THE MONTH OF JULY 2024 | WALK LIGHT: YOU ARE ALONE

Allow me to request you to give a mighty hand clap to God for the gift of life today!

Thank God that you are alive and well. Even if you are not feeling fine in your body and circumstance, at least you are here. Thank God if you are able to get up, sit down, refresh and move around on your own without any assistance. You can appreciate what I am telling you the moment you fall sick or visit medical centers where a number of people are unable to help themselves. It is quite tough out there. Thank God if you are able to live, move and have your being. Some people have since departed from our community.

I am grateful to God on the one hand for all those who celebrated important days of their lives between January and June 2024. I pray that God will sustain that joy and achievements and that you will live to testify and tell of God’s goodness in the land of the living and prosperous.

On the other hand, I mourn with those who mourn; I feel pain with those feeling pain in relation to the many pressing aspects and situations of life. I know of people who have lost members of their families; parents who are struggling to look after and provide for their children; married couples that are finding it hard to keep up; youths who are struggling with addictions of different kinds; employers and employees who are not certain of their next steps in their core business; and so on.

This world is not our home; we are but merely passing through. Let us not behave and conduct ourselves as though we are immortal. By design and by creation, we are mortal beings who are here today but shall be long gone after some while.

Truth be told, life goes on, whether we are here or there or not. I request you to take a moment and think about the many things that have happened in your presence and those that happened without your availability. I bet the things that have happened in your absence exceed those that have happened while you were there and yet. Let us appreciate God for the enablement to be where we were yesterday and the things we were able to accomplish while trusting Him for where we are today and where we will be tomorrow and the days to come.

In the most recent past, I have had comments flashed at me to the effect that life rotates around me; that I have to do everything possible to stay alive and healthy because without my life (healthy life at that), there is no Robert Mugisa Abwooli. I hear those voices and I take them serious.

Friends, this life is about that one “you.” You are alone. Yes, there will be company of relatives, friends or fellow humans here and there but there is that one point where each of us must stop and reflect on our individual lives. It all starts and ends with us. The people who soothe and cheer you on and on will stop immediately you fall down. At that point, they will focus on the one who is still up and running because that is the one who will complete the race. Make sure you sustain energy to complete your race.

As we venture into the month of July 2024, we must be cognizant that there is so much that is happening within and around our environment. On a daily basis, we hear of and watch news to the effect that wars are ongoing; accidents occur; deaths occur; suffering and pain do exist. Aren’t you grateful that in most cases, this is not directly applicable to you? We should be glad that even if we are affected, it is not as bad as though we are the ones who crashed or got directly involved in what we are hearing or watching. Amen? Amen!

Direction for July 2024

I pen down three main items for consideration if we are to stay in the month of July as we look forward to crossing over to the next months of the year.

1.       Prayers of faith

We must pray prayers of faith. Prayer simply means communication with our Creator and faith means “touching and owning the unseen expectation.” We pray to God because we know and believe that He was before time; He is with us in time and will always be there even after we have left. God is immortal. We pray to God because we know that much as some things are hard or unattainable with man, with God all things are possible. He makes way where there is no way. He works out all things for good of those who love Him and have been called according to His purpose. Even when we cannot see Him working, He never stops working. At many times, we see certain things happening in our lives and we get to know and understand that it was only by the amazing grace of God. Let us have faith in Him. He is able to do for us exceedingly, abundantly more than we can think or imagine. Amen.

2.       Respect and Care for Creation

Respecting creation does not mean respecting fellow human beings only but also the environment around us. Those in Uganda must have come to terms with the fact that National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) is up to protect and restore the environment (wetlands for now). Beyond the environment, I believe we all have a higher calling to respect one another. We have all been created to live in love and harmony remembering each day that we are all born free and equal in dignity and rights. We must hold each other in high esteem and support each other to live lives worth celebrating. Reality will always set in that God has empowered and enabled us differently. It therefore means that the one who has more should support and share life with the one who has little or has nothing at all. It is through respecting, loving and caring for fellow beings and creation that this world becomes a better place for us to live one day at a time.

3.       Working towards the Goal

Each of us has to work. Work must have direction and targets. No one wakes up to work just for the sake. We must have a goal to attain at the end of each day, month and year. There are moments when we feel as though are missing the mark but faith, hope and love should always encourage us to move on knowing that our labor in God and in our work is never in vain. In due season, we shall reap from where we have sown. I know that our ultimate goal is to attain the crown of life but that is the bigger picture. While we wait, let us achieve on some of the other goals and targets including personal growth, education, wealth acquisition, community development; to mention but a few.

MUGISA ABWOOLI REFLECTION 15 OF 2024.