Jollof Spag. and Pieces of Fried Plantain – Two Lessons
- The Room Experience TRME
- Dec 10, 2019
- 5 min read
Entry 41
Anchor Verse:
I desire therefore that the men in every place pray, lifting up holy hands without anger and DOUBTING.
– 1 Timothy 2:8 (NHEB)
Dedication:
“Kid Sis” and I
This entry is dedicated to you, Oluwatobiloba. You inspired it with your simple, thoughtful good deed.
Thank you, “Kid Sis.”. You’re a woman really worth loving. You can never be “unlovable”.
I love you, sincerely. ❤️
Author’s Note:
The story narrated in this write-up really happened. The temporal setting is however slightly different from that of the development and creation of this write-up.
So, “Kid Sis.” brought food for me today. I mean, she brought it to work for me.
Okay… Here is a little background story: We both work in the same place. As teachers.
Back to the matter: So, here was I, this morning, thinking of what to eat again and already deciding to cheat my stomach by distracting it with work. Not like I don’t have the means…but well… sometimes, the desire to eat isn’t just strong enough. Many a breakfast and even lunch have been skipped for this flimsy reason. Trust me, it’s a bad habit I’m seriously trying to break.
And then, I walked into the staff room and there, on my table, is a transparent plastic rectangular takeaway container with food inside it. Thinking someone must have left it there by mistake, I asked jokingly, “Whose food is this o, before I fling it away?”
Several colleagues responded, jokingly claiming the food. However in the midst of their playful voices, hers came through distinctly, saying, “It’s yours.”
“Mine?” I wondered aloud, not believing her.
She nodded.
I still didn’t believe her. So, needing to clear my table for work, I passed the container of food to the table of my immediate neighbour, thinking she must have been the one who mistakenly placed her food on my table. I walked out of the room to check on something. On coming back, that neighbour of mine whom I suspected of owning the food was also asking the same question I had asked some minutes earlier.
“Who owns this food?”
“Ah-ah… I thought it is yours. That’s why I placed it on your table.”
“No o. It’s not mine. Maybe someone ‘dashed’ me this, seeing that I’m obviously hungry.” She responded, smiling amusedly.
“Ehehn…” I reached for the food container. “Then, who owns it nah?” I asked again.
Another colleague jokingly tried to claim the food, and just as I was passing the food to her table, Kid Sis. spoke again, “It’s yours nah.”
This time, the tone of her voice – the distinct seriousness combined with the subtle urgency, convinced me to give her response a second thought. With my hand, frozen in the air, still holding the food container and poised over this second colleague’s table, I looked up and turned towards her.
“But I didn’t bring any food to school…” I said.
“Yes, I know.” She replied in the same beat. “I brought this one for you.”
Did I mention that she was eating as at the time this whole drama was playing out?
“For real?” I asked, in between a state of fading disbelief and pleasant surprise.
“Yes now.” She nodded. “Shebi I answered you the first time you asked…”
“Wow! I didn’t believe you. I thought you were joking.” I replied as I practically “floated” to her side and tried to give her a side hug. But, Kid Sis. being the person that she is would not allow me to execute any PDA.
The truth was, in a different circumstance, maybe in the home-area, I wouldn’t have been so surprised that she would do something as kind as that to me. However, I actually wasn’t expecting anything like that from her in an environment as devoid of anything filial as a work environment. That was why it took that long for me to believe her.
“Thank you, baby.” I said as I made a playful attempt to kiss her on the cheek. She drew away in the same light manner, making a funny “I-don’t-believe-you-want-to-kiss-me-here” expression on her face.
“You know I love you, right?” I asked, laughing softly.
“No o. I’m not your “love”…”
Kid Sis and I
And there. That’s the story. But moral?
You see, many a times, when God works a miracle in our lives, we’re often too distracted by the impossibilities surrounding us to really believe that the miracle we “seem” to be seeing might actually be real. We are often so used to our world-standard conditions that we fail to realise and live in the reality of God-standard conditions. We are so blinded by the lies around us that we fail to see God’s truth staring at us even when we are HOLDING it.
And then, we think, “This can’t be true.”.
“It’s too good to be true.”
“It can’t be happening to me. Things like this don’t happen to people like me.”
“No, I don’t deserve this.”
We are often so fazed by these unreal realities that it takes a while before we get used to the idea that the miracle might actually be ours after all. But, by this time, the novelty of the experience would have worn off. The pure “magic” of the moment would have been irrevocably tainted by our doubts and unbelief.
The questions I’d like to ask is this, “Aren’t you a child?”
“Is your Father not the giver of good and perfect gifts?”
“Is your Daddy not the Father of Lights with whom there is no shadow of turning nor variableness?”
“Is any gift to big for a loving father to give to a loved child?”
Surely, I say this to you – God is not a God of questions, for questions bring doubts. He is a God of Answers – answers make undeniable statements.
So, when you ask Him, your Daddy, for stuff, why don’t you truly believe He’ll do it? And when He does it, like He always will (if your request aligns with His plans for you), why don’t you believe the answer is TRULY FOR YOU and that it couldn’t have come from anyone else but your Daddy?
Circumstances and environments cannot stop the manifestation of God’s love and care towards us. However, we are the ones who shouldn’t limit the answers to our own prayers by building up mindsets that entertain doubts and unbelief.
Another moral?
Little things that matter go a long way.
Back to me: Before noon, the food had digested and my stomach was starting to feel empty yet again. However, nothing could drain the fullness of my heart at the pleasant thought that someone was thoughtful enough to think of doing me a good deed. And up till now, memories of that morning still gladden my heart. They – these memories, make me want to make someone happy too.
Someone is around you, who has one little need or the other. Why not start a chain of goodness by meeting that little need? You never can tell – the little need you meet today might cause an avalanche of grace to flood away the obstacles in your path tomorrow.
Did I remember to tell you that the food we’re talking about here is deliciously cooked Jollof Spag. with pieces of fried plantain? 😎😊
P.S.: Oluwatobiloba, I love you. You know, right? *Winks*
12:46am | Home, Ifedapo, Amuloko. Tue. Dec. 10, 2019
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