GRATEFUL HEART

Too many times I am so excited I want to fall out of my seat. Not because I won a jackpot but because I'm alive. It's something to shout about. Words bubble through my heart in moments like this, and pour forth in praise and thanksgiving unto God.

Too many times also, I feel less excited about life, I become burdened by the need to birth dreams and my passion for a world where people are better empowered to achieve their purpose. Many times, yours sincerely, D-Motivator needs motivation. But thank God for the Holy Spirit who helps us with joy enough to draw water out of the well of Salvation.


Truth is, too many people who you think have life all perfectly figured out have their own silent burdens. Stuff they don't bore the social media world with. You may have your own fears too, you may have your worries but the scripture urges us to cast our burdens unto the Lord for he cares for us.

I remember listening to Mark Vujicic, the man without limbs who is making waves and touching people's lives with his life of service and gratefulness unto God despite his disability. According to him, he summed up his life at some point and thought, 'I'm never gonna get married, I'm never gonna have children, I'm never gonna be able to live my dream because of my disability.' But today, all those his fears have melted away, he is married now and his second baby just arrived. Today, his dreams more than fulfilled.





So fear not, be encouraged. God knows the fears of your heart, he loves you more than you can imagine. With him, your disabilities will turn to abilities. Just learn how to be thankful for what you already have and what you are looking for will make a hasty arrival. God knows the way he is taking you through, and after you are tried and tested, you will come out purified, refined as gold.

In all you do today, Be Happy, Be Exceptional, Be You.
Welcome to a new week.
Sincerely yours,
D-Motivator

FAITH

Lovely people, I've been really busy but I can't forget to bring to you the end of this short story titled Faith. To connect better with the story, you might want to read the first one if you have not yet done so. Enjoy.

Part 2
'Make sure you tidy the kitchen before you go to that stream and swim away the whole day.' Mama tells Olanma. 'And you, Emeka, fetch water and fill up the container in the kitchen.' Mama shouts like a Police Corporal, dishes some more orders before leaving for her August meeting. I am sitting at the paIour, watching the seconds hand of the clock run a marathon. I am waiting for Toby to come. We shall finish the game and then go and try to woo Urenna, that girl that speaks from her nose.


When Mama finally leaves, I am lost in thought. 'Faith always delivers to those who believe.' These words are crawling under my skin now. Will my faith help me beat Toby's Barcelona when he comes seeing that I've never beaten him before? Will it deliver Urenna to me and grant me my first kiss ever? Will it allow Papa to buy me a bicycle on my next birthday? I have no faith experience. I think I should first learn to get some white Uri on my finger nails from the cattle egret.

I walk outside through the front door and towards the field. Luckily, I can see the Aboki standing by his cow and the cattle egret supervising their grazing. I lift my hands, stretch out my fingers, my voice gradually loses its shyness,

'Shekele nyem mbo ocha ma were mbo oji...'

There are three things I want beside a white sign on my finger nails; beating Toby's Barcelona, winning Urenna's love and getting a bicycle from Papa on my 14th birthday.

*The End*

FAITH

Olanma, my younger sister, likes waving her hands at the white cattle egret whenever they appear at the break of dawn. She looks on with the vigilant eyes of a night watchman and the helpless courage of a hopeful maid.

She is asking for beautiful patterns on her finger nails. A song perches on her lips, she is bursting with lullaby, sonorous like Ogene Ndigbo,


'Shekeleke nyem mbo ocha ma were mbo Oji.' She repeats this many times.

Her voice radiates the colour of Handel's messiah as she waves her hand up and down. Through the binoculars of faith, she sees them; through the prisms of hope, she anticipates and the white patterns seem to find a way to show up.

Three days later, we are seated on a wooden bench at the backyard, Olanma and I. The wind is whistling through the mango tree not too far from where we are seated. Mama is cooking Ofe Nsala, a kind of soup that possesses super powers . Both of us are caressed by the Ofe Nsala aroma. Olanma is examining her fingernails, a new pattern has appeared. I don't know how. I am thinking of what I would do to Messi in the unfinished Chelsea and Barcelona encounter between Toby and I. Toby is so good with PS2 he will pass for a computer cheat. I will remove Falcoa once the second half resumes, he is a vestigial part of a tree trunk. I conclude. Chelsea is my colour, PS2 is the passion. Football is the game.

The Rainbow has dispersed its colourful pride. The rain has stopped sighing and the Summer holiday is already here. Olanma nudges me. 'What are you thinking of, biting your lips? Can you see the pattern on my nails?'
I do not see anything. I pretend. I am busy dribbling Messi. Olanma is like that, she will not let me rest; 'Brother look nah, don't you like my white nails? Faith always delivers to those who believe. Can you see my nails?' Olanma says. I finally oblige. I examine her nails and see the newly acquired patterns. At ten, Olanma says some things too wonderful for the ears to understand.

'This is Superstitious,' I tell Mama at the dining table. 'Yes, it is Superstition,' mama concurs. 'No, it is faith,' Papa interjects as I imagine a ball of fufu make a hasty arrival down his throat. 'Faith is the evidence of things hoped for, it is..., it is...' He seems to forget some of his lines. Ofe Nsala is working wonders. 'Yes, it's the universe that delivers to you your expectations. Your faith activates the imagination.' Thankfully, he remembers. Papa can be like that, a magnetic field of inspiration, when food is not far-fetched.
(Watch Out for Part 2)