For the first time in my adult life, I sat down to watch a football match and left with profound thoughts, especially regarding the change we seek as a continent and our specific role in it.
I've often talked about how we might not benefit from this change in our lifetime, and watching the match made this realization crystal clear.
I observed how a goal was scored and took a keen look at the buildup that preceded it. A defender on one team dispossessed an attacker from the opposing side, and the ball kept being passed until it reached an attacker on his own team. That attacker, with clinical precision, placed the ball into the opponent's net. Short pass, one touch, and goal.
This sequence was quite telling to me. The more I observed, the more I realized that the goal would not have been possible if the defender had not done their job well. But after defending and gaining possession, they had to pass the ball to the next generation - the midfielders - to hold it and push it forward.
To press on.
Indeed, if any generation in the goal-scoring process messed up, the entire team would have had to start the buildup again from scratch, nullifying all previous efforts!
I agree that people like Nkrumah may have been the defenders, initiating play and gaining possession from the opponent. The next generation, the likes of Paa Willy, messed it up and squandered the opportunity, throwing the ball away from any hope of a goal.
Thankfully, the work of founders like Nkrumah was quite solid, so we may not have to go back and start from scratch. Yet, while in midfield, we must remember that it's our entire responsibility to hold the fort, move the ball forward, and prevent it from being taken again.
We may not score the final goals, and it's fine. Our names may not even appear on the assist sheet. In fact, the celebration might not even include us. The camera will zoom us out.
Yet the work we do is incredibly important. Without it, we nullify all the efforts of the defense - the previous generation - and create more problems than solutions.
We have to preserve and run with the ideas originated by previous generations. So in today's Ponder, I question: do we have the ball? If so, how are we preserving it and ensuring that the next generation will have it, and knows how to score the goals we so greatly desire?
You see, many times in this journey, we feel small, perhaps inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. But we know that the God we serve, the one who came to be with us through the Holy Spirit - our helper, comforter, and more on this day more than 20 centuries ago - uses the inconsequential to show himself strong and mighty.
This, then, is the confidence we have. That if we stretch to the best of our ability with our strength entirely in him, he will supplement our efforts to create great and mighty waves - ripples that redefine everything.
And for the generation that will score, we hope you celebrate with recognition of the people who have stood and held the fort, so that you may merely have to tap in.
With resilience and incredible perseverance, we will run a good race and pass on the ball to you. We hope you handle it well, and hand it over to the next generation successfully.
We start small, we start now, we press on. Issa grounds work. Down ball, short passes.
