Few days ago, I tried to do ‘supermom’ style while carrying out my household chores. Don’t blame me. The energy was there and I had a long to-do list before nightfall and trust me….I wanted to accomplish all. So my story….. I sorted out clothes and started washing, white first then coloured clothes after. All were placed in separate piles. Now, I had an on-going discussion on my phone to conclude a deal and I wanted it done as soon as possible so multitasking came into play. Discussion on one side, washing on the other and yes, school assignments on another while cries of “Mummy, what are we going to eat? I am hungry.” filled the air periodically. 

Till date, I can’t pinpoint the exact moment the story changed, I can’t remember what happened.I know I stood to change the load of white in the washing machine and then…. I packed the pile of coloured clothes and dropped them in the soapy water.  In retrospect, I remember hearing a thud as I dropped the clothes but then my mind wasn’t there. I was in a hurry to get my next task done. The machine came on and I heard thuds. ‘I sorted these clothes out. I am sure these children must have dropped a toy inside the pile. Well, it will be clean after washing.’ I reasoned. Then I realised! My phone!!!!!!! Oh my God! I exclaimed and turned off the machine, my heart in my mouth. Tears were already closed to the surface. Not my phone! This was my backup after my toddler son accidentally pushed my phone to the ground a few months ago. That particular damaged one was a goner. So my backup was now my main. Dry hand in, soapy hand out clasping a wet slippery phone. My heart sank.

“Daddy, Mummy’s phone was inside the water.” my eldest son called out to my husband. My throat clogged with tears as I tried to explain what happened. 

I finished washing the clothes in a daze. My husband and son attempted to dry the phone which by the way has a non-removable battery so obviously you can’t open it to separate the parts. I was numb.  All my tasks on my to-do list…out of the window. I think I was only able to achieve half. You see, I had a lot of information on my phone, my backup was not perfect I agree but I definitely didn’t plan for my phone to have a conference meeting with water but then it did and from the look of things, my phone was coming out of that meeting a defeated stakeholder. I knew deep within me that my journey with that phone had come to an end.

Yes, I had to get another eventually after much effort to bring the water clogged phone back to active duty proved abortive. The water proved more powerful. Opening it in the repair shop showed excess water spread all over the components. How I got another is a story for another day. However I got a few lessons from this and I thought to share. 

1. NEVER EVER BE IN A HURRY TO ACT OR TAKE DECISIONS.  I was in a hurry to wash, accomplish tasks and didn’t realise when I made a mistake and dropped my phone in the pile of clothes. 

2. BE WATCHFUL. When taking decisions, bad things can camouflage as good and correct. It was definitely good that I was washing clothes to keep my home clean, but hidden inside the clothes was my phone which caused me a lot of trouble. I was careless and didn’t watch before I acted.

3. BAD DECISIONS ARE COSTLY. Undoing bad decisions are expensive, time wasting and can sometimes cause irreparable damages. It was costly for me, I had to get another. It caused me some delays because that activity I wanted to conclude had to wait and therefore cost some avoidable extension. 

4. DISCONNECTED. Just one wrong step, one wrong action can cause a disconnect from your surroundings, people and activities you hold dear. Do you know that staying connected to God is your lifeline and keeps your life in check? I was ‘phoneless’ for days, disconnected from family and loved ones. Activities revolving around technological connections (hey this is a technological age where everything revolves around technology) were near nil. Issues that had to be resolved couldn’t be because there was no way to communicate with me.

When you make a wrong decision, take a wrong step, you get disconnected from God. Your life flounders and you discover things that were hitherto easy for you becomes difficult. Connecting back to God gives you life.

Getting a new phone was a relief. My ‘connection’ was restored. In this world of technological advancement, a phone is no longer a luxury but a necessity. Same vein, your connection to God is not a luxury but a necessity. An essential to your life on earth. Have you re-established your connection with God?  When the water entered my phone it destroyed everything.  It entered from openings and finished the internal components. Same thing, bad decisions, bad steps, sin, all seep into your life seemingly innocently and gradually destroy everything. However, God is there, to give you a brand new life, just like I got a brand new and much better phone. There might be challenges here and there as you retrace your steps and restart your life with God at the helm (just like configuring my new phone to my taste) but with God all things are possible.

Let me quietly drop my phone in a safe secured place while I go off to attend to my other tasks beckoning on me. I don’t want a repeat story. 😁😁😁😁😁. Have a great day.

Cheerio!

Oruare Ojimadu 

Image by Dariusz Sankowski from Pixabay.com