YOU TASTE LIKE (GOOD) SALT AND LOOK LIKE LIGHT .......

                                   
                           

13. Ye are the salt of the earth : but if the salt have lost his savour , wherewith shall it be salted ? it is thenceforth good for nothing , but to be cast out , and to be trodden under foot of men .  14.  Ye are the light of the world . A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

                                                                            Matthew 5:13-14

Salt Essien-Nelson this might sound corny, but trust me when I say this your post on your daughter was inspired by the Holy Spirit and I just have to share it in the hope that for as many that this your post is meant to strike a chord for (ME, being one of such people), , they would read and know that nothing and I mean absolutely nothing should rob us of the ability to have a reason to be grateful at every opportunity, because that thing you take for granted and for that reason you see no need to be thankful might be the very thing that is taken from another and their world though shattered they sieve through the debris and still can find it in themselves to say THANK YOU LORD.

And l give you the following reasons to back up the "Corniness" of my Statement.

1. Yesterday at a WWP PH Leaders meeting our Resident Pst decided that everyone who came early would exhort the group with a scripture. I took the floor first, next came Sis X (name withheld ). Her Scripture of choice was 1 Thessalonians 5:18 "   In every thing give thanks : for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you"

In the process of exhorting us, she shared with us her story. Early on in her marriage whilst about 7 months pregnant, She lost her father-in-law, some other relative and her younger Sister who was also pregnant  died: but this particular loss (her sister's) was not broken to her not until she had given birth and her baby was about a month old.

When she received the news she was devastated, the very sight of brethren coming to visit her irritated her, she was unconsolable, she just didn't want to hear anything, not until according to her she opened a scripture she was very familiar with, 

Oh! How she cried, wept and then she spoke to God, she was led to reread 1 Thessalonians 5:18, she told Him that she didn't know how to be thankful in the midst of such pain, that she had no reason to thank Him, but since He demands it of her she would offer it to Him nonetheless and then she just started thanking Him.

To cut a long story short, with time, sooner than she knew she really became thankful, she had reason to thank Him for the life of her late Sister - in fact she said they were lookalike and favourite siblings), she thought of her Sister's family and she thanked God she was alive, she thanked God for her baby, her husband .....as she told her story during her exhortation it brought memories back.

2. I had to get up early to make breakfast for my Bossman before leaving for the radio station, by the time I came back to the room to ell him breakfast was ready, I saw him going through a pile of photographs that had been in a plastic jute bag in the room, honestly I felt he was looking to get back at some of his old school mates by posting school days pics on FB since one of them had been doing that this past week. Apparently the pile he had been going through didn't go as far back so he asked me where older pictures were and I said in the store and not worry I'll find time during the week to sort them out and he just shrugged stood up and headed for the dining room. I sat on the bed and started going through the pics , and boy did the memories come flooding in. There was one of Ajay and I aged 4 and 3 and he was sitting on the fender of mummy's bettle with regd no LX 4220, gosh I called out to my daughter who was by now getting ready( she chose to be my PA for the radio waka). She came in  and asked why I was going through pictures, I told her it was her dad going through them. Well she joined me on the bed, when she saw the pic I was clutching she asked to see it and she just said "ah Joshua looks just like this o" and I Said Yes! That's his dad. We just dug into the pile and I tell you when she starts her "Awwwwwwwww! Awwwwwwww!, (with a nasal drawl) there's no stopping her. I checked to look at the pictures she was looking at, by now she had her phone out and taking shots, she kept on muttering "now they would believe I was not just cute but a Yella(yellow) baby" and I asked "who"  she said her friends. when she was done with that she started looking through some more, this time it was earlier pics of her dad and I dating back some 17/ 18 years and in most of the pics we were laughing or goofing around just the two of us or with Aj and friends. And then came the sledge hammer.

Her: Mummy, I don't believe this is Daddy, how come he doesn't laugh like this anymore...he is always too serious and you guys were all so lovey dovey here.

Me: sweetie, these pictures were taken at a time when we had no cares in the world, now he is consumed by just keeping us on course.

Her: mummy by God's Grace he would laugh like this again.

To which I answered "Amen"

At that moment my daughter seemed all grown up and I just Thanked God for her. I thanked God that at 16 she got me. In fact today  was a turning point in our relationship and her gists with me today were unending.

3. This same Today, I read my Sister's gratitude challenge and I shed a tear when she expressed thanks for Two of Ours We Love(d) who have gone ahead and I remembered how blessed we were to have had them for the time they were here. And you know what in that same pile of pics, I saw one of my Dad in full Naval Ceremonial ( a pic I had spent time looking for every where to use this past April to commemorate the 20th Year of his passing), I saw one of him, Inya ( cutting her cake) and I on her 10th birthday and I did a mental note to snap it and send to her, I saw Pics of him and his girls (Us), pictures of Ajay were all over, his wedding day etc.....And to read your post about Your Princess' request just opened he floodgates for me, it was cathartic.

4. Since the past two Thursdays  , two scriptures have resonated with me . they kept popping up in unrelated contexts as if a beacon pointing to something. They are; John 1:4 " In him was life ; and the life was the light of men"  and Genesis 1:3  "And God said , Let there be light : and there was light"  .   And this evening during workers prep/prayers our Zonal Pst asked that we Pray that we become light.

5. later in the evening during Sunday School Teachers review Class, when we examined the Lesson ahead of tomorrow "Thanksgiving a Pattern of Christian Living" my behaviour was uncharacteristic and the Coordinator had to ask me after I had spent about an hour whether I wasn't planning on joining the Choir for rehearsal as I usually do. I told him that I had decided that since tomorrow was the first Sunday School Lesson in the RCCG New Calendar Year I'd love to sit through the review. I shared that Sister's story, others gave their two cents. 

Then the piece de resistance of the whole day, at a point in the Lesson Outline there's this question in the outline about whether Praise is different from Thanksgiving ( Yes or No) and why...and it generated quite a lot of inputs and then Sister Cecilia who takes Special English class gave her two cents " Infact it's like Eba and soup, you can't use water to eat Eba you must use soup. In fact forget that one you can't cook food without SALT no matter as you cook the food reach if you no Add SALT nothing.....Thanksgiving na the SALT wey dey make food sweet.

AND THEN I READ YOUR POST THIS NIGHT.

And realised that I had finally "Heard" the Sound that defines my Race.

I AM SHOUTING!: YES ! YOU ARE SALT....AND IN ADDITION YOU MY SISTER ARE LIGHT....THIS NEW JOURNEY FOR YOUR WELL BEING  IS NOT TO BECOME SEA SALT , BUT TO BE COME LIGHT AND YET TASTE LIKE "GOOD"SALT. 

My Dear Sister

You are SALT....

You are LIGHT......

You are firmly planted on the Rock YESHUA HAMASHIACH

A LETHAL COMBINATION TO DARKNESS

AND A BREATHE OF FRESH AIR TO THOSE WHO WILL. " SEE" YOU AND GLORIFY YOUR (OUR) FATHER JEHOVAH IN HEAVEN

Amen..

Live Salty

OSA (Your Neneh)