What To Do When You Fall To Your Lowest Point

Written by Victor Uyanwanne

Sometimes you feel your back on the floor even when you would rather be up there in the sky. “Life is not fair,” so goes the common saying.

Sometimes you reckon it is your fault; some other times it is not. But this is not about apportioning blames as much as it is about doing the right thing.

But, “What should you do when you find yourself on your lowest ebb?”

The choice is yours: either remain on the floor and be trampled upon to death or you do whatever is necessary to get back on your feet. It might not be easy but it can be done.

“It is okay to fall, but only when you don’t stay down”. That was a line I borrowed from a cartoon movie I happen to watch on Disney Junior with my three years old son. I think the wisdom in it is clear. It is not falling that is bad, but falling without getting up.

When you do fall (we all do sometimes), don’t stay down. Get up and pick up your life again.  You can’t go anywhere lying down.

This was a lesson learnt in a hard way by a man driven by his youthful exuberance to the brink of oblivion. Despite his grievous mistake early in life, he rose back on his feet. His human dignity was restored when he took the hard decision to go back home.

Welcome to the world of Kito.

Kito was a tall, handsome and promising young man. He was every lady’s dream man. Every lady wanted to have him and every young man wished they were him.

Kito was born into a wealthy family. His father was one of the richest and kindest men around.

Unlike some other young men of his age, Kito had everything going well for him. He was born into a wonderful family, was always well fed, had the best apparels to wear, owned the coolest ride in town and had a retinue of servants at his beck and call.

However, Kito felt he needed something more from life: freedom – absolute freedom from parental control and freedom to explore the worlds afar off.

Kito woke up one day and made an uncommon request to his father.

“Daddy, please give me half of your life savings. I am entitled to it as one of your only two sons.”

Lord Yom was dazed over his son’s unusual request. He stood speechless momentarily, pondering and gazing endlessly into the cool morning sky.

“I can’t believe my ears. What has come over this boy?” Yom managed to mutter under his breath.

That kind of request had never been heard of in the history of the people of his culture and beyond.  No good child ever demanded the sharing of the estate of a father who had not yet passed on.

Irrespective of the negative perception of his request, Kito had made up his mind. There was no going back on the idea of heeding the alluring invincible call from the outside world.

Kito, who had relatively been a good boy all along, was about to rewrite history – in a negative way.

As one poet puts it, Kito was:

A chosen son! A precious child, free and pure!
Parents watched over him! Protected, and secured.

He grew into a man. Was seduced by Satan’s charms.
Christ’s commandments forgotten. The devil, inflicted harm.

Kito’s loving father was saddened by his son’s unpalatable decision to leave the home. Reluctantly, he obliged the young man with the half of his estate as he had requested.

Having received what he asked for from his daddy, Kito ventured out into the far country with prepaid debit cards fully loaded with enough cash to do all kinds of financial transactions and support a frivolous lifestyle.

“At last, I am free to live my life freely the way I want it,” Kito assured himself. But he was so shortsighted he couldn’t see very far into the future.

With the confidence of a man with a huge balance in his bank account, Kito travelled far and wide to the most exotic places in the world.

He lavished his portion of his father’s hard earned money like there was no tomorrow. He began to throw wild parties, with plenty beautiful ladies in attendance.

Multiple fair weather friends found hiding places in Kito’s nest, exploring the advantage to the fullest. To them, life with Kito was a life filled with enjoyment.

Partying Away. Photo credit: burienlittletheatre.org

With enough cash flowing out from Kito’s deep pockets there were no dull moments; everything was well taken care of. Drinks, food, women were freely enjoyed at Kito’s expense.

Kito did not invest any portion of the huge wealth he extracted from his father; neither did he engage in any productive venture to earn additional income. He spent all he had until there was nothing more to spend.

Then came the harshest economic down-turn in town. Kito became confronted with an awful reality: when you keep spending everything you have without investing any part of it or earning additional income to it, one day you will have nothing left to spend.

This simple economics proved a hard thing for Kito to understand until it was too late. He had spent all his resources before he knew it; he checked his pocket and found no cash left to spend.

When he tried, as usual, to get some currency from a nearby ATM, the machine vomited the card with an alert message indicating “insufficient fund.”  His heart became broken.

“What is happening to me?” Kito asked himself, so far away from home.

He wiped his eyes to be sure he wasn’t dreaming. But then the harsh reality had begun to dawn on him: He has fallen to his lowest point.

Life was no longer the same with Kito. No more money to spend. Nothing to call his own. No friend to help him out.

Without cash, the ladies found no reason to keep him warm anymore. His friends had deserted him. Kito was left alone to bear the brunt of his indiscretions.

Worst of all, he could no longer afford to pay his rent. Consequently, his landlord threw him out into the streets where the elements took turns in teaching him some hard lessons he would never forget.

Things moved from bad to worse for Kito until he had no more food to eat. He began to associate with some pig farmers with the hope that he could at least be given some pigs’ food to eat. But he got nothing from the make-shift employers while the unpalatable economic realities in the land lasted.

For several nights at a stretch, Kito went to sleep on an empty stomach. As the hunger pangs continued to buffet his stomach and with no one around to call a friend anymore, Kito came to his senses. He realised that even the servants in his father’s house had a better economy than the one he found himself in.

“Why don’t I go back to my father?” he soliloquised.

It was a hard decision which he had to take because he knew he had thoroughly messed up his life. He wasn’t sure his father would receive him back. “But it was worth it to try”, he finally reasoned.

Kito decided it was time he made a radical change. With the decision to return to his father, a new beginning was ushered in for Kito:

• With a remorseful heart, Kito took a decision to return to his father;

• He acknowledged he had sinned not only against his father, but against God too;

• To his pleasant surprise, his father accepted him back, forgave him of the past misconducts;

• His father even threw a talk-of-the-town welcome home party for him;

• His relationship with the father was fully restored as if he never offended his father.

Kito reached his lowest point in life, but he didn’t remain there. He returned to his father remorsefully and was met with abundant grace and unconditional love.

Just like Kito, all of us have gone astray like sheep without a shepherd at one point or another. Some of us have fallen from grace to grass. It is now time to go back home, where love and grace await us.

When you reach your lowest point and you don’t know what to do, return to the Father – God. He will help you sort out things. There is enough grace in God to accommodate your inadequacies.

My dear friend, you were created to be in a relationship with God. May be right now you feel like all is not well that relationship with Him. There is still hope for you because God longs to have you back.

This is a call to make a new beginning with God. His love and mercy are enough to accommodate all your mistakes and indiscretions.

Your lowest point should not be your ending point. No matter how far away you think you have gone from God, you have not reached the point of no return yet. Like Kito, take your chance and return to your Father.

God is gently calling out to you, “Come back to me, I am here for you.” Will you heed the call?

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This article was inspired by the “Parable of the Prodigal Son” as told by Jesus Christ in Luke 15:11-32.