STIR IT UP
STIR IT UP
Something happened a long time ago. I must have been five or
six then; I don’t remember. But I do know it was a long time ago because this
was in our former house in the village, before it was painted and renovated.
Good times. Simpler times. I remember waking up with the
excitement that only the village could give; the morning call of the birds, the
gradual rise of the sun. After brushing, we-my siblings and I-all ran to the gigantic udara tree that stood sentinel over our
homes, myself, my siblings, cousins and basically almost everyone in the
village, save the men and most women. A few people came to pick some of the
fruits for their market. Us? We just wanted to have some udara before breakfast.
Anyway, I remember our Nanny calling us in to have breakfast.
We were already sweaty and a little dusty, but this was the reason we were back
home, to get away from it all. Besides, it was Christmas, and we were home to
have fun.
So, breakfast. Bread and tea. I was in a haste to get back
out there to play, to explore. The day was young, long and full of promise, so
I promptly took the cup of tea handed to me, picked up some bread, bit into it,
and took a sip of the hot tea.
I almost spat it back out.
“There’s no sugar.”
“What?”
“There’s no sugar in the tea,” I said, holding out the cup
of tea.
“But I put sugar in it,” she countered.
“It’s not sweet,” I said.
She shrugged. “Put more sugar in it then, if you want.”
So I did. 3 cubes. What? I was a kid, and you know it makes
us like Energizer bunnies.
So, sugar. In the tea. Another sip. Not sweet. 3 more cubes.
Same result. 3 more cubes.
Wait, hold up, stop. (In
Francis Odega’s voice) ‘Wollup nigga, wollup.’
Rewind that.
Now, let’s count those cubes. 3 from the nanny, cos that was
the number of cubes I used back then, till I cut down. The, 3 more. Then 2 more
times.
12 cubes in all.
Here, hold my phone while I go sit on the couch over there
and have a rethink about where this relationship with my sanity is going.
So, after tasting the tea and not finding it sweet, I threw
away the tea, only to find out that the cup still felt heavy. So I looked
inside, and saw all the sugar, in the cup. Just there. I tried to lick it, but
it was useless. Thankfully, I got another cup of tea and had breakfast, but I
neglected to do one simple, innocuous but important task.
I forgot to stir.
And sometimes that is how we are with what God gives us. We
say we have nothing, that God just brought us into the world to suffer and die,
but that, my friends, is the greatest lie that we can tell ourselves. Each and
every one of us has something in us put in there by God to help us fulfil our
purpose here on Earth. God never sends anyone out into the world empty. He
loads us, like sugar in a cup of tea, and when we say it is not enough, He, in
His infinite mercy, gives us some more. And more. And more. And He just waits,
and waits for us to stir these cubes of sugar in us.
Why do you think the Bible says that “For the EARNEST
expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God”
(Romans 8:19)?
Sometimes, we are like that sweet cup of tea that brightens
up someone’s day, wakes him up…
Or.
Or we can be like the cup of tea that I threw away, so many
years ago, with so much sugar in the cup. Little wonder someone once said that the
graveyard is the most resource-filled place on earth, as it is filled with so
much unfulfilled and unrealised potential.
So, how do we stir the sugar God has put in us? We can’t use
a spoon now, can we?
No, we sure cannot, but we have something better, Someone
GREATER. We have the Holy Spirit. He was given to us as our Helper, and He will
help us stir the sugar in us, if only we are humble enough to ask Him. He’s
present, always, waiting, hoping we ask so that He can show us just how sweet
we can be. Isn’t that amazing?
Hold on, let me go and make a cup of tea.
Rock on! God bless you.
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