What Time Is It?

First of all, I must say I have missed you all so very much. A big thank you to the few who wrote to ask where I had been. For those who didn't notice, I've been laying low on CR for the past few weeks and I must say it only made me cherish what I am able to do here -share my musings with you guys. Many conversations I had (or overheard) made me think "Oh, we've addressed that on CR" or "We should address that on CR." God has used this platform in such a special way, so please share with as many friends as you are led to .

Anyway, back to the matter at hand, there was one conversation that really got me thinking. I recently asked a certain woman who owns a small shop near my house, to tell me the time. I wanted to know exactly how long it had taken me to get home that day (without having to mentally approximate the the time spent in her shop and subtract that). There was nothing to suggest she would be unable to do so, since she was wearing a wristwatch and if that wasn't working perhaps her phone would be on, unlike mine. 

She looked at her watch and the answer I got was "After seven" I wasn't satisfied "Yes but how many minutes after seven?" the response I got was "All I know is, after-seven" I frowned quizzically, she took one look at me and sensed she might have sounded rude and explained she didn't know how to read the time accurately and even the hours, she had taught herself. I appreciated her politeness, to explain something as intimate as that was quite kind of her. Immediately, my memory flashed back to the Saturday afternoon my Mum cut an apple in half to demonstrate what half-past was, and that the whole apple represented 60 minutes.

There are so many things we take for granted, often not until these things are threatened, do we realize they are not rights but privileges. Why is it only when we come across the man with no friends, we appreciate ours or the woman with no feet, that we realize we have been truly blessed to walk in our tattered shoes. We have become increasingly desensitized to what is awesomeness each day presents. This life that we have been given, that we lay high expectations on, that we plan months sometimes several years ahead. 

I am thankful this week for the smaller things; I can’t take for granted the place, power and the life that has been granted me by God; I can't take for granted the gift of salvation or the privileges and the kindness extended by those I cherish and those I barely even know.

Stay thankful friends!

Ijeoma Olujekun