The essence of life (1), By Sunday Adelaja

One of the most painful realisations in life, is to all of a sudden discover that you had possessed things all along that you were busy looking for somewhere else. It is almost an unbearable pain, to suddenly recognise the value of what you had, being ignorant of which had been your possession. To possess something and not know its value is torturous. To own something and not be aware of it could not only be annoying, but fatal too.

LIFE is undoubtedly the most valuable and the most precious of all our earthly possessions. Surely nobody can argue about this. There is simply nothing of comparable value to life. When life is lost, all is lost. When all is lost, but life, nothing is really lost. Life is head and shoulders above all other things we regard as precious in this world.

Tragically though, it is that same life that is often least treasured or valued by men who possess it. All men have life, but only few men know its value. To have something does not mean to understand it. Most people who possess life, in reality, do not quite understand what they possess. That is a fundamental tragedy about life. Those who possess it often are not aware of its value.

“The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival.” – Aristotle

I remember growing up in Africa. I would normally accompany my grandmother to collect some cassava tubers from the farm. We usually had the sack where the cassava is loaded. The challenge of the day after the main job had been done, was always how to tie up the sack, so that it didn’t spill as we carried it on our heads over the more than a kilometre walk back home. Some of the local ropes we make from leaves and other plants were not often as reliable to secure the neck of the sack.

Help came calling from an unusual angle. My grandmother while searching through some of the personal belongings of my uncle, who just came back from studying in France and in England, discovered some rather reliable ropes, that served us well at the end of the day. The only problem was as we later discovered, the so called ropes that we had used for the past three years tying our sacks, and bringing home our cassava tubers, were later recognized as some Exclusive French Ties, that my uncle had brought from his years of sojourn in Europe.

He had left them in the village in hope that his younger ones will appreciate them, as they leave the village to travel to study in colleges, universities or even overseas. But since I was as ignorant as my old grandmother, none of us quite understood the meaning of his kind gesture. We had some highly prized possessions in those ties, but due to ignorance, the ties soon became totally unrecognizable because of dirt and smell from the local farm.

Unfortunately, that is how most of us have treated life – our lives!!! We have just all of a sudden discovered that here we are, with something called life seemingly precious, but not deeply appreciated. So we end up treating it the way we see fit.

“So teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” – Ps 90:12

Whenever you possess something, but lack the understanding of its value, there are some consequences you suffer:

1. You Neglect the Treasure 

Just like in the story we just read, because I and my grandmother did not know what ties were, those ties had suffered negligence, long before they were taken to the farm. The same thing with life. Most people do not take care of their lives, because they don’t value life. Most people neglect their lives and allow all kinds of accidents, mishaps and misfortunes to happen to them. Neglect is a major reason for some of the most painful experiences we suffer in life. In some cases we neglect our health, because we were never told about its value. Some neglect their virginity and are made to pay dearly for it.

For example, when I came to Europe, to me it was a great escape, the great escape from poverty. Since I grew up in a condition where I could not afford to buy myself a bottle of juice or coca cola while in Africa, I basically could afford only water. As a result, juice and coca cola was a luxury.

On getting to Europe, I discovered that there were so many varieties of soft drinks and juices that I had never ever seen or dreamed about before. My conclusion was simple and straight forward. I decided to embark on a journey of vengeance for all the years of my deprivation, I made a decision to let go of water. For the next seven years I did not bother to drink a cup of water. I was filling my system and body with all kinds of sweet and sugar drinks in the name of avenging poverty.

The only thing that made me to realize that I was on a suicidal path, was thanks to my involuntary visit to the doctor. Where I was confronted with the fact that water actually was a lifeline, which every human must drink two liters of daily.

My health suffered neglect. My life was in danger, just because I did not know the value of water. I didn’t know the importance of water to my very life. I almost lost my most precious value: Life. Because of ignorance and negligence. So many of us are causing pain and suffering to ourselves on daily basis, because we do not know the value of life. From that passage of the scripture above, God is affirming to us that wisdom as powerful as it is, is not enough a basis for boasting ,  we should never give our lives for it. Power as convincingly overwhelming as it seems, is not enough reason for boasting. Wealth as seductively necessary as it is, is not enough a basis for boasting, lives should never be exchanged for it. Wow! What a revelation!!! To be continued

Sunday Adelaja is a Nigerian born leader, transformation strategist, pastor and innovator. He was based in Ukraine.