RIGHT ON TIME

chapter 27

EN ROUTE TO CHURCH. 

Righteous was driving with a heavy heart, and it was because of her children.

Indeed, she knew what her children were trying to do this morning. She understood what they had been trying to do in recent times. 

This morning, her children had been smiling and playfully teasing her. 

To make her forget the pains, the struggles, the tears, heart breaks, disappointment… Name it.

But how could they? After everything that had happened in the past twenty-four years, why were they trying so hard to make her forget? As if it was that easy.

It was crazy. To her, it was very crazy. 

How old were her children? Her daughter was twenty-one years old, and her son, twenty-four years old. But sometimes, he and his younger sister behaved like some bunch of spoiled kindergarten kids.

The children seemed to be enjoying what they were doing and sometimes she wanted to tell them  to enjoy it while it lasted. 

Life had a shrewd way of wiping off the smiles from one’s innocent face and replacing it with many sorrows. Unfortunately, when it came, it came unannounced.

And this was why she was furious at them. Sometimes she wanted to slap some sense into their heads and ask them to wake up to reality.

To tell the truth, sometimes she was also jealous of their carefree lifestyle. Sometimes she wished, even for a minute, to be like them. To know what it felt like not to cry over the negative decisions and regrets from the past, feeling depressed about present situations, and not worrying or feeling anxious about the uncertainty of the future.

But the other times, she wanted to tell them not to be deceived, that whatever happiness they thought they were experiencing now was just a scam. She wanted to tell them that it was a big sham and they should wake up to the reality before the unexpected happened to them the way it did to her.  

Experience was, indeed, a teacher, and a brutal one for that matter.

If only she could turn back the hands of time and become nineteen again, prior to the time she met Henry, prior to when the world went bananas on her.

Regrets, regrets, regrets. She had a buttload of them.

The only regret she did not have was her two lovely children. Many people were not able to bear children of their own. 

Okay, and her gift of salvation. A lot of people did not have this free but priceless treasure. 

And a successful career. Not everyone, including her counterparts could boast of this. 

A conducive home and a welcoming environment. Billions all over the world were sleeping under the bridges, dangerous places and run-down, dingy apartments, exposed to cold and mosquitoes and all manner of hazards. 

Food. Many were currently starving and suffering from lack of balanced diet and malnutrition.

What about the clothes on her body and her children's? Sound health. A fancy ride.

Alright, there were a lot of things to be happy and grateful for.

So why was she feeling overwhelmed with so much anguish instead of gratitude? Why did she worry so much, and feel anxious about everything?

Did Christ not warn his followers against this very thing she was doing? Did he not say to be anxious for nothing?

Did the Holy Spirit not admonish the early church through the mouth of the apostles? In Apostle Paul's epistles to the Philippian Christians, specifically chapter four verse six and seven, where it stated: 'Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.'