Undoubtedly, Peace was the Grinch of Christmas. In fact, twice that day, her sister had called her exactly that. It was the
24th, and she was feeling everything but the Christmas cheer. She was irritable and angry and took it out on everyone
around her. Not that she wanted to, but preparing and planning for the 25th was always a lot, but the whole year was
especially hard.
The last few years had been hard, but this was the icing on the cake. From getting heartbroken by her high school
sweetheart, Deji, to the realization that she had no idea what she was doing with her life and all the assumptions she made
in the university were wrong. Worry had taken the driver’s seat and with confusion as its conductor let’s just say peace
and sleep had fled from her life.
Dr. Google told her that the twitch in her lower eyelid was caused by stress. It was supposed to be the most wonderful
time of the year. But she looked at the measly carrot that she had chopped into the pot of rice for her family, and knew
there was nothing remarkable about this season. Like many Nigerian homes, sapa was hitting hard and survival was the
goal. Her dreams of a masters abroad were becoming invisible, just like this carrot will be in the rice tomorrow, she
thought to herself as she felt her eyes start to twitch.
“Calm down”, they said, “Everything will be fine”, they said, like she was worrying on purpose. ‘But how can this be?’
The questioning voice of her dad brought her back to reality. It was
Christmas morning, and he was reading the nativity from the bible to the whole family, just as he had done every 25th
morning for as long as she could remember. “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will
overshadow you” he continued. What does that even mean? The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the
most high will overshadow you.
How does that relate to us? She thought.
“So abstract from the realities of life. Just like when the Bible says, don’t worry, like you wake up in the morning and plan
it into your schedule.” The stares made her realize that she had spoken aloud. No one interrupted the Birth of Jesus story.
No one. “Here we go again, Grinch” she mentally kicked herself. After a pause, her dad said “the Holy Spirit is the
currency for the impossible, he adjusted his glasses and peered into his bible and continued “in verse 37 it says for with
God nothing shall be impossible I think it means leaving the How-to the Holy Spirit.
Won’t it be amazing if our response was always like Mary’s be it unto me according to your word? I wonder what sort of
miracles we will see if that was always our response.” He said thoughtfully, almost to himself. He looked at his audience
to see if there were any more questions before he continued to read.
“For with God nothing, shall be impossible”.
Impossible like the peace she couldn’t find though they claimed that was her name, impossible like the joy that eluded her
when she remembered like she was stuck in the titanic named Nigeria. The impossible to fathom praise on her father’s
lips, even with everything going on. “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will
overshadow you.” She still did not know what that meant but as she got up from the devotion she decided, for today and
maybe tomorrow, there was nothing much she could do about making herself not worry and feel cheerless.
But she did have little reasons to celebrate, Her failed cake experiment came out tasting like cake, although it didn’t look
like it.
