GIVING ALL, REALLY ALL
She was mature yet full of life. Probably hailing from the middle belt of Nigeria, I would hit a guess at Kogi or Benue state or somewhere on the borderlines of both. She was a complete woman as the eyes could see. Her feminine gait and graces were intact. She filled out in the right places and when she smiled, you could see that those two primitive African marks on her cheeks couldn’t stop the glow on her face.
She was my friend. I was an industrial trainee and she was an employed staff at the school café. It wasn’t long before we began to exchange more than pleasantries. I thought her the little computer skills she needed to get through when she was stuck and she supplied the gist to keep the day going.
Days went by and we got talking about relationships… she was catholic and had her beliefs. I was Charles and I had my thoughts. We shared, argued, laughed and even taunted ourselves.
Days rolled into months and she came beaming one day. She was getting married! Yes, I knew it. She definitely would make a good wife…then she announced that her husband-to-be is a soldier! My heart sank.
A soldier? Oh come on! Didn’t she know they fight wars and some never return? How could her love go in this direction? I felt a bit sad as I imagined the worst for my friend.
I couldn’t attend the wedding
but it went well. I was happy the marriage had started and just few days later the posting came. Her husband had to leave the country on a national assignment. Well, all we can do is pray and hope all goes well and if it never does then atleast let my friend’s husband make it home alive. I was really not very happy for her. She needed her husband by her side and he was not just at home, he was out of the country on a risk-laden mission. God help my friend. More, her husband
Life continued and the husband went on missions and returned safe and all kept on track. Then time later I heard the good news…my friend was pregnant. Wow! How times changes yesterday. I was glad. Maybe my fears were just unreal and human. This family was growing and nothing I had thought about was happening or ever going to happen. Here I was just being a pessimist or better still a concerned friend.
Nine months later or fairly so, another friend called me and we were all full of joy. My friend had put to bed and he was a baby boy. Wow! She was a mother now…no be small thing o. The husband cum father must be a happier soldier. Oh my gosh! I could imagine what the boy looked like, would he have those tribal marks of his mother? …oh naughty me, of course he wouldn’t. Would he be fair complexioned? Yes, almost all babies are fair at birth….i just kept dreaming until I got the shocker…
My friend passed away during the birth! Speechless, lightening struck, dumbfounded, beclouded, traumatized with shock…I just could imagine it. My family all turned to look at me because I had forgotten their presence just as I received the news. It was a very, very bad news for me.
The soldier father was now a widower at this early stage, with a son that would always remind him of the love of his life, the one he lost for his boy’s sake? Oh my! What a world, what a loss, what a terrible and irreparable loss. A mother gave herself for her child or …didn’t she?
Its over four (4) years if I am not mistaken that my friend passed on but It’s still a sad tale, one I always remember with skipped heartbeats. I ask myself now, how the child would feel when he is grown up knowing that his mum died to give him life. His father would surely tell him the story of his birth and life. I thought it was the soldier that was at risk but I didn’t see this part of the picture. What man on earth ever sees the whole picture?
If you were the boy, how much would you love your mother? If you were the boy, what would you give your life to? If you were the boy, how would you see life on earth? And who says you are not THE BOY? I thought it was you that CHRIST JESUS died for? I thought it was your sins that nailed sinless him? I thought it was his life taken for yours? Or maybe I am wrong…. And if I am not wrong then how is it with YOU?
What value do you place on his ransomed life? What value do you place on your life as a whole?
Hear this: “…and you are of Christ and Christ is of God” 1Cor 3:23 (NIV)
Hear again: “…you were bought at a price therefore honour God with your body” 1Cor 6:20 (NIV)
Really, how is it with YOU??