WE CAN NEVER TAKE LIFE FOR GRANTED | EVERYONE COUNTS

How did you wake up today?

Do you remember?

What process did you go through to wake up?

It sounds as though you must have recollected your senses, instructed them to send signals to your brain, eyes, ears, nose and all other body parts that it was time to wake up. But honestly, I know that you did nothing. You just realised that you were awake. Right? I believe so.

That said, what did you do then? What did you do when you realised that you had woken up? I guess you located your phone and jumped out of your small or big bed. And here you are, reading my text on your small or big phone. I must say that God is truly great and merciful to us. We do breathe in and out and never consider the cost of oxygen when it gets out of normal supply. But here we are, not even taking caution of who we truly are – highly favored persons. From the rising of the sun to the setting of the same, I implore or call upon us to be grateful to God.

Considering the time we are in, quite so much is going on around us within the immediate and distant environment. For instance, have you greeted your immediate neighbor(s) to ask how they are or at a higher level, have you picked up your phone to call your people (father, mother, guardian, relatives, friends) just to know how they are today? Or you take it for granted that they must be okay? I don’t know. But you know. Don’t you? I think you do.

As I write this piece, I am mindful of the fact that there are babies being born across the world and there are people celebrating or planning celebrations of life on the one hand. Just last week, we celebrated as a family the third birthday of one of us and very soon we shall be celebrating more. How can we forget that God has been faithful? I don’t think we shall forget God’s goodness upon us thus far.

On the other hand, I recognise that there are people across the world who are passing away or families that are going through very painful and challenging situations. I have close family members and friends who are recently bereaved or who are nursing ailments on/in their bodies or looking after sick ones in their homes and in medical facilities. How can I forget to pray for such people? How can I forget to request God to watch over them and help them to overcome whatever trouble they are facing or whatever pain they are undergoing? I cannot forget to lift them up before God.

That said, this is a wonderful week and my faith tells me that we will breakthrough and overcome no matter what comes our way; that the pain and suffering we have faced or experienced or are experiencing right now, we shall face or experience NO more. Enough can mean to be enough and we have all it takes to silence the storms in our lives. Right now. Right here. Personally, there are storms that I am commanding to be silent. And, it is until we awaken the Master who is sleeping or should we say taking a nap on the boat to wake up and care for us, that we will be able to silence whatever storm is raging against us.

This is the day that God has made and our hope is that we shall rejoice and be very glad in it. Agony is not our portion. Poverty is not our portion. Misery and stunted ness are not our portion. We are born to win.

The moment we realise that we have no money in our bank accounts or wallets is the very moment we should recall that we once had more than we needed. The tike we realise that we have lost something or someone valuable is the very time we should remember that we were once happy and healthy. The time we find ourselves having to bargain with some people for a favour is the time we should remember that there were moments when we needed no one’s favour or approval. Do you get it?

For the parents reading this text, please take heart. I am speaking to that parent who has cleared fees one hundred percent for their child(ren) for their term 2023 and also to that parent who doesn’t even know where the one percent or the fees for their child(ren) shall come from.  Aren’t they all parents? They are. How come that some parents can clear fees on the first day and others have to struggle to the last day of the term to clear fees for their issues (children)? Aren't all of us in the same world? We are. That’s why I am telling us to take heart. There are things we can change and some things that must change at our command. We must command situations to change for better for each of us.

I end by calling upon each of us to be mindful of the environment where we live. Let us keep it clean and smart for not only ourselves but also for everyone who crossed over to our community. At the end of it all, nothing is ours. We are but mere stewards of whatever we see and whatever we possess. When the trumpet sounds on the final day, we will leave with nothing because we came  with nothing. Why the battle(s) then? Why the fight(s) then? Why the human rights abuses and violations, then? Why the hatred? It should be high time that we love and respect one another even in the subconscious. True love is found in loving people who least expected love from us.

I love you.

Robert Mugisa Abwooli is a Human Rights Lawyer and Consultant;

Free Spirited, Free Willed.