I Must Work The Works of Him Who Sent Me While It Is Day For The Night Comes When No Man Can Work.

As a growing child in your early teens, were you ashamed not to be associated with your parents? Especially as a teenager? Did you see your parents as “old-fashioned?” Oh, my goodness! Every words that came out of their mouths were so archaic, dumb and brought me disgrace in presence of my friends so I thought . Occasionally, I was ashamed to introduce my parents to my friends. Unfortunately, I could not make them go away because they were my parents.

Looking back on my upbringing, I never thought I would grow beyond my teenage years. The years of strength and vigor…..when any container in the house was tightly snug fitting and parents were not able to open them, the teenagers and young adults in the house became the backup plan to open such containers and that’s usually when I showed off to my parents that I was stronger than they were, and that they were old and frail even though they were just in their 40’s.

As a teenager, have you ever looked at the wrinkled skin of your grandparents and thought to yourself:        “ grandma is so old and could not take good care of her skin; that will not happen to me.” I felt so immune to becoming “old adults” because I could not imagine how people would be so archaic. Subsequently, this teenage myopic and untouchable way of reasoning became so bad during the time that my grandmother was sick, and she started to loose her bladder and bowel control. How could an adult not get up to use the bathroom? That is unbelievable I would say. We were so poor and didn’t have access to adult diapers, therefore my grandma continued to mess up the bed, the house had a peculiar odor; and to the mind of a teenager, that was unthinkable.

Transitioning into the nursing school at the age of 19, my professors were in their 30 to 40 years old, and I perceived them to be so old. I remember vividly when our school’s authority prepared the students for a conference where we received external speakers who were friends with our principal since their college days in United Kingdom. After the conference and accolades, the speakers and our principal exchanged hugs and kisses. Those kisses were huge culture shock for me because I thought kisses were only reserved for younger people. In addition, I had never seen my parents kissed before because kissing was not part of our African culture when I was growing up. How dare these “old” professors kiss in public? That experience was unimaginable.

Have you joined the club of those who question “where did the time go? The years go by so fast!

I don’t remember my transition from being a teenager into adulthood because I got busy with my work, educational pursuits to earn my master’s degree, got married and rearing children. Therefore, I lost track of time due to a very busy lifestyle that made me to quickly join the club of “where did the time go? One day, I looked into the mirror and discovered that once upon a time “baby face” has started to sag. I started to reminisce about my teenage eyes and mindset of seeing my parents and my teachers as being so old. All of a sudden, I realized that I have a lot to do as the founder of a nonprofit organization, but I am so threatened that I may not have enough time do them all…..where did the time go? What happened to my young age and young mind? Now I am in my 50’s, but my mind is very young because “ I must work the works of Him who sent me while it is day, for the night comes when no man can work.” All of a sudden, I appreciate my teachers in the school of Nursing who were in their 30-40’s while I was 19 years old. Now that I am in my 50’s, I don’t feel old at all, and my perspectives have changed to “age is just a number.” What an irony of life? No wonder, my father used to tell me: “what an elder sees while sitting down, a child could not see while he is standing up. Life is full of different seasons and life is a stage where different actors will act their various roles.

The clock is ticking, my time is running out fast and still “ I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day for the night comes when no man can work.” Now in my 50’s, I am very mindful of time management, very discreet in selecting healthy diet, engaging in routine exercises, getting good sleep, carefully selecting the people that I associate with, and paying close attention to relationships. I know that I am strong and can do ALL things if I stay healthy. Therefore, the only thing I covet now in my life is to stay super healthy so that “I can work the works of Him who sent me while it is day for the night comes when no man can work.”