MY MOTHER: A Phenomenal Woman

I know an excellent woman. . . A woman that loves God and people. She is a woman who gives and gives without tiring to the needy even when she herself is needy. A woman that would give her all into whatever she does.

I will like to share a bit of her story… My experience with her.

This woman carried me in her womb for 9months.

Yes, I am referring to my mother.

I opened her womb… I’m the first fruit of her loins.

I was her first experimental animal 😊

 

From her I learnt so much that serves as the basis for the woman I am.

Back in the days, my mother would give me mental sums/drills. She drove me towards success.

I tell you, none of my siblings got the attention I got from our mother when it came to studying in the early years. (And none of them enjoyed lots of beatings like I did when I was growing up). She would make me read like my life depended on it. I have her to thank for my aspiration for academic excellence.

I remember her making a clock from an empty carton with which she taught me how to check the time. I really wish I had a picture of that clock.

I hear how young people joke with the fact that many of their parents claimed they always topped their classes when they were in school and how we wonder how true it could be for virtually all parents to have topped their classes during their schooling years.

With my mum, it was all true what she told me in a bid to encourage me to be the best I could be. She was always top of her class and an excellent athlete too. My grandma is still alive to testify to her academic and sporting exploits.

She put in for her first degree at about the time I gained admission into the university and she graduated with a First Class CGPA. She proceeded for her Master’s degree immediately and was the only one who endured the rigour and graduated from her class… Of course with a PhD grade. All the while working as a nurse.

She taught me sex education. Yes, I think I must have been one of the few privileged children who had their parent as their first sex educator.

She taught me how to drive. Yes, my mum was my first driving lesson teacher. She had just bought her first personal car with a loan at about that time when I began learning how to drive.

On one of the days when I was driving that car, I drove into a culvert in a bid to avoid hitting a young boy who was hawking some goods and ran unexpectedly into the road. The windscreen of the car got broken and that was the onset of my phobia for driving which lasted several years.

While I suffered from vehophobia, she never wearied from telling me over and over about my need to snap out of this phobia and return to driving. She would even tease me that what would I do if me getting an important job depended on knowing how to drive. She never relented until I finally got over my issues.

 

Now, this woman can follow you into the hole of the ground. She would visit me everywhere I went. She always wanted to know what was going on when you were away from home.

My hostel mates knew her very well. My church Pastors and some members knew her well. And yes, my lecturers knew her.

She just practically knew everything going on in my life. It was as though she left an eye with me while she dropped me off in boarding school.

There was a particular occasion where I had a fight with my sister for not doing well in her tests. Only God knows how my mum knew. She showed up the next day and the first thing she asked was why I fought my sister. Like seriously? How did this woman know that?

This practically instilled a level of fear in me. I couldn’t tell her lies and I was wary of misbehaving when I was not being watched.

There was this connection between us that made it feel like she was in my mind and knew what I was thinking.

While I was in the university there were so many times I would have decided that I wanted to go home and after telling my roommates about my plan to travel let’s say the next day, my mum will show up the next morning.

A little reverse to my earlier years…

My immediate younger sister fell ill and died and the next thing she did was strap the body to her back as she walked back home all by herself. She still lost another child after that, while he was yet a baby too but she wasn’t broken either.

…Talk about a strong woman

She has faced a lot of challenges in her life and she fought gallantly as a brave warrior.

She is a hard worker and she would go to every legal length to give the best to her children. She almost always went hungry for our sakes.

She embraced my friends like they were her children.

She taught me how to cook and she gave me my first basic baking lessons. She loved to experiment with different dishes. . . And I ended up just like her.

She is always supportive of my dreams. She was there when I fell or failed, her encouraging words were always there to soothe the pain. She has always been there celebrating my successes with me.

The most important part of her influence on me was guiding me through my walk with God.

 

She has had a relationship with God that made it easy for me to seek God wholeheartedly too. She encouraged me to read the Bible and pray. She can pray like…

And I was privileged to be her number one prayer partner.

She would enrol me for every possible Bible quiz or sword drill competition available in town during my early years.

She bought SO MANY Christian books, magazines, comic books and video/audio tapes for me when I was growing up. She is as addicted to buying inspirational books as I am (maybe I am worse, (or better) though).

She is a woman of faith. Though she didn’t have much, she taught me to trust God wholly for all my needs.

I have so much to write about this woman but I will just pause here.

 

Is my mother perfect?

“Of course not”

We disagree lots of times.

But I couldn’t have wished for another woman to have birthed and nurtured me.

I know she is going to see this post. . .

I know it’s not your birthday or Mother’s day; I intentionally chose to write this on a day that isn’t a regular celebratory day.

Mum, I love you!

I celebrate you today and always!

I call you blessed!

Your sons, daughters and grandchildren cherish you.

Continue to live for Christ.

You are a woman worthy of emulation.

And I appreciate God for your life.

I am truly grateful to you for all your investment over me.

God bless you and keep you forever!

 

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Photo Credits : Dew Star Photography