light reflections
Qualityor Quantity
gemwoman | July/August 2007
Pictures: Original Intentions | Make-up: Bukky, 0803 378 0424
R
ecently, a friend gave me gifts of lovely casual hats, and as I began to try them on, my daughter came in. She picked up the pink one, tried it on and said, ‘mom, am taking this one.’ It looked quite pretty on her and I couldn’t help noting that my baby was fast becoming a lady. Just the other day, my younger son asked rather casually, if the primary school I attended had swings, as if I belong to the stone-age. And then, only a few days ago, a close friend remarked that my grey strands were becoming quite apparent. These are all loud but subtle hints that have jolted me to the awakening of how much I am getting older! For many women, it’s not a very palatable sign. And to think it seemed like just yesterday, when I got upset with my mom for mentioning that I was only 14yrs old. All of a sudden, you feel like being 21 all your life. How come we never want to think of getting older? Is it because we feel there is still so much to be accomplished or that getting old precludes us from certain life pursuits and pleasures? Or based on the assumption that attaining a certain age calls to mind the imminence of death? The reality however, is that none of these would affect us so terribly if we have learnt to view life from the perspective of adding value to the world we live in and the life of others, rather than our personal gains and what we stand to lose by the additional numbers. That is, living a life of quality rather than quantity. Pondering on this, I am reminded that Jesus lived for only 33½ years but made such an impact on humanity that 2000 years after His words not only live in our hearts but has become the essence of life. John the Baptist, Jeremiah ...the list goes on; they all died young. Even our own Bimbo Odukoya and many other dearly beloved sisters and brothers have gone too early, thus bringing a question to my mindis life to be measured in the number of years or in term of accomplishments in God? Is it the quantity or quality of life you live that matters? To us, the people listed above died too young, but to God, they died at the appropriate time. As far as our maker is concerned, no one is too young to die. He simply desires that your life would touch and transform others. Would you rather live like Methuselah and all that can be said about you is that you lived and died? Or do you prefer to live like Enoch of whom God Himself testified that he was a just man? No one wants to die young and that is not God’s plan for us. We have a promise of living up to a ripe age but what if God’s purpose is different for us? Our times and seasons are in His hand. I think it is time to worry more about our years in eternity than the next designer bag you would like to acquire. It is time to stop worrying about the ‘carrots’ and ‘cucumbers’ too. Death comes to everyone at some time or the other. What life would you have lived when it’s all over? Would it have been a life of quality or quantity? On hearing the news recently, of the passing away of a dear woman of God, I couldn’t help wondering like many, why good people die young and why it seems as if the wicked get to live almost, forever. If we had to choose, we would certainly pick from a long list of “wicked” people who should die instead of the good ones that have gone too soon. It turns out that I don’t have that prerogative. So I’ll say, try to examine your lives and let it begin to rub off positively on others, such that when you take the final bow, all will say in one accord that ‘it was a life well lived!’. To the blessed memory of Pastor (Mrs.) Ifeyinwa Irukwu.
Is life to be measured in the number of years, or in terms of accomplishments in God? Is it the quantity or quality of the life you live that matters?
13
