LOOKING FORWARD TO 7.30PM

 

I was thinking this morning.... My flight landed in Lagos right on schedule, at about 3.30 pm. The vehicle was on hand to pick me up. We immediately set out ahead of rush hour traffic. As we exited the Third Mainland Bridge at about 4.30 pm, we ran into the rush hour traffic at Victoria Island. Oh no, I exclaimed quietly in my soliloquy. One will think I was rushing to meet a business appointment. It wasn't that. Why exactly was I bothered about an hour or so of delay, since I wasn't driving? A deep search exposed what was driving my anxious expectation. I was in a hurry to get home before 7.30 pm.

What exactly was happening at 7.30 pm? No, I wasn't expecting a VIP at home. I was rushing to watch Tinsel on DSTV. Wow! How is it possible that I have become hooked on this soap opera on TV? I did a mental playback and discovered to my chagrin that for 16 years, I have been looking forward to 7.30 pm each week day.

Tinsel is a Nigerian soap opera that began airing on DSTV in August 2008 and is currently in its 17th season. There were times when the plots in the series were really interesting and understandably held me spellbound. But there were many times the storyline was drab and made no sense, yet I still looked forward to 7.30pm. As I imagined how from one day to a week and then one month of watching Tinsel has grown to 16 years, it gave me a fresh understanding of how Smokie, in its 1972 hit song, could live next door to Alice for 24 years without telling her how he feels.

Whenever I wasn't physically on the ground to meet my 7.30 pm appointment, like when I was out of the country, my decoder was always there to record every episode. Apart from my walk with God, which has been since 1994 (30 years), I am not sure of any other daily or weekly activity I have been committed to for an unbroken 16 years. It is difficult for me to understand how I can be committed to a TV program for 16 years. For the 30 mins each week day means I have cumulatively spent 87 days of my life watching just Tinsel.

Be careful what you give your time to. Just one video game or one episode of Telemundo, before you know, it has become an addiction. Don't watch another porn video, else you get hooked. Time is one of your most valuable resources. How effectively you are spending your time is a reflection of how your life will be. Redeem your time because the days are evil (Eph 5:15).

Stay hopeful. God's got our back.

Happy Sunday!

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