Lessons from an umbrella

AN UMBRELLA is an amazing gadget that was created to protect us from rain. It was designed in such a way that it has to be folded when not in use so as to make it convenient for carrying and keeping. It is when you see rain that you take action by opening it and spreading it around you in order to get the intended value (protection from the rain). I am 100 per cent sure that even if you are carrying a very large, nice and expensive umbrella, if you don’t unfold and spread it over you, rain will have no mercy upon you. And it has ever happened to me. There are times I carry an umbrella but because of not being used to carrying it when rain comes I forget that I have it, only to remember when I am already wet. Imagine how it feels to be carrying a resource and not utilising it at the right time when it should be giving you value. In life, we have so many umbrellas that God and nature have put into place to help us solve our daily challenges and move towards our destiny, but they require our action in order to help us. We must unfold and spread them in order to get value from them. For instance, some people have the advantage of a good family background, social class, intelligence, education, and knowledge. All these are good, but they can only help us when we figure out how to unfold their value and take advantage of them. Talents and skills are also good ‘umbrellas’ that can generate value for us if unfolded. Do you know your talents? Do you see their relevance in your journey of success? Do you apply them in your daily work? Are you earning from them? What of skills? Are you developing essential life skills every day? Skills such as communication skills, interpersonal skills, financial literacy skills, survival skills, planning skills and so on? It’s not enough to have an ‘umbrella’; you must open it and use it. You can be in a boring marriage until you do this one right thing that your spouse has been waiting for. You can have large chunks of land but die poor if you cannot plan how to get value from it. You can be highly educated but if you don’t apply the acquired knowledge and skills to solve real life problems you can die a frustrated fellow. If you sit in a car and don’t turn on the ignition key, the engine will not start and certainly the car won’t move. No matter how long you sit in that car, you will remain in the same place you were when you entered, not where you wanted to go. For how long shall we remain seated in the ‘car’ hoping that somehow we shall get to our dreamland? It’s time to act. This is the right time to unfold and spread your umbrella. Bake is the MD, World of Inspiration & Founder of the Authors’ Forum in Uganda