Living My Best Life

2013 is gradually coming to an end. I haven't experienced a more eventful year in all my years of existence. Stuff happened to me. Roller coaster ride things. I had to move over and let God take the wheel. Three jobs in one year? It could only have been by God's grace. The biggest testimony of them all is the joy unspeakable I now possess. Joy in spite of the sad news I occasionally received during the course of the year. Joy in spite of that relationship I lack. I may not be where I want to be right now but the journey has been worthwhile because I've felt God's presence with me every step of the way.

Yesterday I sewed my first dress after four months of tailoring school. Phew! The dress looks terrible lol. Seriously, it does. I can't even wear it across the main street. Still I'm so happy. I'll have to make adjustments to it and maybe it will turn out great. I quite enjoyed the process of sewing it despite how physically and mentally tasking it was. The sewing machine behaved excellently and NEPA didn't cut off electricity :D. An enjoyable and tasking sewing process yet an imperfect dress at the end of it. A bit like this point in my year so far. Don't get me wrong, this year has produced loads of good stuff but there's that one critical prayer request that seems to have been put on hold. But I'm hopeful. Oh yes I am. 

I'm thankful for a great year, thankful for God's blessings, thankful for the bumpy ride. And just like I'm going to adjust that dress to make it as beautiful as possible, I have faith all things are working out for my good and that my heavenly Father will grant my heart's desires as I delight myself in Him.

My Roommate

There's a small lizard living in my room. Or a big wall gecko. My brother thinks it's a gecko, I think it's a lizard. Lets call it lizzy. I don't know how lizzy got into my room. Someone must have left my door or window wide open and I suspect that someone is my mum. I don't like animals. I particularly hate reptiles. Lizzy's presence makes me feel I'm accommodating an unwanted guest. And in fact I am. I haven't been able to sleep well the past few days. I actually prayed to God that lizzy finds an exit out of my room or dies as soon as possible. I'd rather have a dead lizzy than a living lizzy. I'm still waiting on God to answer my prayer. 

I could decide to chase the thing around my room but then it would creep under the bed or behind the wardrobe. I am unhappy. I'm startled when I hear noise in the room because I think it's lizzy in motion. I'm reluctant to touch anything, from stuff on my dressing table to my clothes, because I hate to imagine the tours lizzy may have undertaken across my belongings in my absence. When I come back from work, I stay in the sitting room longer than usual before going to my room because it inhabits something I'm not eager to meet. 

The experience sort of gives me a clue to why some husbands like to chillllllll out after work before coming home. Imagine going home daily to someone you would rather not be living with, for example my roommate lizzy. So it does matter who I end up with, his character, etc. If he makes me really uncomfortable most of the time now, he might constantly make my skin crawl when we are married and living together. Then I will have to pray for God to make him disappear from my life or even better, that God kills him. Lol.

The Living Have No Time

I had come home from a day of work and was bored in the evening. I went to my room to sleep, laid down on my bed and sleep eluded me. I decided to resume a game - words with friends - on my iPad but my random opponents were taking forever to make their moves. I asked my friend to install the game app so we could play. He seemed rather busy. I suspect he was watching soccer because my brothers were watching a live game at the same time. Now I was getting really bored.

Then someone crossed my mind. My uncle, a close relative and friend of my nuclear family. When we were young, he visited us often. He was a bachelor then and one of the few uncles I could actually gist and laugh with. He visited on most Sundays and my siblings and I did not think he chose that visiting day coincidentally because my mum cooked her special fried rice only on Sundays. The thought made us giggle whenever he strolled in on Sunday evenings but we understood: he was a bachelor and all that.

One day, he introduced his wife-to-be to our family and we were all happy for him. I was chosen to be one of the bridesmaids. I went out with his fiancé to have my measurement for the dress taken and we chatted a bit. She seemed nice and homely and virtuous and had a few words of advice for the young lady that I was, that I still am. I looked forward to the wedding but I wasn't able to attend because the date fell in the middle of my semester exams at the university. My cousin had to replace me on the bridal train and the dress was adjusted to fit her. I heard the wedding ceremony went very well.

A couple of years after the wedding, my uncle and his family were traveling to the village for the Christmas holidays and they were involved in a car accident. They lost their lives. My uncle, his wife, their kids and someone else in the vehicle. We had travelled a few days ahead of them to the village and were expecting them to arrive that evening. The news of their death was heart-breaking. Deeply saddening. Unbelievable.

I thought about him that evening as I laid on my bed and it hit me that I never heard anyone mention him and his family after the period of the unfortunate incident. Maybe because the memory of the incident was too painful and everyone had moved on. We had things to do, people to see, targets to meet and dreams to actualize. We lived and left the dead to face their fate. We could choose to do the occasional remembrance or memorial but that was it. We still had to leave the past behind and face squarely the days of our lives.

Let us that live have eternity in our hearts.

Made To Crow

The help at my family house has decided to adopt a few chickens. I said adopt because there's no way he would want to pay for them. He probably saw a few homeless chicks wandering about for food and decided to take them in.

Anyways, the cock amongst them has disturbed my early morning sleep. It starts to crow as early as 5am and the crowing would be continuous for about nine times in a row. That chicken must have travelled from my village. In my half-asleep half-awake state I pondered: how do I end this nuisance? It was either to let the chicks go or kill them. I didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings by asking the chickens to be sent packing. Was its crowing something I could get used to and even sleep through?

A few mornings later as the cock was crowing, I remembered a challenge I often faced: waking up early enough to have quality time with my maker before the hustle and bustle of the day. Soo my crowing chick could have been a blessing in disguise. I could take advantage of the half-awake state the chick's crowing throws me into and arise to actually worship my maker. It is no mean feat I tell you, my alarm clock has failed me on countless occasions.

I realise that just as the cock was made to crow, I was born to worship. I best embrace my nature and crow every morning. I'm off now to find the answer to an emergent query: are those chicks being fatted for food or is their adoption simply an altruistic gesture.