Since 10 April 2007, I have learnt to have days of sober reflections. Days when I pause to think about life’s unanswered questions. Days that remind me just how mysterious life can be, and how often our human understanding falls short.
Think about this for a moment.
One child is born on a refuse dump to a mentally challenged mother, with no proper care and no medical attention, yet grows up healthy and resilient.
Another child is born in a developed country, surrounded by excellent healthcare, loving parents, and every possible opportunity, only to fall ill suddenly and be gone in the blink of an eye.
How do we explain that?
Or consider this.
One woman carefully guards herself until marriage, longing to build a family, yet struggles to conceive.
Another, despite multiple abortions in her past, marries and goes on to have children with ease like a clockwork.
How do we make sense of these stark contrasts?
In 2005, when the Sosoliso tragedy claimed so many young lives, I learnt of a couple in their fifties who lost three children in that single disaster.
I remember lying awake for nights, asking God why. I wondered how they would ever recover, how they would ever begin again.
What I did not know then was that, sixteen months later, I would be confronted with my own devastating loss.
The experience of losing our son, our first child, in 2007 changed me significantly. It reshaped my outlook on life and taught me lessons that have remained with me ever since.
First, none of us knows what lies around the corner.
Second, bad things do happen to good people.
And third, tragedy is not necessarily a punishment for wrongdoing.
Over the years, I have come to accept that some questions simply do not have answers this side of eternity. There are mysteries that only God can explain.
And so, as I often say, when we eventually meet Him face to face, He will have some questions to answer.
Until then, while we are still here, while we still have breath and opportunity, we must choose how we live.
No matter the hand life deals us, we must strive to live well. We must do good. We must show kindness, compassion, and grace.
Because in the end, what will matter most is not what happened to us, but how we responded to it, and whether our lives left the world a little better than we found it.
“Teach us to number our days so that we can apply our heart unto wisdom.”
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