Deliver us from evil.

Sickness is not just the absence of health,
Death is not merely the cessation of life..
Sickness has a smell,
Death has a presence.

I remember thinking along these lines some time ago,and although I cannot recall the initial events that impressed them upon my mind, they’ve stayed in the corners of it for a long time, and for some reason, they floated up to the surface again today.

My hostel manager has a little son whose name has refused to stay in my head despite the fact that I ask almost every time I see him, but he has made such a remarkable presence in my mind with his burbly sounds of laughter that I doubt I would need a name to keep him in memory even after I move out of the hostel.

His laughter comes more often than any adult can manage -no matter how much we increase our dosage of funny videos and pictures- and it is the purest sound I ever heard, there are no undertones to it: no sarcasm or bitterness, no guardedness or carefulness, no refinement, none of those things that accompany experience and reflect more clearly with age; just what it is: laughter, pure and honest.

We stumble at a lot of changes as we go through life; a variety of experiences that work to mould and shape us into whomever we eventually turn out to be. Some of the changes are sudden and shocking, as the unexpected death of a loved one, while others come to us and leave us so subtly that we wake up wondering what has happened to us.
Sometimes we react to certain circumstances in such ways that we’re taken aback at how much bitterness and anger we have resident in us.

Walking on, we hit our feet upon stones of lack, ill health, failures and disappointments, and whether we’re conscious of them or not, they leave their marks: tell-tale bruises on our big toes, traces of sand in our shoes. Slowly, we grow into adults that don’t laugh as easily as before, don’t trust as quickly, careful and watchful, aware of the possibility and sometimes existence of things and entities that want to harm us in some way.

We put on cloaks of precautions and false confidence under which we hide our wounds of fear and insecurities. Cynicism becomes the normal mark of the adult, and freedom to enjoy the simple things of life unhindered is left to children, who don’t yet ‘know how life is’ or have anything to worry about.

I saw a caption yesterday, and it read something like ‘only a few have mastered how to be both strong and soft at the same time. And that is the point this post is supposed to make: while evil exists in our world, and we all get touched by it one way or the other, the things we go through should work to strengthen, and not harden us. Life’s challenges and issues should not drive out those basic things as joy, peace, laughter and love from us and replace them with bitterness.

Many times we get sucked in a whirlpool of anger, stress and disappointment. We get really frustrated that things that are seemingly beyond our control come along to clog the wheels of our otherwise smooth movement in life, but this verse of scripture comes to mind:
‘we are troubled on every side, but not distressed, perplexed, but not in despair’.

When we are firmly established in the knowledge that God loves us and works all things for our ultimate good, we have that hope as an anchor for our souls, firm and secure, and no storm would ruffle us no matter how hard they rock our boats.

P. S:1. I know I have not been regular here, I really I’m sorry. I’ve missed reading this blog too, lol. Consistency is not really my forte right now, but I can promise to try.
2. Happy Independence! (The public holiday is tomorrow, so I guess my wishes are still in order) God bless Nigeria.
3. Have a beautiful week, smile more often. 😁