Failure Isn't Final. Harold Mawela

The Amplifier of Gratitude By Harold Mawela Akasia, Pretoria I was standing in the queue at the filling station in Pretoria last week when the attendant smiled and said, "Baas, the price dropped. First time in months." Something stirred in my chest not just relief, but a strange, unexpected gratitude. For a moment, I actually thanked God for petrol. Petrol! The same fuel that has been strangling our households, squeezing our already thin wallets, forcing families in Mamelodi and Soshanguve to choose between bread and transport. And yet, in that moment, standing there watching the numbers on the pump slow their frantic climb, I felt a flicker of thanksgiving. But here is the question that has been nagging at my soul ever since: Was I thanking God for the gift, or was I tracing the gift back to the Giver? Let me be honest with you, my fellow South African. We have become a nation of consumers—not just of goods, but of blessings. We receive and we receive, but we rarely recognis...

 THE FRONTIER OF ETHICS What Good Is a Nation or a Soul Gained at the Price of Truth? Let me tell you about a photograph that made my blood run cold. I sat in my study in Akasia, Pretoria, scrolling through the news on a Thursday evening, when I saw it: a photograph of former President Jacob Zuma, standing beside Ajay Gupta in an Indian temple. Same smile. Same casual ease. As if the past decade of state capture had never happened. As if R17 billion in stolen public funds meant nothing. As if the Zondo Commission's revelations were merely yesterday's newspaper. I closed my phone and sat in silence. Because that photograph is not just a political scandal. It is a spiritual symptom. It is the visible face of an invisible disease the erosion of that sacred frontier Jesus spoke of when He asked: "What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?" (Matthew 16:26). DEFINING THE FRONTIER Let us define our terms clearly. An ethical frontier is ...

 The Anchor of Humility Scripture: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” (James 4:6) My brother, my sister, pull up a chair. Harold Mawela here, speaking to you from the dusty soil of Akasia, Pretoria. Let me take you back to a morning that nearly capsized my soul. It was a Tuesday the kind of Tuesday where the Pretoria sun blazes like a furnace and the N1 highway hums its usual symphony of frustration. I had just received news that my latest book had climbed into the top ten of a Christian bestseller list. My phone buzzed with notifications. Congratulations poured in from WhatsApp groups. For a moment just a moment I felt it. That intoxicating rush. That whisper in my ear: “You’ve arrived, Harold. You’ve made it.” And then, as if the Lord Himself had a sense of comedic timing, my electricity went out. Not load-shedding, you understand Eskom tells us we’ve had over 300 days without it, and I thank God for that mercy. No, this was my own doing. I had forgotten to bu...

 The Current of Completion Scripture: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." (2 Timothy 4:7) From my study in Akasia, Pretoria, I look out at a nation holding its breath. The headlines scream of a city with just five days of cash. They tell of families choosing between food and warmth as electricity tariffs rise six times faster than inflation. They speak of a manganese smelter gone dark, 600 jobs teetering on the edge, because the power became too expensive to bear. They warn of anti-immigrant protests sweeping our streets, over 900 arrested, as fear turns neighbour against neighbour. And in the middle of this storm, I ask you: What have you left unfinished? The Law of the Open Loop Let us define our terms clearly. An open loop is any task you have started but not completed—a debt unpaid, an apology unspoken, a promise broken, a calling ignored, a Scripture unread. These are not merely inconveniences. They are spiritual dams blocking...

 The Lattice of Perspective By Harold Mawela, from my study in Akasia, Pretoria Scripture: "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world." (1 John 4:1) Let me paint you a picture. The winter sun hangs low and brittle over Akasia this morning, thin as a tamboti branch, as I sit here with my rooibos tea steam curling like incense toward a sky that cannot decide between blue and grey. My neighbour, Mr. Van der Merwe, is at his gate again, scrolling through news on his phone. Just yesterday, the headlines announced that South Africa has now gone over 400 days without load-shedding a miracle many of us dared not pray for. And yet, in the same breath, the Absa Purchasing Managers' Index tells us manufacturing has slipped back into contractionary territory. The economy grew by 0.5% in the first quarter, we are told six consecutive quarters of growth but try telling that to the yo...

THE COVENANT OF ENERGY By Harold Mawela It was a Tuesday morning in July the first day of the month, if you can believe it and I found myself standing at the window of my study in Akasia, watching the Pretoria dawn bleed gold over the Magaliesberg. My phone buzzed with news alerts. Anti-immigrant protests were sweeping across Johannesburg, Hillbrow, Alexandra, Tembisa, Soweto. Thousands had marched, shops had closed, and fear had become the currency of the day. My neighbour, a Congolese shopkeeper, had not opened his spaza shop in three days. And somewhere in the middle of all that noise the economic reports screaming that unemployment had climbed to 32.7%, that 345,000 jobs had vanished like morning mist, that our nation was ranked among the lowest globally for mental well-being I felt it. That familiar tug. That weariness that does not announce itself with a trumpet but creeps in like a thief, stealing your strength one sleepless night at a time. I thought about the men I know. The o...