Life
has a way of teaching us things through many different experiences. I
recently found myself in a hard place. I
lost all hope because according to me, God was slow to answer my prayers. I was
angry, bitter and sad!! I couldn’t help but question God, why me? Why now? Till
when? I stopped praying and I was sure that He had turned His face away from
me. I forgot all that He had done for me and how far He had brought me and also
how well He had preserved me. All this changed when I met this boy, my mother’s
newest best friend. You see my mother is a teacher, so she gets along really
when with this young earthlings….my mother met this boy during the April
holidays, a brave young boy who even though hadn’t set foot in my mother’s
school or any other for that matter knew her, he knew she was a teacher and
everyday when he saw her, he would run to her and say hi…eventually they became
friends. When schools opened for the second term, my mother noticed that she
had never seen the boy in a school uniform. After doing her research, she
learnt that the seven year old boy does not go to school. Why? His mother can’t
afford it. I know we all know that primary education is free…but schools still
need a little money, in his case, he was supposed to be paying Three hundred
shillings per month. His mother, a mother of four other kids could not raise
that. Whatever she had was for the others who were a bit older, in class eight
and seven. The situation was so bad my mother had to go to the boy’s home…….
And the situation was worse there, the older kids slept on the floor and most
days of the week, they do without food, they have no table or place to do even
their most basic studies (homework) they had no blankets. It was sad! My mother
did the best she could, bought a mattress and blankets for the kids and
enrolled her new friend at the school where she teaches. And every day, the boy
comes to our place for super. When my mother is packing lunch she packs for
two. Honestly she has done her best………… the reason I am writing this post is
not brag of how my mother is a good woman, it is to share with you the lessons I
have learnt from that situation… Before I met him, I used to complain because
of almost everything, and everything that isn’t really that important, like how
my hair hasn’t been done for only three weeks, or how I have eaten mchele for
two consecutive days or how it was cooked, or how cold the floor is for my
feet, how my school is far from town, how our tv does not connect to certain
channels….and about those things that were rather important like if I get to
finish my Advocates Training Programme, or how my job doesn’t pay well, how
NEED a new black, leather designer handbag, or that pair of shoes…. Blah blah
blah and so on, my point is I used to complain a lot. But meeting this boy gave
new a totally new outlook on life. I am challenged; I am compelled to start
doing things differently.
So every day when I wake up in the morning, as I am
getting ready for the day I say THANK YOU GOD….and I state what it is I am
thankful for. From having a good peaceful night, I thank Him for my comfortable
bed, I thank Him for the roof over my head, I thank Him for health and peace, I
thank Him for my job, I thank Him for
giving me opportunities at school from nursery to university and now for Kenya
School of Law, I thank Him for every meal I will afford that day, I thank Him
for His care and protection, I thank Him for my family, my friends and my
colleagues, I thank Him for all the opportunities He gives me, I thank Him for
giving me a whole body (that I am not disabled), I thank Him for everything.
Especially for all the things that I had been taking for granted over the
years, especially those!! I don’t forget to remind Him of my desires and my
dreams too….. I pray that He fulfills all of them, that He continues being
faithful like He has always been. I pray for that young boy who is just
starting to make his mark in this cruel world, I ask God to give him courage to
overcome life’s most unbearable moments that he grows to be a brilliant bright
boy, that he has an extremely successful future. I pray for my mother, that God
continues to bless her with more so that she can keep giving and never lacking.
That she lives a long happy and fulfilled life.
I
have changed, I have grown. I don’t complain as much, I thank A LOT. Every
morning, I wake up, and I count MY BLESSINGS, I name them one by one, and every
day, it still surprises me what the Lord has done!!!
