Life Lessons from my daughter

Two major milestones occurred with my daughter in the past few weeks: She clocked one (Yay!), and took her first baby step – all by herself (double yay!) As can be expected, my hubby and I are ecstatic, same goes for her two older siblings who can’t help being thrilled to watch her walk. Of course, ever since she started walking, I’ve had less ‘me’ time and have switched roles from Mommy to Bodyguard.  She wants to go everywhere her little feet can take her, and that includes the bathroom to play with the toilet water and the kitchen to try out the knobs of the stove. Perhaps, she’s going to be the next Top Chef in Bravo’s TV cooking contest, who knows?

On her little face, I see beams of joy when she walks; well, more like totter. Since she has yet to master the fine art of walking with a nice steady gait, it isn’t uncommon to see her fall. And several times too. One would think that in spite of all her many falls that she would just sit out the rest of her walk, ehrm…Again, I mean, totter. But my daughter? Oh no! She is up, in a quick flash too, like nothing ever happened. In fact, her next step is often taken with a bolder attitude. I’m thinking God blessed her with the strongest bones possible, because if it were me doing a third of her falls, I would be a paralytic by now.

So it occurred to me this morning as I watched her take her walk,- pardonez moi, I meant totter, – accompanied by more than one fall that it would be super nice if I learned to deal with life’s challenges the way my daughter deals with her tottering. Instead of sitting down in self-pity and becoming resigned to the seemingly insurmountable task that always has me landing on my butt whenever I try to tackle it, I could just get up, shake off the dust of failure, and keep on working to overcome my challenge until I’m its master.

Life was never meant to be lived without a few bumps in the road and for some, if not for most of us, we’ve got more than a few bumps in our life’s journey; more like humongous portholes it seems. But we don’t have to give up on life. We don’t have to let the task of living be our master. We could just get up, it’s a choice by the way – shake it off and keep at it. We may be tottering now, but if we keep at it, we’ll walk. We’ll even run and some very lucky ones may fly in the success of being part of the living. The most important thing is to remain constitent, taking it one day at a time until that challenge is well managed or totally disappears.

From my heart to your heart, have a most lovely day!

What’s in your Name?

This Note, written by my younger sister blessed me so much and I wanted to share it because I know it’ll bless you too. Happy Reading!

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(*Song*) –  My name, my name my name -pamurekeji

My name is Sola -pamurekeji

I come from Oyo-Ondo -Pamurekeji, irekeji, irekeji, keke, pamurekeji).

I am not sure how many people know that song, but it used to be one of the songs I sang with other friends in primary school during break’ing’ time. Those that understand will appreciate the use of that word ‘breaking time.’ Anyway, until recently, that song has not made much meaning to me as it has in the past couple of days.

 It is our nightly routine to read a story out of Morin’s bible. Especially now that she is beginning to read herself, she loves it even more. She keeps the book tucked under her pillow every night. On one such night, we read the story of Isaiah whom God had sent to the people of Israel to remind them that He still loved them and that He had a plan (“Secret Rescue Plan”) to restore them to Himself; and also to mend their broken world. The plan was titled, “Operation No more tears” The illustration of the story in the children’s bible showed God writing out the rescue plan in the form of a letter and giving it to Isaiah to deliver to His people.

The first sentence I read out of the story caught Morin’s attention. “Do you know what your name means?”

I expected an immediate response since we had talked about the meaning of her names in the past. There was silence. I turned to look into her face, hoping to get an answer.

“Well,” she started playfully, “I kinda get the meaning of my name confused with yours because they almost mean the same thing.”

Thinking she was trying to play smart as usual, I asked in my motherland accent – the accent she understands as me being very serious, “How can you get them confused, do we bear the same names?”

She stopped for a brief moment, but this time, she looked more serious. “I know the meaning of yours – it means, I HAVE WALKED INTO WEALTH.”

“God’s wealth,” I added immediately, since that really was the thought in my mind when I had named her. “But that is the meaning of yours, Morin.” Omorinsola, literally meaning ‘My Child has walked into wealth,’ was abbreviated to Morin. I am not a fan of name abbreviations but I have always made sure that Morin, right from when she was able to understand words, understood what her full name meant.

“I have walked into God’s wealth,” she echoed after me, her face radiating joy as she took note of the addition I had stated.

I continued reading the story but Morin suddenly interrupted me again, this time to remind me that I was yet to answer the question, Do you know what your name means?

 “That’s easy,” I said. “Of course, I know the meaning of my name. OLUSOLA ( abbreviated SOLA)  means ‘God Makes wealth’.” Knowing that we had talked about this in the past, I wasn’t expecting any more questions or comments. I continued reading the story out of the book.

“Well, there was once a man called Isaiah and his name meant ‘God to the Rescue!’”

I was almost done with that line when Morin said, “Wow, I have an Idea.”

 In my mind, I thought, Oh no! I need to get this done so I can sleep. It’s Sunday night.

However, trying to be pleasant and patient (like mums are expected to be), I asked nicely, “What’s the idea, Morin?”

Her eyes lighted up as if she had just had an epiphany. Raising her left hand to gesticulate, she said, “It all sounds like a Story.”

Thinking she was referring to the bible story, I answered, “Yes Morin, it is a story but a true one.”

She immediately replied, “No. I mean our names are like a story. God made the wealth, I walked into it and now we’re eating it all up. You know, Olusola, Omorinsola Anjola-oluwa.

Anjola-oluwa is one of Morin’s many names and my favorite. It literally means eating God’s wealth. It can also translate to ‘We’re enjoying God’s wealth’. I wanted to laugh at what she had said, especially the part about “eating it all up” but I had to keep a serious face, rush through the story so I could get myself ready for the week.

After all was said and done, I zoned into my ‘Sola-time’ when I reflect on events of the day. It was at this time that I heard that statement in my head again. “God made the wealth; I walked into it, and know we’re eating it all up.” I thought for a few minutes, and it did not take me long to realize that Morin’s statement is indeed the testimony of my life. I immediately felt my heart so full of gratitude to God and I found myself singing one of my favorite Yoruba hymns-

Jesu ki lo ri ninu mi, t’ife naa fi po to bayi. Oore re si mi ti po to, O ta gbogbo ero mi yo!

Meaning: What have you found in me that you have dealt so lovingly. How great the joy that you have brought, so far exceeding all my hopes and thoughts.

Deuteronomy 8:18: “For it is He who gives the ability to make wealth.” Rephrasing this translates to Oluwa lo n se ola, meaning ‘OLUSOLA’. This verse clearly establishes the root of the meaning of my name. Until now, I had not thought to find the scriptural backing to Morin’s names, so I decided to go back to the scriptures.

Joshua 14:9: The land on which your feet have WALKED will be your inheritance and that of your CHILDREN; and Isaiah 1:19 says, “You will eat the good things of the land.” All these bible passages were sufficient scriptural backings for me to establish the root of the meanings of Omorinsola and Anjola-oluwa respectively. I will be basking in this all week J

As I laid in bed thinking, I tried to continue the story Morin started. God made the wealth (Olusola) then I walked into God’s wealth (Omorinsola); We’re eating or enjoying God’s wealth (Anjola-oluwa); God’s wealth never ends (Olaoluwakiitan); God’s wealth pays off (Olaoluwapemi); and God’s wealth is sweeter (Olaoluwadunsi). The list is endless. Am I giving anything out here? Anyway, I hope I am giving someone some ideas too.

To my young family and friends that are expecting right now, I challenge you to think about giving your children names with meanings (especially in our kind of society), guided by God’s Word. To everyone else, I challenge you to find the root of your names or its meaning in His Word and be proud to share it with others. Mine is Deuteronomy 8:18. Where is yours in the Bible?

Throughout this week, I think I will be singing, My name, my name, my name PAMURKEJI!

~Olusola Arowolo