A couple of weeks ago, on a Sunday afternoon, I was visiting
these friends to catch up with. And so after it was done, it was a moment to
leave to my place. I boarded a public service vehicle just like I know most of
us will especially if you are yet to own a personal car. Not at any time did I think
this would turn out to be the most exciting 30 minutes journey along Kenya’s Thika
Super Highway. I sat next to a lady whom I did not even say hello but just
assumed someone was seated. Like most of us, we think we too busy to even smile
to a stranger seated next to us. The lady was busy listening to music from her
smartphone and for this reason didn’t care much. She alighted along five
minutes later and so I was alone in that row for the next 5 minutes before the
next bus station when another lady boarded and sat next to me. The amazing
thing was that I did not notice her face actually nothing about her. It’s quite
common not to care about who is next to us when traveling. But along the way, the
lady must have started calling someone but did not even care to hear a word
since I was too busy with my own phone perhaps browsing for the latest news. What
caught my attention was that at some point the lady must have become so distressed
that she was literally audibly creating the “what-if” questions. It was at that
moment I realized how far I had fallen from the reality that a soul next to me
was struggling and had not even given her a second to know what was happening
to her. Like from a slumber, I realized I had not even cared to say hello or at
least give some form of attention.
There I was guilty and ashamed. I had to quickly switch off
my data bundles, keep my smart phone away and smiled at the lady, said hello
and asked what the problem was. Distressed, the lady gave me the whole story. Apparently
she was to pick a relative from upcountry at Kasarani Bus Station but since the
relative had no phone, she had all along been conversing with the driver of the
Matatu her relative had boarded from Meru County. The driver had promised her
he would drop her relative at the stage and she had waited for 3 hours. Later the
driver changed his mind and now the lady was to pick her at Nairobi. Her worry
then would be that there was a possibility that her relative would be dropped
in town and since he did not know how to navigate the city, he would get lost
or the driver could choose not to drop him but instead take him back to Meru. It’s
at that time that I did calm her down, explained that it would be alright and
nothing bad would happen. And sure she was positive, at least she responded positively.
She took my words, smiled and was calm. I actually offered to call the driver
on her behalf and with assurances that all would be well, for the rest of the
journey she was comfortable, composed and confident. Of course I alighted some
distance to the city center where she was to pick her relative. Were it not for
the fact that I had a meeting to catch up that evening I would have walked with
her to offer her a hand in making sure all will be well.
MADE FOR SUCH MOMENTS
The point is we were always made for such moments to offer
our shoulders to struggling souls so that they can lean on them. But often we
think we are too busy, we are stressed and so we experience burn outs from our
own preoccupations. And for this reason, we too busy thinking we will find
solace in our social media pages commenting and liking any updates. Times we
offer to help when we realize a brother or a sister is struggling only in
comments but we know deep within our hearts, it might not happen. And so we
miss out the real moments to be of help to our immediate neighbors. It’s even
too sad, that we never have the confidence to face our own conscious that
constantly reminds us that we are guilty of our own actions. The least we can
do to show kindness is to smile and say hello to people sited next to us in a
PSV bus, next to our office or our next door neighbor. But what happens? We walk
away. This is what Casting Crowns Band in the song “The City on Hill” depicted.
That once the city was shining and it would still be shining had not each one
walked away. One by one they walked away and the strength, the rhythm and the
life in the town dimmed. This happens when we think we do not need other souls
and that their struggle is not our struggle, their pain not our pain and their joy
not our joy. We cannot afford to have a coffee break just to catch up with a
lonely friend and get to know what is happening in their life. Yet we know all
of us we have times we are so perplexed we almost giving up.
All around us there are people who are experiencing pain,
they feel lonely, are on the verge of giving up or are dissatisfied with life. They
are looking for people to share their burden with. Yet for us we think we are
not made for such. We think our problems are more than theirs and that when we
are happy, we do not need to know if others are. Our happiness always come
before their happiness. But instead of hiding in our own business and in our
own company, is it not more prudent to enjoy making investments on lives and
things that matter most? Sure it pays more when we share in the moment we are
in. listening to the stories being told and being in fellowship with others in
pain because we are made for such times. We are made to connect with the
sorrows and joys of people who are around us. We are made to talk about things
going through our lives. We are made to love even people who we think do not need
this love. When we lean, we connect with the emotions, we notice the crocked
teeth of ours friends but still connect with them and we note the broken hearts
and help mend them. And this is the beauty of things, because we are made to
support struggling brothers, church and work mates. And because we are made for
such times why not take time to have coffee with our neighbors so that we can
get to catch up with them.
#CoffeeTimeWithJeremy
For this reason kindly connect with me on my Twitter handle
@Jeremiah_wakamu and Help me connect with you using #CoffeeTimeWithJeremy make
it trend. I want to be part of you. I want to have a chat with you over some
coffee. Please make it happen.
ALSO Remember to catch up with my book JOIN THE DOTS IN MY WORDS for more inspiration
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