This, Pray I Not for You.
I sat down for a fireside chat with a senior citizen of this country for a talk. It was one of those telenovela moments where two friends sit down beside the fireplace to catch up after being away from each other for a long time.
Ours wasn’t the same case. We often bump into each other and have chats. Only this time around, the chat was objective and purpose-led. This guy, quite older than me, is very accomplished in his own right and married with grown-up children. As such, he was qualified to have this chat with me.
Among the things he spoke to me about, is the aspect of those things that he prays I do not go through. The same things I pray that you, my reader, should not go through. Only that I will add something. That if you ever go through such things, you may not go through them alone. That God be with you.
Number one is a bad marriage. Having lived in this world for a long time and married for over three decades, my old friend told me that a bad marriage is the worst thing that any person can ever experience.
A bad marriage, he equated, is like a boat in the ocean deep with a big hole. The surety of the boat sinking cannot be overemphasized. It is sure. The bible states clearly that two people cannot walk together unless they both agree to do so.
In the case where two adult people are yoked up in battle and conflict all the time, progress is never made. My friend told me that marriages are built. They are made to be what they become by the efforts of two people brought together by a shared objective.
When one builds and the other breaks, it means that the marriage just remains at that level. Over time, a bad marriage draws away from the prime energy of both parties and wastes their time. And time is one of the greatest resources once misused is never restored.
My friend shared with me that he also prayed that I don’t be a poor man. Poverty is bad. Poverty steals the dignity of man and places him at the mercy of others. It breeds suffering as the poor man is always at the mercy of those with the means.
I found a certain tweet funny where someone, who can be best described as rich was replying to a hustler guy who had tweeted him about something which the rich guy felt uncomfortable with. The rich guy, in replying to this hustler, touched on his state in terms of means.
This rich guy told the hustler guy that he could pay him to bark daily at his house like a dog. When you have nothing, nobody respects you. My friend prays that I may not be poor lest I lose my dignity as a man. If I may not end up very rich, at least he prays for me that I may never lack.
To you, my reader, pray I for you too as well that you may not be poor. I pray that you may never lack to end up disgracing yourself and others. Poverty is not something that you can be happy to be identified with. Poverty makes us doubt our abilities.
To add to those things that my good friend prays that they may not end up as part of my portion is terminal diseases, deaths (left, right, and center), failures, and all the ills that make us question our value as humans as well as doubt our value as humans.
All these, I pray that they may not end up with you as well. After all, what is the value of good friendships if not to pray for good of others and wish them the best?
In the final words of my great friend, that if it turns out that one of these befalls you, I pray for you that you may not walk through alone. I pray that you allow God to walk with you and to walk you through successfully. When faced with some things, we are better off taking them to God in prayer than carrying them on our own. Inshallah!
