There was once a village where water was extremely scarce. It hadn't rained for months, and the ground was so dry, there was no point digging boreholes, because you'd find no water.
The people of this village had been forced to drink water from a dirty stream ten miles away - the same stream from which their goats and sheep drank. The food the women cooked contained all manner of bacteria, and the children were getting all sorts of diseases.
Things were desperate for the people of this wretched village, until one afternoon, an angel (whose name was NOT Obinim), appeared out of nowhere, landed with a resounding fanfare in the village square, drawing quite a crowd.
"Greetings, o thirsty villagers. Who amongst you has the largest water tank?", enquired the celestial being in his most heavenly bellow.
"The Koomsons", a little boy answered. "They live behind the school".
"The Otabils have a big tank too. They live by the church", declared another faceless voice from within the crowd.
So the angel set off to visit the two large-tanked families. First, he went to the Koomsons, where he took one look at their Rambo 700 Polytank, said a little prayer, and suddenly, the tank was filled to the brim with good, pure, clean, fresh (even slightly chilled) water. Then he went over to the Otabils and repeated the miracle. After that, the Angel disappeared.
In the Koomson household, there was joy and jubilation. Mr Koomson was beside himself with excitement, and kept shouting "thank you God" every ten seconds. Mrs Koomson asked her husband, "Should we call the villagers to come with their buckets?"
It was like a nuclear explosion had been set off in Mr Koomson's chest. Herh! Mansah! Have you lost your darned mind? Look, let me make this clear to you. You have a simple choice here. Call the villagers to come here for water, and you can leave with them". Naturally, Mrs Koomson got the message, and spoke no more of her great plans of liquid charity.
In the Otabil household, there was joy and jubilation. They had never seen so much water in their lives. With unbridled glee, they both hit the streets, shouting at the top of their voices, "We have water! Come fill your buckets". As you can imagine, a queue soon formed, and within two days, there wasn't a single drop of water left in the Otabil house.
The following day, the Angel was back in town. At the Otabil house, he noticed that all the water was gone. "Well, it appears I didn't give you enough, did I?" Again, he said a prayer, and not only was the Otabil's tank filled with water, but two more equal sized tanks appeared out of nowhere, both filled to the brim with the wet stuff.
Next, he went to the Koomson household. Their water tank was still pretty full, as they had been the only people drawing from it. "Well, I guess you still have more than enough. That's fine then. Goodbye".
Every few days, the angel would come back and go through the same process. At the Otabils' he would add more tanks and more water, and at the Koomsons' he would note how much they still had left, and leave them to it. Soon, the Otabils were distributing fresh water to the whole district. They never lacked water ever again in their lives, and many came to be blessed by their generosity.
My friend, I'm sure you've heard enough times that it's better to give than to receive. The truth is that this principle is as reliable as a law of physics. Those who give, never lack. Each one of us is blessed with some gift or the other. For some, it's money, for others, knowledge. Some have love, some, the gift of laughter, others, the gift of song... basically, we all have something. Some people, in spite of their considerable gift, never quite amount to much in life until they start to share it.
For her entire life, Susan Boyle sang exclusively in her shower, and nothing ever happened in her life. She sang in a televised competition, and became a millionaire overnight. Whatever God gave you, He meant for you to share it. And the more you give of your gift, the more of the gift God will give to you. It's that simple. Give more, receive more. Try it this week, and let me know how it goes, ok?
My name is Kojo Yankson, and what's mine is yours. Help yourselves, because there's more coming.
GOOD MORNING, GHANAFO!
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