Dear friend,
Greetings!
I was recently watching the Ghetto kids from Uganda performing at BGT (Britain Got talent)! It’s a group of young children, mostly orphans from an obscure village in Uganda who just put on a great performance on the big stage through dance! They started dancing as therapy to their rather despondent life but they have used it as their awareness tool to the world as well. What a clever way of turning lemons into lemonade! They were an absolute inspiration to watch!
But their story, from an obscure village in Masaka district to sublime success has been years in the making. Behind their apparent sudden thrust onto the world stage, there have been years of preparation, tears, smiles, days when all seemed but impossible. A number of factors can be attributed to their sudden fame. The list may include vision, great leadership, talent, hard work, perseverance, and so on. But inspite of their stellar abilities, I am pretty sure there have been days/nights when all they had to latch on was hope! Hope for a better tomorrow, hope that one day their gifts/talents will bring them before the great and they will shine! So for purpose of this article, I want to zero in on the one most important and often under looked quality for any human dream; hope.
“Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work; you don´t give up” Anne Lamott
“And hope disappointeth not…” Romans 5:5
I just can’t stop thinking how small dreams can become great dreams, if watered with hope and how big dreams can wither away and dry out, if not watered with hope. That’s the story of the ghetto kids, that’s our story and the story of everyone with a dream.
We just recently celebrated Heroes day here where the government recognizes and awards the efforts and sacrifices of ordinary folk who rose above self and did something great for others and the nation. The candidates come from a diversity of social backgrounds and experiences, but the common denominator is that they were all common people who decided to do something great to change their status and that of others. It got me thinking what has made the heroes we celebrate today. Truth is many of them where ordinary folks that had a lot of odds stuck against them. They became heroes not because of their favorable circumstances but inspite of their unfavorable circumstances, riding on hope.
The cool thing about hope is “its not a gift from above”, but a quality each one of us can choose to cultivate. Just like the bible says without vision people perish, it’s equally true without hope there is no vision. Great vision and dreams all ride on the back of hope-hope for a better day, hope for a better tomorrow. The writer of the book of Hebrews in the bible declares Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not yet seen. Its like faith rides on the back of hope, without hope there wouldn’t be faith! Just imagine for a moment if you got stuck in a deep dark tunnel with absolutely no light. You could have so many stellar abilities, but nothing at the moment of time matters most than just a simple light-symbolizing hope-to lead and guide your way out!
For there is hope for a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease. Job 14:7
Sometimes, all there is going to be left for us to wake to is hope!! However small and flickering, let us not sniff it out. It might as well be the only light leading out of the present dark tunnel into our brighter tomorrow and destiny.
Let’s keep the lamp of hope burning!
Blessings as you keep the torch of hope burning!
Click here to read more about our Excel kids program!
Joab Sonko,
Excel Ministries Uganda
