fact that my advisor’s demise had created a vacuum. I pick out a colleague of his (a full professor) who was there with his student (also a full professor) and my sigh this time is deeper.

I

Source: http://library.timelesstruths.org/music/Abide_with_Me/

Love the way you write and pen down your thoughts. You have definitely earned my followership on NL. It's been a while i read such a nice writeup. Thumbs up sir!!!

Thanks. All the best!

Wagasigiungu:


Love the way you write and pen down your thoughts. You have definitely earned my followership on NL. It's been a while i read such a nice writeup. Thumbs up sir!!!