While passing through a village in Mpigi districts several weeks ago I found a hunter with hunting nets, bells and a pack of dogs. Out of curiosity I inquired why he dressed and looked so much like people in our old African story books; he looked ancient for this era. For a moment I felt as though I had time-travelled to the 1700s.
He said he's a hunter by profession, and had been hired by some community members to hunt monkeys that are destroying people's crops. A professional hunter today, in 2018?!
Asking him if he had succeeded, he told me it's a matter of time and villagers will only have to visit the zoo or far forests to see what an actual monkey looks like, and those who can't afford to visit search places will only have to see photos of monkeys in publications.
There's a mythical story about a farmer who tried to negotiate with monkeys to grow their own food and stop destroying his but the attempts failed, because monkeys are monkeys, and monkeys don't grow their own food!
He tried to make them understand that they were like him, but monkeys could not comprehend the concepts of production he was saying, but they understood clearly what pertains to multiplication of their race, a race of monkeys that are just monkeys.
It's sad when you find a human, a creature of superior race that thinks and lives like a monkey, that all he has to do is live, eat and breed.
The first assignment God gave to man after creation which still stands today is a management job that requires you to be a custodian and multiplier of resources.
Genesis 1:28: Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
The blessing that was given to our ancient parents lives in every man and woman today, and this blessing is a call to duty. The blessing of God that is upon our lives, each person, gives us the ability to manage resources, including our life, the resources around us and time, and cause increase.
God gave each of us a double blessing at the beginning of time; a blessing to multiply (dominion; stewardship) and a blessing to be fruitful and multiply. Therefore, there is no excuse for being unproductive.
In the parable of the three savants (Matthew 25:15), a man, master, gave each one according to his ability, yet he expected each of them to multiply the gold coins according to their ability, but to MULTIPLY!
It's hard, maybe impossible to separate laziness from excuses, and Proverbs 26:16 (GNB) says it clearer, "A lazy person will think he is smarter than seven men who can give good reasons for their opinions." Why? Because he has mastered the art of giving excuses for everything he does or does not do. He will give lame excuses like what is said in Proverbs 22:13 (GNB) about lazy people that, "Lazy people stay at home; they say a lion might get them if they go outside."
How lazy people love to sleep! Different scriptures in the Bible talk about them, especially one that tells us how they love to toss and turn in bed like doors on hinges, without lifting a foot or finger to make sense out of their lives. Don't be like them because it's a miserable way to live.
Just as monkeys are destructive, so are lazy people; very destructive! And, Proverbs 18:9 (GNB) stresses it when it says, "A lazy person is as bad as someone who is destructive."
People confuse hard work with hard labour, we do not suffer working, no, we enjoy working because from working we derive purpose and meaning. Work; productivity defines us, it reveals us!
Working hard does not necessarily mean you have to do something that breaks your backbone and tears your muscle, no, but being productive, which can also be as a result of working smart to maximize resources and productivity.
People that work smart are those that invest their initial time in preparation for work like studying, researching and making plans.
Plan your work, break down tasks, prioritise, set targets or goals with specific time frames, and eat well, sleep in time, make some research on your work and then start your process of productivity. This is smartness in making productive work a reality.
As we prepare to visit our up country homes and relatives in this festive season, think about doing something productive like buying a good specie of fruit seedlings from the city that require minimal care and take them home. Plant them and see how nice an up country visit will be in 3-5 years. Mangoes, oranges, lemons, avocados, pomegranates, Jack fruit, guavas, sour soup, even matooke suckers, sugarcane and cassava cuttings can do well, so that maybe next time when you go for your Christmas season you have something to bring back to the city.
In their nature, monkeys don't rest, they're active most of their life time yet they produce nothing. Some lazy people are like active monkeys, like infants and teens they're always up and down, but will not show you the results of their activity; they use a lot of effort to produce nothing, and I call this active laziness.
I define active laziness in this case as a state where your body is very active but produces no actual results except tiredness and a busy reputation.
There are promises for hard workers and warnings for lazy people, but choose to be a productive person today!
Proverbs 10:4 (GNB) says, "Being lazy will make you poor, but hard work will make you rich."
And Proverbs 13:4 (GNB) says it even more clearer that, "No matter how much a lazy person may want something, he will never get it. A hard worker will get everything he wants."
Later I followed up on the hunted monkeys and I was told those that those captured in the nets were taken and dumped in Mpanga forest while some where killed and served to hunting dogs.
Society has a way of eliminating lazy people, even through laws! In Kampala today, you can not come from anywhere and sit on the street where people are busy about their business - they'll see you as a security threat. You won't eat or find a place to lodge if you don't work, like a monkey, you'll have to find your food and home in a forest, which can mean any uncomfortable place or condition. I wish you a Merry Christmas season and happy New year!
