DON’T TAKE IT FOR GRANTED

In life, there are things we regret not to have done. Up to now we sit down and wish we would have done them. We regret many things and personally, I have many regrets in my few years of existence but perhaps what I consider the greatest regret is that moment when you realize that you lost something or someone because you took them lightly or for granted.

In life, things that matter do not do too much to impress as the useless things do. Sometimes we become passive with what matters and pay little attention or not at all to things that matter. We must always ask God to help or even acquire skills to know the difference and have the ability to reassemble our priorities in life.

Did you know that the best employees are the unemployed or the newcomers at the job? It is these that keep time and report on time at their workplaces. It is such employees that finish their goals in time and write their reports promptly. It is these kinds of employees that respect their bosses. The difference between these workers and old workers at the company is that the old workers are too used with the system to be useful. They think they know everything and therefore take everything for granted. They do not pay attention to the details anymore. Instead of being used by the system, they manipulate the system and use it instead. There is nothing as bad as taking something for granted.

Unmarried people who are desperate pray and fast to get marriage and six years down the road they begin taking everything for granted. Perhaps am speaking to you and you have relaxed on your job, on your status, you are careless about how your wife feels, maybe it is your children or your parents. I don’t know but maybe some people have told you about this granted-ness and all you have done is to rationalize it. Listen to me, you don’t need to defend yourself anymore by proving to the world how right you are and how wrong they are. All you need is to accept the reality of things and fix it.

Let me tell you a story about something that happened in the country where I am. As I write this, I am in Uganda, whose president is Yoweri Kaguta Museveni. He has been president for over 30yrs – that is almost as long as my age. It happened that in one of the country’s districts, Kamuli, there was a constituency seat that fell vacant because the Court of Appeal nullified the election of the former MP Hon. Rehema Watongola.

In the first election, the competition was tight between two Political parties: National Resistance Movement (NRM) which is the incumbent party in Uganda. Rehema Tiwuwe Watongola was the NRM flag bearer and the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) was represented by Mrs. Salamu Musumba. According to the Electoral Commission results, Watongola beat Musumba to the seat, polling 8,175 votes against Musumba’s 6,702 votes.

Musumba lost in the February 18 elections after which she petitioned court challenging. Watongola’s election because did not possess the minimum requirement of Advanced Level or its equivalent.” The three Justices led by Richard Buteera, Barishaki Cheborion and Paul Mugamba, gave their ruling which was read out by  Assistant Registrar Rosemary Bareebe. And it said: “We have already held that once the authenticity of the appellant’s qualifications came into question, the burden shifted to her to prove that her qualifications were authentic. This she never did.”

In 2016, this woman was thrown out of the Parliament over academic papers. A teary Watongola, vowed to go back to school and be back in time to trounce Salamu Musumba. So the Electoral Commission organized a by-election to fill this post in which both Salamu Musmba and Rehema Watongola participated. In these by-elections, the president of this country and at the same time the chairperson of the ruling party decided to go and camp in Kamuli Municipality to campaign and ensure that the person standing for his party succeeds. And Guess what? Watongola garnered 8,726 votes while her closest challenger, Musumba got 5,778 votes.

Let me tell you what I learnt from all this: Rehema Watongola had taken the law for granted. She thought that since she was in the ruling party she could manipulate the law and get away with it. She had survived all other courts until her case got into the Court of Appeal…and boooom!!! She was thrown out. Listen to me friends: shortcuts will always get us there but they will never keep us there.

Never take for granted the power of procedure and justice. What goes around, comes around, don’t take it for granted just because it is just going around. This is the first lesson I learn from Hajati Watongola. Our unresolved past might always catch up with us and mess-up our present. So we shouldn’t take it for granted.

The second person that is inspirational in this event is President Museveni. As the president, he knows the power of numbers in political influence, decision making, and survival. He also understands which kind of opposition should be blocked head-on and which opposition should be allowed into play. To me, it was too selfish for my father President Museveni to camp in Kamuli to ensure the loss of the opposition to his candidate. Let me tell you why? The Parliament of Uganda consists 327 members but of these, 280 are NRM. Why would the president fight to ensure he does not lose only one position to the opposition?

After I thought for a while I realized that President Museveni does not take anything for granted. He doesn’t take chances. He knows that the numbers matter but more so where they come from matters more. He understood the principle of extinction that says, if you want to extinct the chicken, you don’t leave the unhatched eggs safe. Paying attention to details that threaten his stay in power has been the best political card that president Museveni has played again and again.

This is something that you and I need to learn from him. Do not just go in the house and sleep at night without checking things out in the house. You cannot trust your life with a condom, you need to medically check. I always wonder why people wash fruits before consumption, and even cook food before they serve it and the same people are too busy to do medical check-ups before sex. This is absolute carefulness with cheap things like food but carelessness with serious business like life.

Do not rely on the gate-man, wake up in the night and be a gate-man to your gateman. Secure your security. Don’t command children from your bedroom to lock the doors. Woman, it matters how beautiful your maid is if you have a man in the house. Do not take the beauty of your housemaid for granted, trust me we men pay attention to looks. Don’t relegate your marriage responsibilities to hired mercenaries striving to survive.

While you don’t appreciate what you have, many people are praying and fasting to get something even less that what you have turned into a doormat.  If you take something for granted, you don’t worry or think about it because you assume you will always have it. In relationships, people tend to get too comfortable and as a result become bored and complacent. We all perhaps have heard this saying that goes like this: “Never take someone you love for granted. Hold every person close to your heart because you might wake up one day and realize that you lost a diamond while you were too busy collecting stones.”

Ashley Fern once wrote: “You really do not know how good you have it until it’s gone”.  Shouldn’t we just be happy we have food on the table and a roof over our heads? So many people in the world would do anything for these things, but we still complain every day that we do not have enough. We take advantage of the people in our lives, like our friends and family. We make the fatal mistake of assuming that these people will just be there for us without providing extra effort.

A person who is not grateful toward their parents is one who has taken their love for granted. “Learn to appreciate what you have before time makes you appreciate what you had.” When you make yourself aware of how blessed you really are, that is when you learn to appreciate the “little” things in life. Just because your daughters have always been safe with Uncle James ever since they were toddlers, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are still safe alone in the house with this man while they have grown into big girls. My lady, we live in a world where anything can happen. In a flip of a second you can be involved in a rape ordeal, please pay attention to details, don’t you dare take anything for granted.

I have listened to stories from people abused by Holy Priests, in confession and counseling rooms, just because these sheep-like believers have taken it is the sinful part of these pastors for granted. Please do not lock yourself or even be taken far away, away from people and from help by the so-called trusted people. Am not invoking cynicism into your life but rather reviving cautiousness in the way you deal with life. Pedophile pastors are men of God that parents have chosen to trust with their children in all places and at all times. You take it for granted that, since she is with her uncle, therefore she is safe. Because the man of God who preaches against evil is with my children, they are safe. Often we assume we know people yet we have always taken for granted the signals of the demons underlying the so-called trustees.

Always be careful, with what you eat and drink, most smokers take for granted the warning on every cigarette packet that reads: “CIGARETTE SMOKING IS HARMFUL TO YOUR HEALTH”. I have listened carefully to all adverts of alcohol and they all have this note: “ALL ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES ARE NOT ALLOWED TO PERSONS UNDER THE AGE OF 18”, but we all know that nothing is healthy that is forbidden to persons under 18yrs. It is true that whether you are slow or over-speeding in a car, you can always get an accident but that cannot be used as a rationale to drive recklessly. I just cannot say more but I want you to learn from his excellency the president and this honorable member of parliament known as Watongola.

Finally, we need to understand as Christians that it is dangerous for us to take salvation by grace through faith alone and not by works for granted. Early while I was still at the university, and throughout my life, I have seen people take salvation for granted and doing whatever they want with their lives. I have seen people taking alcohol, and second wives since the gospel says that we are not saved by what we do or don’t. Friends don’t you dare ever take your salvation for granted. Of all warnings that Paul gave, the best that I know is in Philippians 2:12-13 and it says: Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

This is not Apostle Paul contradicting himself on the Gospel of righteousness by Grace and not by works but rather it is Paul emphasizing how we shouldn’t take this salvation for granted. For while it is true that God cannot lose us, we can lose him. The Greek words translated as fear and Trembling are Phobos and Tromos. Whose best translation value in CONTEXT should be, Transact your life carefully.

God Bless you, I Invoke TRUTH, REASON and FAITH

Am Pr. I.T WHITE

The Appointed and Anointed Gospel Hawker