The Duality by Atsu Antonio Awayevoo

You make me happy, you make me sad
You make me feel high, you make me feel low
Talking with you sends my worries into hiding
As sleep also goes into hiding

I would love to chat forever but Mr Time reminds me I can never
Rules they say are meant to be broken, though if broken, we would be broken
Broken because of an unchecked growth
Growth that could nothing but affections affect
Making affability lead to indispensabilty

Secrets are shared that act like cement, cementing the relationship
Thoughts are shared that build but break also because the naughty may sometimes cause a pondering

A pondering the naughty mind comes into conflict with the Godly mind
Who does but always wins
Though the naughty might have his time of day, the Godly will win the day making the weak strong and the heart peak with songs

As is said, all have two-sides, the bad and the good
The good must however prosper and the bad must forever loss suffer
Like the provebial "YIN & YANG",  in an endless dance they are


Atsu is a friend from university. He is a hard-working quality aspiring guy who loves his faith and having some bit of fun & ambiguity. You can check out his blog for more uplifting posts 😊 www.minemusings.simplesite.com

Gifts

I woke up immediately I heard the door bell ring. I slowly closed my eyes again when I remembered I wasn't the only one at home. Surely my little brother, Elorm would be awake. That video game playing boy was always awake. Unlike him I preferred to sleep till mid morning because I was on vacation.

When I heard him open his door I pulled my covers closer and tried to go back to sleep. I was almost successful when my brother barged into my room. "Eyram there's a package for you!" He said, excitedly. I looked at him suspiciously, wondering if he was up to any of his usual pranks. "Elorm, if I go downstairs and it's not true I'm putting your X box, Y box or whatever it is called in a bucket of water." I threatened. He just giggled and asked me to hurry up. I got out of bed and made my way to the living room. Our parents had left for work.

Elorm was not joking. There was a delivery man on a bike with a box. I walked over to him. He asked me to sign in a notebook and handed over the box to me. Then he left. I wasn't sure what to say because I was not expecting anything from anyone. I looked around the box to see if there was a sender's address but I saw nothing. "Open the thing la." Elorm said. I giggled and opened it. My eyes gleamed when I saw what it was. It was a tablet pc. It wasn't brand new but it was an awesome tablet I had been wanting about for some time. I was very eager to find out who gave me this amazing gift.

There was a little note that read "hi Eyram, a friend of mine was selling this at a really good price. Immediately I saw it I thought of you. I hope you like it. Anna." I held the note staring at it for a few more minutes. I knew the handwriting, there was no mistake it was from my cousin. "What did the note say?" Elorm asked when he noticed my change in mood. The truth is that I felt very bad. Just a year ago she left the country because she got a scholarship to study abroad. I promised to keep in contact with her but I didn't. I remember her calling me often but I rarely returned her calls. Even after such a long silence she still thought about me. I smiled and realised I had a lot of calling to do.

Doesn't this feel like something we all go through? Well not all of us get tablets from our cousins, for sure! But just like Anna God showers us with gifts in many forms even though we  sometimes ignore him. Like Eyram we give ourselves so many excuses; calling abroad is too expensive, I will text her tomorrow, she's probably busy with her new friends but the truth is that Anna still loved her and that love brought her to the right place. It's time for all of us to be at the right place with God. If nothing at all we should pray to say thank you :)

The bed next to mine

The sound of talking woke me up. It came from the bed next to mine. The girl there was called Aku. She got more visitors than anyone else in our ward. Maybe it was because her case was the worst. I heard some nurses discuss her condition while she was asleep before. They said it couldn't be helped. Her cancer was detected pretty late. Someway somehow I preferred her situation, not the dying part obviously but the fact that they knew exactly what was wrong with her. Me on the other hand it seemed the doctors were not sure what I had. Several tests had proved negative. I didn't want to die but my hope of surviving seemed slimmer every single day.

"Let's pray. Fafa would you join us? "Aku's mother said looking at me." No thank you." I said. I noticed the disappointment in her face but I didn't care. She just nodded and turned to her daughter. Aku's older brother held her hand and they begun to pray. They did this everytime they visited her. I wondered why they even bothered. after that they showed her messages and presents from family and friends. Aku seemed to enjoy all of this. Even though she was in a lot of pain and other times a bit too high on morphine she managed to smile and giggle at most of them. That day for some reason she laughed more and even spoke more than she usually did. It was almost like she was getting better. Maybe the nurses gave her the perfect dose of morphine.
 
When visiting hours were over her family gave her their usual hugs and kisses and left. Then the room became normal again. I must say I preferred it like that. No one to blurb about unrealistic hope from God. Just the silence to allow a bunch of dying people count the remaining seconds they had left. That's what Aku had that night, a number of seconds left but she didn't spend it doing a countdown.

"Fafa, are you asleep?" Aku asked. I turned to look at her and told her I was awake. She smiled at me. She was one of the few people in our ward that actually smiled. For some reason I couldn't help but smile back. "What is it?" I asked her. She had a question for me. She wanted to know why I refused to pray with her family anytime they asked me to join them. I shrugged. It had happened 2 times. The first time I pretended to be asleep but today I didn't think there was a point pretending. "God doesn't listen to us." I said. I wasn't really in the mood to talk but then again I was curious as to where she was going with her questions. "Oh but he does." Abu said sharply. She went on further to talk about how God loved everyone. I stopped her by asking her why God would leave us here to die. She was silent for a moment and then said something I will never forget. "You know micro organisms right?" She asked. I nodded with the most confused look on my face. "Do you think bacteria understands algebra? That's how we are with God. There is no way we can understand him but if we trust him we will see his love for us." she said with the warmest smile. She was right. I never thought about it that way before but she was right.

Aku passed away that night in her sleep. Tears rolled down my cheeks when the nurses came for her body. She was such a lovely person and just when my hard heart was softening she left me. Her mother came to collect her things and walked over to my bed when she had packed everything. I had no idea why she would come to me. She stretched her hand and gave me an envelope. "Aku asked me to give this to you." She said. Her eyes were red from either lack of sleep or constant crying. It was probably both. She formed a weak smile and turned to leave. I called her back and said "Don't worry, we will see her again." She nodded and smiled again but this time with less pain in her eyes. I saw where Aku got her warm smile from.

When I opened the envelope with my wobbly hands I saw a little note in it that said, "God does everything for a good reason." It's like she read my mind. After her parting words the night before I had been asking God why he put us in such a situation. My eyes watered again. I closed my eyes and for the first time in a long while I prayed to God. If I was going to die I wanted to go peaceful like Aku did. Her mother said goodbye to me and immediately she left a bunch of doctors walked into the ward. They walked to Aku's bed and called a nurse when they say it was empty. There was one foreign doctor among them. A skinny white man. The Ghanaian doctor expressed some amount of anger towards one of the nurses. I heard him whisper "you should have told us that she had passed away. We've brought him all the way from the conference room for nothing" in Twi. Just before they turned to leave the Ghanaian doctor turned to me and to his fellows. "Doctor Bainbridge I'm sorry, the patient with Leukemia passed away last night, unfortunately. Perhaps you can take a look at this case we have been battling with?  I know this type of cancer is not your speilciality but how about we look at it?" He said. The white doctor nodded and they all turned to look at me.

After a brief inspection, a few tests just like magic Doctor Bainbridge knew how to save me. It wasn't cheap but he gave my family contacts to a few NGOs in his country that he thought could help us. He was right and after 2 surgeries and some physiotherapy I was back to normal. The whole thing seemed completely surreal. Aku was right. God did listen to my prayer. I decided to set up and NGO in Ghana that would help the sick build their faith in God. Just like how God turned my life around, I wanted to share this with others too.There was just one name I had in my head and that's why I named it, The Aku Foundation.

Sunday morning anchor

This morning I tossed and turned in bed as ECG turned my lights on and off. I didn't care much because the weather was nice and cool. I looked at my phone when my alarm went off and contemplated missing church to have some extra sleep. "You read the mass readings the night before remember?" My brain whispered to me.

After a few more snoozes I slapped myself and got off my bed. Getting ready for church didn't take very long because as I mentioned earlier I didn't really have power so I looked for the most decent outfit that had been already ironed, an orange dress. I got into my car when I was all set and drove off. I seemed a bit late, 15 minutes to be exact but when I entered the church I heard the first reading. I smiled to myself as I sat down.

The sermon was about the sacrifice we are to make for God during Lent. The priest mentioned fasting and said there were so many other things we could sacrifice besides food. So I drifted off thinking about what I was going to sacrifice. A lot of things flew into my head. Some were really pointless and others made a lot of sense. So I decided.

I listened to more of the sermon and was really glad I came. Sure I had missed out on some sleep but it was nothing compared to what I received at church. After mass I set off to find myself a cold  drink because it was a hot Sunday (SUNday lol). On my way I saw a couple of people I always wanted to talk to. To invite them to a group that wanted to expand. For some reason I never talked to them (probably thought they won't be interested) but today I was like 'eh let me just go'. So I went and spoke to them and they liked the idea. Just like that. I smiled to myself after and went home, after my cold drink of cause.

Moral of the story? Sometimes a little effort to do the thing you believe is right or best can bring you more joy than doing something else. Today's first reading was about Abraham and his son Isaac who was almost sacrificed. Abraham had a big thing to do so I guess we can do ours too :)

Being Francis

Francis saw his older brother packing his bags. "Hey Dan, where are you off to?" He asked curiously. Dan looked at him and continued packing. "I don't know how you manage to be happy here." Dan finally replied. He picked up a T-shirt and threw it into his small suitcase. Francis did not see that answer coming. He enquired further and Dan made it clear he was leaving their new home. His brother was even more surprised.

 Just then their sister walked into the room. "What's going on here?" She asked. Francis turned to her and explained Dan's intentions. She shook her head and turned to walk out like nothing was happening. "Pat, won't you tell him to stop this and stay?" Francis called out. Without turning Pat said, "He's not a child. He can do as he pleases." Then she left.

Francis asked his brother why he wanted to leave one more time. "Why should I stay? Father doesn't love me, he expects me to follow so many rules and what do I get in return? Constant disappointment. He says “ask me for anything and you'll have it” but he doesn't honour his words. My friends in the South are living very happy lives free from strict parents. That's where I'm headed." Dan let out. It looked like he had given this a lot of thought.

"Daddy loves us so much. Don't you see that? He gives us a lot of food and everything we need and his rules are just meant to protect us." Francis said. "I'm 25 years old, I need more than food. I have asked him for so many things and he just did nothing." Dan said, beginning to get angry. His little brother tried to calm him down but it was useless. He picked his suitcase and walked out with Francis running behind him. "I have one last thing to say. Count all the things Dad has gotten for you and see if they are worth more than the things you are asking for. I will tell Dad you'll be coming back because I know you will." Francis said almost in tears. "Good luck with that." He said and left the house.

If Pat, Dan and Francis’ father was God and they were normal Christians like you and me, can you relate to their actions? Pat is the Christian who believes but does not spread the word nor help others out. She prefers to be a Christian on an island. Dan is the Christian who loses his faith because he thinks God is asleep or maybe just picky because his prayers are not being answered. He feels all he is doing for God is in vain.

 Francis is the Christian we all want to be. The one who believes in God with all his heart and wants everyone to do same so he calls people to God and encourages them. We have probably been all these people at one point or the other in our journey with Christ. It's time to be Francis in our own little way. If you are not sure how, just pray and an idea will pop into your head, completely unique to you. God bless you :-)

Monday morning surprise

As Samira walked to work she remembered the sermon that was preached at church the day before. The topic was about loving your neighbour. Even those that didn't love you. She knew one person like that at work. Sarah Brown. Sarah just didn't like her and the feeling was very mutual. From her first day at work Samira never got along with her. Maybe Sarah felt insecure around her because she was younger, she just couldn't tell. "I'll love my neighbour." Samira said with a long sigh. Just before she entered her office building she saw something interesting. There was a car having boot sales not very far away. She looked at her watch. She had enough time to do some window shopping. She saw a nice necklace. It looked like something Sarah would love. She thought for minute and bought it for her at a very good price.

When Samira got to work Sarah was not at her desk but she saw her favourite red bag and knew she was around. She picked up a sticky note from her desk and wrote a little note. She stuck the note to the present she had just bought, put it on Sarah's desk and walked away. When she got to hers Elikem walked by with a smile. "Is that a bomb you put on Miss Horror's desk?" She asked. Samira giggled and shook her head. Elikem always had names for everyone. Then it hit her that she wasn't the only one who didn't like Sarah. "Love your neighbour." She whispered to herself as she turned on her computer.

After a few hours there was a general meeting for everyone. Samira took a seat at the back of the board room next to Elikem. "Pay raise time, woop woop." Elikem whispered and did a little dance in her chair. Samira laughed. "You are such a child." She said to her. The CEO of the company walked in with some sheets of paper. He said he had bad news. The company was not doing as good as it used to and they had decided to do a downsizing exercise. Samira's heart missed a beat as he mentioned the names of the people who were being laid off. Her heart sunk when she heard Elikem's name. Fortunately for her that was the last name. She breathed a sigh of relief and turned to comfort her friend.

When she got back to her desk she saw a red sticky note and instantly knew who it was from. It said, 'thanks for the necklace. It's so lovely. Yes you are right we started off on a bad note. So your apologies have been accepted.' Samira smiled. She turned around and spotted Sarah at the entrance of the board room. She walked to her but the CEO was quicker. Samira just stood aside and waited for him to finish talking to her. "Sarah I thought we decided on 12 people? This list is short of one." He said. "Sir that's true but I found out recently that she has potential as compared to the others." Sarah replied and smiled at Samira. "Alright, I trust your judgement, have a nice day." The CEO said and walked away...... 

Love your neighbour!

The brave 10

Once there was a king. He ruled his people so well his kingdom was the happiest. Everyone loved him and would be nowhere else than in his Kingdom. One day an enemy attacked and fought them. They fought hard. The enemy wasn't strong enough to defeat them so they took as many people as they could captive and run away into the forest. The king was not happy. He loved every one of his people and wanted them back. He sent a message to the village. He told them that he wanted his people back. He was sending his army to go get them but since some had died in the battle he needed more hands. Some of the people yelled "We are not soldiers! Let the army go and do what they can!" Others said. "The forest is scary with all sorts of wild animals. They will tear us apart. We won't go!" Some also said, "We are busy fixing our homes from the war. We don't have time."

The king was sad. These were their fellow wives, sisters, sons and friends who were taken away. He didn't give up. He kept asking till he got a few people interested. They were just ten. The day came for them to leave. The king thanked them. They marched into the forest with the army knowing not what they would face. They walked for hours, following the trail of footprints left behind. "This isn't as frightening as I imagined. There are no monsters and goons at all." one of the ten said. At last, they caught up with them. They had made a camp in the forest. The army looked left and right but the enemy was nowhere to be found. They approached their people and told them they were here to save them. The captives laughed. "We like it here. Our leaders give us free food and we eat as much as we want." some said. The ten that came with the army were amazed. "You are in chains. How can you be happy?" one asked. They got her point but shrugged. "Don't you miss your daughter?" the army commander asked also to a woman he knew. After more questions they realized they were prisoners, real prisoners. The army released them from their shackles.

Just as they started to leave the enemy came back with their swords and spears. The army faught them and the ten protected the people. In no time at all the battle was over. The enemy was defeated and the people returned home. when they got back to the kingdom the ten told the stories to everyone. The captives jumped in joy and reunited with their families. The king was so happy. He was proud of his people and glad they were home but most of all he was proud of the brave ten.

Doesn't this story sound familiar? Can you relate? Imagine the King is God and we are his people. When he sends us out to bring his children back to Him, who are the very people we love don't we give excuses? Don't we depend on Pastors, Priests, Bishops and Popes to do God's work? Well it's not late. In our own little way we can be one of the ten :)

Where were you?

This was taking longer than I ever thought

People just kept coming, even more than a lot

Old faces, young faces, familiar faces and new faces

All dressed in black trousers, shirts, kaba and dresses

I looked around and saw some particular ones crying

All I could think in my casket was where were you when I was dying?



All I needed was 500 Cedis for an operation

No necessarily in full, could have even been a little donation

But all I heard was 'I don't have money, ask this person or that person'

I must say learning about the cruelty of man is the hardest lesson

A lady cried out and said, "We know his soul is going to heaven"

I wish I could ask her, where were you when I was dying?



When I looked at my little brother I wished I could talk

To tell him not to be like these hypocrites but to be strong as a rock

To care for people when they truly needed a hand


And trust in the Lord way more than the people all around

If you meet my brother, please tell him that I'm trying

To give him this message and that I'm happy he was beside me when i was dying

No stress no drama

• ·         Problems are like tunnels. They are dark, long and scary but they will eventually end. If u stop fighting it will just take a longer time. Just keep going.

• ·         Can you love everybody you know equally? No, so understand that some people will love you less. No hard feelings.

• ·         God loves you. Honestly if he didn’t you wouldn’t be reading this. It’s kind of hard to absorb sometimes because he is the maker of everything? Yea well if you made something as complex and cool as you, you would love it too wouldn’t you?

• ·         Anger is like a parasite. You know, like the annoying malaria parasite that goes into your system and makes your white blood cells weak? In this case white blood cells= happiness. Don’t let anger steal your joy.

• ·         Things will not always go your way so make back up plans all the time if you can’t take disappointments. One time all 3 back up plans failed but the 4^th didn’t. It was to buy myself a drink if all 3 failed and I did J

• ·         Hard times are sometimes good for you. They make you strong. I mean think about it, if you have been chased by a hungry lion before, that local dog is nothing! Bingo clearly didn’t know you could run that fast.

• ·         The more you give the more you get. You may be rolling your eyes but chale it’s true. Just don’t expect it to come the way you gave it. I’m sorry it doesn’t work like that. When you put a seed in the ground what do you get? It starts as a plant, a tree and in no time you have a 100 fruits.

• ·         No matter what you do (I hope it’s nothing bad) believe in yourself. A lot of people do not think they are worth much but if they could see the big picture they would be blown away. You don’t have to be on TV or in magazines to be the best. It’s all about you.

Seven whole days

 Seven whole days, not one in Seven

Should I praise you Lord, like your angels in heaven

Other days I call them friends, but Sunday they are brethren

I forget you several times, but on that day you are sovereign

For several hours I give you my all, then the day breaks and it’s forgotten

Twenty fours go by, but yours is but a tiny portion

My heart wants to do right, to worship you right and give you all glorification

So today I start with a song, I will sing for you, each and every day, not one in seven.

Her request

A two year old girl was playing with her 4 year old brother and she asked him, "Martin, what is blood?" Martin looks at her and responds, "It is some red thing in people." Angela thinks for a while and asks again, "Have you seen some before?" Martin smiles and nodds his head. Angela gets up beaming from ear to ear. "I want to see some." She sings. Martin admires his sister's excitement and thinks of how to grant her wish. He grabs her hand and they run to their parents in the living room.

"Daddy, can I have a blade?" Martin says when they get there. Mr. Lamptey turns to look at them curiously. (Angela is still beaming)He smiles at her too. " Yes you can but not now." He replied. Smiles begun to fade but these kids were not satisfied. "When?" Martin asked again. His father stuck to his words. This time Angela grabbed her brother's hand and dragged him back to their play room. "Daddy is bad!" She muttered as they left.

They went on playing for the rest of the day but Angela still had blood on her mind. During lunch, she asked again. "Daddy can we have the blade now?" Her father patted her head gently and said, "yes dear, but not now." Mrs. Lamptey who didn't want to comment on the matter got a little worried. When the kids run off she asked her husband, 'Are you really going to give them a blade?" Her husband laughed out loud (lol'd) and nodded. "Yes, when they are old enough to handle it." He explained and immediately calmed his wife's nerves.

Later that evening, Angela was chasing the cat around the play room and she fell. She had a bruise on her knee and was bleeding lightly. Martin rushed to her. "This is blood." He said excitedly. Immediately she stopped crying and starred at her knee. "Wow, the red thing." She said trying to smile with tears rolling down her chubby cheeks.

This story is not very different to what we do everyday. We ask God for things that we know we need but God made us so he knows us best. He knows what will help us and what will hurt us. So we ask and ask and when we don't recieve we feel like he isn't listening. He is, he just knows what's best for us and gives it to us in his own special way.