JUST A BOY

 

I was thinking this morning...... It was in 1987, and I just gained admission into the University of Benin. It was my first time leaving home to stay away from family. Everyone around me was big, and for some reason, I saw myself in that same frame. Imagine my shock when I stumbled on this photo last week. For the very first time, I saw myself for who I truly was. I was only 17 years old and just a boy.

I remember taking most of my first year lectures at the 500 Lecture Theater at Ugbowo campus. Every lecture day, before dawn, I was among the first students to get to the hall, not only because I wanted the best seat for myself but primarily because I wanted to reserve a seat for a fair complexion female classmate called L.E. Everyone wondered why I take the pains daily to reserve a seat for L.E because she was out of my league. I never really understood why myself. But looking at this photo, I now understand that I was just a boy.

My roommates were really huge (in the voice of Donald Trump). They will boss me around, oppress me, make me the butt of their jokes and downright disrespect me. I never understood why. On one occasion, I reacted and gave Tunde a stars generating slap. Despite escaping being pummelled, it couldn't force them to show me some respect. Thirty-seven years later, as I reflected on this photo and how small I was, compared to my classmates, I understood the origin of the disrespect. I was only a boy.

Though I was young and with a small frame, I saw myself from the lens of my mind's eyes. I was as big and mature as the people around me. I did not allow my age and size to make me feel less than those around me. I may have been a boy and seen as a boy, but academically, I was among the biggest in the class. What I lacked in brawn, I had in brain.

The challenges of life can sometimes be overwhelming, making you feel like a boy. Those around you might even compound the problem and like Saul to David in 1st Samuel 17:33 tell you 'You're only a boy.' Believe in yourself and face whatever Goliath is before you. With God on your side, you will look back like me after overcoming and say, 'Wow! How did I do this? I was just a boy.'

Stay hopeful. God's got our back.

Happy Sunday!

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