“Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest” - Proverbs 6:6-8 (NIV). 

As the millennium dawned two young workers met while at church. Dunstan Kisule and Derrick Kibneka had been to the same school, slept in the same house and had a lot to catch up. Yet there was a matter troubling both. Since the start of their working career, although with steady jobs and still single, after years of tolling in the field, there was little to show for their earnings. As they mulled over what happened, it is then that the truth was revealed to them. “We realized our trouble was but lack of saving,” Dunstan Kisule, would confess later.

After this revelation they got together a number of fellow workers at church and from these humble beginnings, Y- Save, Uganda’s leading savings cooperative was born. Today Y save is a multipurpose billion shillings investment credit institution built around the principle of organizing collective savings among members, who then profit from this pull by borrowing at below interest market rates for developmental purposes and to meet emergency needs. There are countless testimonies of those who have taken advantage of Y save, including this writer. Also, Victorious Educational Services, one of Uganda’s leading education institutions. “Y save gave me my first loan when no other financial institution could look at me,” Barbra Ofwono, the founder has always shared.

We all know to end poverty government is quick to come up with programmes giving out free money but with little to show down the road. A clear principle of God that opens door for prosperity and saves any from ruin was long laid out openly in the Bible. The Israelite’s were advised to “gather all the food of these good years that are coming and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them keep it. That food shall be a reserve for the land against the seven years of famine that are to occur in the land of Egypt, so that the land may not perish through the famine” (Genesis 41:34-36).

The Apostle Paul encouraged believers to be in the habit of saving. "On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come” (1 Corinthians 16:2). Believers are told, "Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it” (Proverbs 13:11).

Perhaps you too have once in a while wondered why there is little to show after years of toil. It is never too late to start saving. "The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty” (Proverbs 21:5).

Prayer for today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, today I thank you for your word that teaches us the principle of saving and I pray you help me take advantage of this roadmap to prosperity, this I pray in Jesus’s name.