It was my birthday some weeks back and usually on such a day, I seek the prayer of an elderly person around me. But on this day, my spirit moved me differently and I went to our family WhatsApp forum and declared that it was my birthday. Something that had never happened before!
I also went a step further to pray for the family. And used the opportunity to make known my efforts on certain domestic issues. Guess what?
The prayers started pouring in from my siblings that never used to bother about birthdays.
They may not have seen “the big deal” in their efforts but my emotions found peace and healing from that experience!
That’s even the FIRST TIME that some of them were wishing me a “happy birthday” since I became aware of my birthdays but when they did, it came with heartfelt prayers. And that’s when I knew that I am starting the year on a positive note and it has further strengthened my faith in how the year will turn out for me.
We hadn’t been relating as we should as family but after that day, a lot changed in our family dynamics. The energy is lighter now.
What prompted me to share this experience is the conversation between Morgan Freeman (the American actor) and a lady in which he said to her, “Let me ask you something. If someone prays for patience, do you think God gives them patience? Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient?
“If he prayed for courage, does God give him courage, or does he give him opportunities to be courageous?
“If someone prayed for the family to be closer, do you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings, or does he give them opportunities to love each other?”
That conversation opened my eyes to what life was rather pointing me to regarding my family!
The setting (of not doing enough for one another as family) was bothering me. But I finally learned that things were that way because God is giving me the opportunity to make an effort towards the ideal family that I always wished for.
There’s no therapy to the soul like a wholesome family relationship. The reason some of us are all over the place for prayers and miracles and even letting strangers treat us shabbily (especially in the name of love) is because PEACE and LOVE are lacking from the primary source that they should flow from the family. So, we turn to the outside world for what’s lacking within.
It’s time for us to nurture the genuineness to tackle our emotional issues from the roots. Can I tell you something? There’s no miracle bigger than the LOVE of family.
As far as I am concerned, nobody represents God better than the very womb that conceived you or the loin that sired you. And those that share these biological links with you.
Sometimes, let them see through your vulnerability; their prayers or counsel can envelope your life with unimaginable calmness.
That is why I can never (for the life of my blessed self) understand people who treat their parents shabbily.
Certain emotional turmoil that many people are grappling with is the reason many of us have convinced ourselves that family is not always blood and quite frankly, I agree.
Family is WHO relates to you with goodness. But it is also a BLISS to the soul when blood is indeed family. Sometimes, we don’t give FAMILY the chance to bring us closer or show how much they care. Look how lovingly my family responded when I went closer to them?
May this be the year that we see certain oddities around us as God giving us the opportunity to change the narratives.
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