The Gift of Men

 

I was thinking this morning.... I started my first year in the University with three shirts and two trousers. It was a very rough start for a Warri boy leaving the comfort of family to live alone for the very first time. For the next 12 months, I tried every combination of meal plan just to survive. 0-1-0, 0-0-1, 1-0-1, Water-1-Pawpaw, 0-Pawpaw-Water, etc. Life was hard but my dream of becoming a graduate drove me on.

I started my second year unsure of where to stay or how I will survive because I hadn't received my scholarship at the time. One morning, I walked into class and was told that the new lecturer had requested to see me. I was troubled, wondering what I had done wrong. I summoned up courage and went into her office. Contrary to my fears, she was friendly and asked how I was doing. My Itsekiri name was what caught her attention and brought the favour my way.

She subsequently welcomed me into her family marking the begining of my soft, or should I say biscuit bone life on campus. I never had to look for accommodation, as I move into her BQ in Staff quarters nor had to think of what to eat, as I got a seat on the family dinner table. She and her husband gave me every possible assistance till I was done with my second degree. I literally became their third child.

While my experience was a classic vignette of campus life, not everyone received the kind of help I got. This help is what the motivational speaker, Wintley Phipps called the HPLP gene, with HPLP meaning Helping People Live their Potential, but I call it the Gift of Men (GoM).

Since I left school, God had blessed my journey with other GoM bringing me to where I am today. Most people at one time or another in life had received the Gift of Men (GoM) to see them through a phase of life. Some may have been life changing and others, subtle. The GoM is not what you solicit or beg for, they just show up and offer to help on a platter. Most successful people today enjoyed the Gift of Men. Someone that just took interest in them and offered to help at no cost.

As I reflected on how difficult it is to survive in Nigeria today, I realise that we all need the Gift of Men to go through this fire. Gift of Men are sent by God to make you, help you live your potential and fulfil destiny (Matthew 4:19). Are you a GoM? Please don't turn down the opportunity to change a life today.

Stay hopeful. God's got our back.

Happy Sunday!

......Just the thoughts of a certain Wey Mey