Be a dealer in hope

Bishop Ngwiza Mnkandla
I was passing the lounge when I caught the scrolling headline on CNN News saying, “When hope is lost, I have nothing to look forward to: Tiger Woods”.
That was December 2, 2015. It hit me like a ton of bricks!
Here was a man whom the world at one time idolised as a golfing legend for winning 14 majors and hogging the limelight as the number one golfer.
Debilitated by two major back operations, he looks at his clubs and confesses that he has nothing to look forward to, that there is no light at the end of his tunnel.
This is a man who went from being number one in 2013 to 32 in 2014. And eventually 400 in 2015. At this rate, even I might be able to give him a run for his money in 2020!
What is it like to take such a tumble?
These are major financial consequences for Tiger.
His major sponsors will drop him as he will no longer bring them returns on their investment to warrant the stock they are putting on him.
He will no longer be able to sit at the prestigious positions he was accustomed to, nor will he have the limelight. Worse still, he might lose some of his friends brought to him by his former fame and money!
In the last 10-15 years, many of us have watched out fortunes tumble. We have experienced serious value erosion where our net worth has dwindled. Many Zimbabweans are poorer now than they were a few years ago.
You may have received a termination letter last year. Or you may have gone through an acrimonious divorce. What about a serious health challenge that has eaten away your resources?
I am surrounded by dear friends and colleagues who have been severely drained emotionally and financially by caring of an ailing parent.
Perhaps your business didn’t go so well and everything you have attempted has failed leaving you worse off than you were before.
As you look at 2016 there’s nothing to look forward to.
As a nation, our politics have continued in endless circles. The papers have been awash with parties’ infighting, factionalism and all the wars associated with the succession wrangle in the ruling and opposition parties.
For the average person on the street, the mighty dollar has been very difficult to come by.
Even though, let’s talk about hope. No nation, no people can afford to be without hope. We lose hope when we have nothing to look forward to, when our dreams are shattered, when our expectations are dashed, when everything we try seems to fail.
I would like to encourage you to rekindle your hope as we start the year.
I appeal to everyone in a leadership position to be a dealer in hope. Zimbabweans need an overdose of encouragement, in fact we can’t get too much.
Let every politician dispense hope instead of factionalism, let every preacher major on genuine hope instead of band aid cover ups! Feel like a failure? I have news for you!
First, let’s redefine failure. Churchill once said that success was the ability to move from one failure to another without losing ones enthusiasm! Second, realise that you are not the first one to fail.
Did you know that all heroes have failed at one point or other? Follow their lives and you will realise that at one point or other, they came face to face with failure and were tempted to lose hope.
Learn how they picked themselves up and got back on their feet again.
Third, understand that failure is part of the process of moving toward success. It is a tool and not a road block. Whatever reverses you suffered last year, financial or relational, you have much to look forward to this year.
Seize every opportunity that the year will throw at you. Set yourself some achievable goals and work hard to achieve them.
For those of us who believe, there’s divine ability waiting to empower us. Trust in the living God as the anchor of our hope.
Before Tiger Woods gets his physical game together, he will need to get his hope back.
What are you looking forward to for 2016?