The idea to cultivate watermelons and the choice of the portion of land to plant them were not mine. The time to cultivate them was not also mine. The time to harvest them was not also mine. So, most of the decisions were not mine.
There are some lessons I learnt that I want to share with you.
1. Don’t let unproductive people occupy your time, space, and life
In one of my videos on Staying Power, I talked about the avocado pear tree that was not productive, and that I had to cut down to give a productive orange tree more sunlight and space to grow and be fruitful. We have enjoyed a lot of oranges from that tree during the lockdown.
The space where I planted the watermelons was occupied by oil palm trees and pineapples. I hardly got anything from them. Thieves always harvested them before I could get there. My brother was in charge, then. When I wanted to cut them down, people said I should not. After two years, I decided to cut them down. That was how my farm manager then decided we should plant watermelons.
Learn to take charge of your life. Learn to know when to kick some persons and some things put of your life. Take the decision if you need to stay in that abusive marriage or not. It is your life. It is you that feels the pain.
I see people blindly following Donald Trump and Bolsonaro, the Brazilian president, and refusing to wear masks. Recently, Bolsonaro tested positive for COVID-19. He will receive the best of medical treatment. Those poor folks that blindly followed him will die stupidly if they get the virus and get sick.
Don’t blindly follow a religious leader; think for yourself. Use your brain. In the Parable of Talents, each servant took responsibility for their decisions.
Several Republican governors and Trumpists listened to Trump and opened up their states. The rate of infections have skyrocketed in those states. Trump is negative for the virus, while many are sick and dead. In the last two days, there have been more than 60,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases, each day, in the United States of America.
The Tanzanian President boasted about God and made mockery of the lab tests, he did not know a virus can contaminate anything including animals. Today, Tanzanians are being prevented from crossing over to neighbouring countries because of their high rate of COVID-19 spread. We have not heard from the president.
The president of Madagascar came up with a drug to cure COVID-19, and trust Africans, they were all over the moon saying that the world is against Madagascar because of its discovery from Africa. Today, the infection rates are rising in Madagascar.
My farm manager abandoned me, and I was left alone with more than one acre of watermelons without experience.
Learn this: when the chips are down, you are on your own. People will not think twice before abandoning you. Don’t outsource your life and your future. Take charge.
2. Discouragement is a Visitor
Initially, I was discouraged, but I stood up to fight. I started to take decisions and actions to salvage my investment.
Thank God it paid off when my crisis manager and her team came in—I mean my wife that I married for the wrong reasons. While she was weeding, I was applying manure with my son, Ese Apoki. Suddenly, my spirits were excited when I saw watermelons everywhere.
Fight discouragement with all your strength.
Fight your fight; very few will fight your fight.
Remember, you will give account of your life.
3. Face Reality
Christianity and Pentecostalism is fast becoming delusionary. Every New Year, people will send you prophetic messages of their own or from one big man of God, declaring what the year is going to be.
When churches were closed, there was a little lull in the messages people send every new month. Since the lockdown was relaxed and churches allowed to worship, they have started sending again, particularly as we crossed into July.
Many of the messages we hear in church, particularly from so-called motivational speakers like me, do not put failure and disappointment into the equation.
There are women who have died during childbirth because they believe they will deliver like a Hebrew woman. They forget women go through Caesarean sections in Israel.
Many Christians don’t know how to accept challenges as a fact of life, and learn from their circumstances as potentially profitable incidences.
I did not achieve my peak expectations, but I salvaged the situation. I did not make a great profit but watermelon cultivation is a very profitable venture in Delta State. I will take charge of the next set personally.
Always look at what you are holding in your hands, be it an experience, a skill, talent, anointing, or money, and see the future inherent in it. Apply staying power and you will be shocked what will come out of it.
God Bless You.
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