The Graveyard

THE GRAVE YARD

      As I stood in the midst of the crowd of mourners gathered around the graveside of my bosom friend who was from my point of view, untimely called to glory, I watched with grief, his corpse being lowered six feet into the dug grave, and as rivulets of tears rolled down my cheeks, it dawned on me that something worse than death could have happened to my friend.

         Turning to leave the crowd, I took two slow and plodding steps forward and was miles away from my parked car which my late friend bought for me as a birthday gift, just weeks before his death, when the various sizes, shapes and look of the graves, tombs and sepulchers, became more conspicuous than when I first arrived the GRAVE YARD; and a sudden sense of silence in the GRAVE YARD, seemed to envelope me. Just then I realized it would have been worse for my friend to have died without fulfilling his purpose and living out his dreams and visions in life. If that was the case, his grave and invariably the grave yard would have swallowed up his gifts, talents, potentials, skills and calling. But thank God he died fulfilled; even though I wished he lived, for at least some more years.

        However, staring thoughtfully at the graves and tombs scattered around the grave yard, I immediately had a paradigm shift. I discovered that opposed to my earlier thoughts and pattern of reasoning, the treasures of mother earth, the wealth of the world, and the riches of the universe lie not in the gold mines of South Africa, nor in the oil wells of Texas; neither are they embedded or buried in the vast vegetation and prolific agricultural produce of the tropics, nor in the majestic throne of the Queen of England; but deep-rooted in the grave yards, buried in those old, dusty graves and enclosed within the inanimate sepulchers, are  the world’s greatest treasury- of untapped gifts, unused talents, unexplored potentials, unfulfilled dreams and visions, and unanswered calls. It became clearer to me that buried in the grave yard are books that were never written, songs that were never sung; dreams and visions that were never fulfilled, gifts, talents and potentials that were never discovered and great ideas that the world never came to know or benefit from, because the bearers or carriers of these, in their life time, while they still lived and had breathe in their nostrils, did not let them manifest.

        Again, I began weeping. This time not for my late friend, but for the many souls whose cadavers and bones lay lifeless in those graves, and tombs, without their life’s purpose being fulfilled. Some  would have been the world’s greatest song writers and musicians, some would have been the greatest entrepreneurs that ever lived; our world have become more enlightened by the written and published literary works of some, and most importantly, hell would have been greatly depopulated by the powerful sermons of some. But all that is now written in the book called “Would Have Been”, in the chapters called, “Could have become” and by a best selling author called, “Unfulfilled”- all is now history. I wished I were Ezekiel as I stared at those graves and tomb stones, but it is too late, for all that untapped treasures are now as lifeless and dead as the graves and dead bodies in them- nothing can be done to change the hands of time. What a pity and a waste. How disheartening.

        But then, a very challenging question arose within my soul- “Why did this happen this way, why do people die unfulfilled; unheard off, unsung off and unread off?” And in trying to answer these questions, I figured poverty, sickness, lack of opportunities, illiteracy, and most of all, ignorance are some of the reasons why the grave yard keeps depriving the world of the treasures God prepared for it. I also figured, in all these, ignorance was top of the list; for poverty, sickness, lack of opportunities, and illiteracy are no excuse for dying unfulfilled. I realized some of the world’s most celebrated heroes were born paupers, without a silver spoon in their mouths; some lived and battled with protracted illnesses till the day of their death, others like Nelson Mandela weathered the storms of segregation and racial injustices to change their generation; some others like Barack Obama transcended the borders of racism to achieve the once impossible and fulfill a once forgotten dream, and a few like Pa Akindayomi of the Redeemed Christian Church of God defied the principles of education and literacy to pioneer a church that now has over a million congregation and is constantly reaching our world with God’s love. These all had seemingly insurmountable mountains on their path way, but it didn’t stop them from achieving their dreams in life. Others were born in one of the world’s poorest nations and into one of the most impoverished families, but they weathered the storms of poverty, and a less-privileged society and rose to the mark of greatness. They bought for themselves a place in the annals of time, wrote for themselves a date in the chronicles of event and opened for themselves chapters in the pages of history. Will you?

         Now back to Ignorance; ignorance of what God put in so many has led them into the wrong professions where their potentials are under-utilized, it has led many to live unfulfilled lives and die without an accomplishment of their dreams, and some live each passing day in depression, dejection, and regrets, for ignorance of the source of their lives- God. Then as I wiped the tears off my eyes and cheeks, some stunning questions yelled from within me- “Do You Have a Dream, And Do You Want to Let It Die, Would You Sojourn Through this Transitory World into Eternity without the World Being Affected by Your Life?” “Which is Better; to Work Hard, whether Life’s Challenges and Uncertainties, and Become Great in Life to the Glory of Your Maker, or to Sit Idle, Blame your Parents for Being Poor, your Country for Being underdeveloped, or yourself for Being disabled, and Then Let the Grave Yard be Enriched and Have its Treasures Aggrandized by the Deposit of your Biodegraded Corpse?” You answer it. But remember, “Remember now your maker while you are young, while the evil days have not come, and you are still young, when you will say, I do not take pleasure in them”- Ecclesiastes chapter 12 verse 1, “For it is appointed unto man to die once, and after that comes judgment- Hebrews chapter 9 verse 27, “A man’s gift makes a way for him and brings him before great men”- Proverbs chapter 18 verse 16, “Where there is no vision, the people perish”- Proverbs chapter 29 verse 18, and, “Do you see a man diligent in his works? He will stand before kings, and not before low men”- Proverbs chapter 22 verse 29. To be fulfilled you must return to your maker and source- God, for He made you and so knows what you were made for. Make him the lord of your life, live a life of holiness, and watch Him lift you from grass to grace, prison or pit to palace, adversity to prosperity, trials to testimonies, poverty to popularity, and have Him turn your groaning to glory. Think about it, but while you are at it, know that the clock is ticking. The choice is yours. Peace.