It’s time to bid adieu to one more year. There will be some who might have accomplished a lot, while there’ll be others holding grudges in their hearts for not being able to catch up with their friends and colleagues.
While I was pondering how 2017 fared for me, I realised that while we are busy complaining and rushing to achieve everything in life all at once, we often fail to achieve what we’ve always desired.
Let’s take you through a beautiful story woven by Eketi Edima Ette, which will make you believe in the beauty of time.
Are you one of those people who’s looked back on 2017 and convinced yourself that you haven’t achieved anything? Worried about catching up with your mates who seem to have done much better?Let me tell you a story about #time.A thread 👇
— Eketi Edima Ette (@eketiette) December 26, 2017
She takes us back in time when she was 12 or 13 years old,
A long #time ago, back when I was about twelve or thirteen years old, my parents travelled to Uyo.Before leaving, my mother asked me to prepare Edikang ikong soup so she and my father would eat when they returned.
— Eketi Edima Ette (@eketiette) December 26, 2017
And so the preparations began.
As soon as they were out the door, I commandeered my siblings to prepare all the soup ingredients, cover them up and leave them on the kitchen table. #Time
— Eketi Edima Ette (@eketiette) December 26, 2017
Every child would have done the same.
We played our hearts out!Climbed trees. Hunted grasshoppers. Played football. Watched TV. Scattered the house.
— Eketi Edima Ette (@eketiette) December 26, 2017
All play and no work. Finally the realization,
And it came to pass, that the hour of parental return drew nigh and we were still at play and the soup was yet uncooked.Then my sister, I think, ran into the room while I was lying in front of the mirror….#Time
— Eketi Edima Ette (@eketiette) December 26, 2017
….in the middle of giving birth to my fake baby, the result of my fake and unusually gigantic bedsheet pregnancy.”Daddy and Mummy are coming!” she screamed.#Time
— Eketi Edima Ette (@eketiette) December 26, 2017
Within no time, the house was set in its original avatar, but…
I dashed into the kitchen, yelling for my brother. He ran in, quick as lightening and like headless chickens, we gathered the ingredients, put water for garri on one cooker burner and the soup pot on the other. #Time
— Eketi Edima Ette (@eketiette) December 26, 2017
The sound of the approaching car could be heard now.
I sent my siblings to go welcome my parents, and inform them that I couldn’t come to the door because I was cooking.From the kitchen, I heard my mother’s loud voice. It was liberally #Time
— Eketi Edima Ette (@eketiette) December 26, 2017
“Ideghe afere anke bogo anye abok tungho isua, k’enye atutungho idagha m? Literal translation: “Is that the soup I asked her to cook since, that she’s cooking now?” Life translation: “I’m going to kill her.”#Time pic.twitter.com/5BouVEmg1V
— Eketi Edima Ette (@eketiette) December 26, 2017
Surrounded by clouds of trouble, the special demon came to help her…
It sensed that someone may be in trouble. So it made a detour and landed on my left shoulder.”Is it not just soup?” it said, stroking my head with its scrawny talons.#Time
— Eketi Edima Ette (@eketiette) December 26, 2017
“It doesn’t matter what time the ingredients go in. Just pour everything inside the pot at once, turn it and voilà!”As my mother’s voice and footsteps neared the kitchen, I was beyond desperate.#Time pic.twitter.com/X1QFOnEGV7
— Eketi Edima Ette (@eketiette) December 26, 2017
Amidst the confusion of ‘doing it’ or ‘not doing it’,
I could actually see the hooded figure of Death, standing near the fridge, giggling.I took the demon’s advice. Quick as a flash, I poured everything – pumpkin leaves, crayfish, fish, meat, waterleaves, periwinkles etc in the pot and stirred.#Time pic.twitter.com/AaBVpW6PiL
— Eketi Edima Ette (@eketiette) December 26, 2017
My mum stepped into the kitchen a second later. “Ah, Mummy welcome o,” I said, adding salt and pepper to the mixture.”Sorry about the food. I was actually timing your arrival, so the soup will still be hot when you return.#Time
— Eketi Edima Ette (@eketiette) December 26, 2017
Don’t worry. By the time you finish undressing, the food will be ready.”All these I said without pausing for a breath, in that fast, glib manner of lying children who have suckled the devil’s left breast.#Time
— Eketi Edima Ette (@eketiette) December 26, 2017
As expected, the soup turned out to be an abomination.
All the ingredients stood on their own, all separated by rivulets of water and oil.What my mother did to me that day, is the stuff of legend and a story for another day. My point is…. #Time
— Eketi Edima Ette (@eketiette) December 26, 2017
Every good cook knows that each ingredient has a different cooking time. Thus, they shouldn’t be added to the pot all at once.If that is done, it’ll ruin the taste of the food.#Time
— Eketi Edima Ette (@eketiette) December 26, 2017
And therein lies a very valuable lesson for us.
So it is with life.
Our individual success stories are made up of different ingredients based on nature and nurture, time, hard work, talents, God’s intervention etc.#Time— Eketi Edima Ette (@eketiette) December 26, 2017
Give time. Give time to yourself, your life and it will turn out to be wonderful for you in the end.
Read the complete thread here.
A large number of people could relate to her story,
This is lovely and I think I needed to read this today. Thank you.
— Kiran Manral (@KiranManral) December 27, 2017
Lmbo at the story bcos I’ve been there before. Love the moral of the story though. Kinda reminds me of the seed-time-harvest principle. Too often, we sow the seed, skip time and start looking for the harvest. In actuality, the “time phase” is when the magic happens.
— 2blessed (@2blessedforreal) December 27, 2017
And her story inspired many.
2017 has been really good to me after a number of sad, lonely years. But those years made me stronger and better than I was before. Thank you for this, I needed the reminder 😊
— Michelle Audrey (@Chellebobaggins) December 27, 2017
What a beautiful and eloquent story. I guess i came accross this wit a reason… It seems God is trying to sensitize my thoughts towards my negative thinking past this few days… Nice one. God has just use u to replenish a dying soul that is about going into lust.. God bless
— Rufus oluwaseyi (@rufus_0123) December 27, 2017
There are exactly zero reasons why you shouldn’t read this #thread and take it to heart. Thank you @eketiette https://t.co/2cqwswScYO
— The Dirty Oracle (@TheDirtyOracle) December 28, 2017
For those who think that they haven’t achieved anything and the year has been an absolute failure for them:
“Everything begins and ends exactly at the right time and place.”
