Draw inspiration from ‘It Is Well With My Soul’
Barely 48 hours from now, the world will welcome the New Year 2022 after seeing off 2021 which proved to be yet another challenging year worsened by the impact of Covid-19.
During the year when most of our plans and dreams were shattered by the coronavirus pandemic which claimed lives of breadwinners, leaving some children and dependents to start a completely new life altogether, it is a big favour to reach this far alive. We must thank God for such a precious gift of life.
Life will always have high and low moments, but what is important is to keep pushing as South Africa’s first black President Nelson Mandela once said: “It’s not important how many times you fall, but how many times you rise.”
In the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, many resorted to borrowing to keep going. In some cases, the debts became unsustainable, resulting in unintended default. If truth be told, most debts can be avoided by living within one’s means and cutting down on certain luxuries.
In the New Year, make a better plan to clear the debts and move towards financial freedom. The starting point is drawing a list of how much you owe and creating a practical repayment calendar.
By now, most of you have already drawn your New Year financial plans and goals. But as you polish them up, perhaps the 50-20-30 money management technique, popularised by Senator Elizabeth Warren in her book All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan, may assist. It guides that one should spend 50 percent of their income on essential needs such as housing, food, transport and personal grooming. On the other hand, the 20 percent should go towards savings as well as debt servicing and the remaining 30 percent should fund other things, including spoiling oneself (kuzipepesa). The ratios are just a guide and one can rework the allocations depending on priorities. In fact, there is also the 70-20-10 rule.
The Covid-19 pandemic remains a global health problem that will be with us for some time. What is important is how we prepare ourselves to survive.
We can draw inspiration from the popular hymn It Is Well With My Soul composed by Philip Paul Bliss with lyrics by Horatio G. Spafford, a successful lawyer and businessperson in Chicago in the 1800s.
A story is told that Spafford, his wife Anna and their five children were no strangers to tears and tragedy. The couple’s young son died of pneumonia in 1871 and that same year, much of Spafford’s business empire was lost in the great Chicago fire. He never gave up and God, in His mercy and kindness, allowed the business to flourish once more.
Come November 21 1873, the couple’s four daughters were among the 226 passengers who died after the French ocean liner, Ville du Havre sunk while crossing the Atlantic Ocean from the US to Europe with 313 passengers on board. The wife was among the survivors.
Spafford was said to have failed to travel with his family because he needed to help solve an unexpected business problem. Thus, he told his wife he would join her and their children in Europe a few days later.
Done, Spafford booked the next available ship and left to join Anna. Four days into the journey, the captain called Spafford to his cabin and told him they were passing over the place where his daughters Annie, Margaret Lee, Bessie and Tanetta went down.
According to Bertha Spafford Vester, a daughter born after the tragedy, the experience inspired Spafford to write the lyrics for It Is Well With My Soul while on this journey, according to www.staugustine.com.
Today, It Is Well With My Soul is one of the popular and inspiring hymns. The lyrics go in part:
When peace like a river attendeth my way
When sorrows like sea billows roll
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say
It is well, it is well with my soul
It is well (it is well)
With my soul (with my soul)
It is well, it is well with my soul
Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come
Let this blest assurance control
That Christ (yes, He has) has regarded my helpless estate
And has shed His own blood for my soul
The story of the Spaffords should inspire us to never give up despite the challenges we face in life. The year 2021 has not been all rosy, but surely we have made it all the same.
If we desire to achieve the prosperity we yearn for, another area worth watching out is the circle of friends as it has a greater influence on what we do in life as they say “you can’t soar like an eagle when you hang out with chickens”.
Wishing you a happy New Year 2022!
