The Recipe

It was sunny outside. Baaba was inside her room, lying on her mauve coloured silk bed sheet and watching a movie. She doesn’t go outside her room except to eat and do a few other things. She has been really enjoying the lockdown period and had gained weight as a result. She’s either reading a novel or watching a movie. That had been her routine she enjoyed.

During the early hours of the morning, she washed her dirty clothes after doing her usual morning chores, took her bath, dressed up and flung herself unto her bed to watch a latest movie by her favourite movie production, Mount Zion film production, titled The Train.
She was so eager to watch as she had seen the responses of those who had watched it on social media. She opened her laptop, switched it on, took her diary and pen from her bedside locker to jot her lessons down while watching and stuck her pink earpiece which her sister gave to her as a gift on her birthday into her ears to avoid any form of disturbances.

She was enjoying the movie when she felt a nudge inside her to pause and go outside. She didn’t want to, initially, but kept feeling the nudge inside her. She knew that was the Holy Spirit but was reluctant since she was engulfed in the movie. She reluctantly dragged her feet and went to the balcony and was hit with the scorching sun immediately she opened the door and quickly looked for a shade. She stood akimbo, wondering what she had come outside to do. She asked the Holy Spirit what He wanted her to do. His response was _‘remove the items on the line’. The items were not well dried, and the sun was out so she didn’t understand why He told her to do so. She wondered if the Holy Spirit could care about such trivial matters like “removing items from the line”

She decided not to obey this instruction, it seemed weird.
She went back to her bed room to continue watching the biopic movie. Baaba flung herself to the bed, tucked the earpiece back into her ear, her hands lay on the spacebar ready to continue the biopic film when she heard the pitter patter sound of the rain on the roof. She wanted to be sure it was not the rain.

After removing the earphone, she heard a whooshing sound of the rain, the sun was shining though. She couldn’t fathom why it was raining when the sun was shining, she could feel the warm yellow rays of the sun rafting through the window. She quickly dashed out of the room to the balcony. The items on the line were already soaked by the rain by the time she got there.

After removing the last item from the line, she remembered she needed to wear that particular gown that evening for the naming ceremony of her floor mate, Victoria who had recently given birth. Not attending the program was out of her options since she was to render a solo at the ceremony. The dress code for all attendees was white gowns for the ladies and white shirt with black pants for the men and her only white gown she had was now soaked by the rain. She couldn’t buy a new one since all dress shops had been closed due to the lockdown.
Baaba gained some hope, she could use the tumble dryer of the washing machine. She tried to use it severally but it failed to work, the belt of the tumble dryer was broken.
Baaba became disheartened; she took a hanger and hanged her gown on the empty dress rack in the guest room and switched the fan regulator to the highest speed while she hanged the other clothes on the furniture in the palour.
Vickie called her as a reminder during the day, Baaba told her she was seriously preparing, and indeed she was. She was in her music room, singing the mother-daughter song she was to render and playing the piano along. The song was heart touching coupled with Baaba’s melodious voice made the song more awesome.
Baaba went for her gown from the guest room since it almost time. It was sodden with moisture. The cold weather after the rain had stopped prevented it from drying though it was under the fan. What would she do if someone tried to hug her at the ceremony? What would she do if someone tapped her shoulder? What would she do if she sat down and made her seat wet, what would others think of her? Such questions and more raced through her mind.
The ceremony was to commence at five thirty pm. Flat mates were trooping in one after the other. When Baaba got to the entrance of Vickie’s apartment, she was ushered in by Vickie’s sister, Ashley. Ashley noticed Baaba was withdrawn, she knew Baaba had a lively personality and wondered why she was withdrawn but she decided not to probe into it.
Baaba was glued to her seat and had a gloomy face while everyone was happy and welcoming each other. Baaba and her flat mates behaved like a family, they were lived happily together. People began to ask among themselves if anyone knew why Baaba had that straight face on, no one knew. They all knew Baaba as a live wire, she had a great sense of humour and was a ray of sunshine to others. Emma, who lived on the ground floor, had the courage to walk up to her first. He started talking to her but Baaba refused to give him an ear. Fed up, he asked her why she was showing a cold attitude but was responded with a stern face and then was shouted at by her. He drew back and went to his seat. She showed this cold attitude to everyone who came her way or crossed her path before the ceremony began, even to Abigail, her gist partner. Abigail, came in late and unaware of how bad Baaba had treated others, tried to tap Baaba’s shoulder to talk to her. But before her hand could land on Baaba’s shoulder, Baaba turned to her side and held Abigail’s wrist firmly and shouted at her “STOP” with her eyes wide like one who had Graves’ disease. Abigail was stunned. Baaba did all these because she didn’t want anyone to know she was wearing a gown sodden with moisture.
Soon, everyone was seated and the program started. Victoria’s beautiful baby girl was christened Favour Iyanuoluwa. ‘ Let’s give a round of applause as we call on our dear friend, sister, our mother…..; the titles continued till the emcee mentioned her name later on; “Baaba Amackson”. The audience clapped in high spirits, there was an outburst of clapping till her name was mentioned. The clapping died down immediately her name was mentioned because of the bad attitude they had seen her portray. A piano was placed in the center of the little stage. She rendered the solo beautifully. She played the piano so well, her melodious voice coupled with the heart stirring words of the song could melt one’s heart; it could make one with a hard core personality cry like a baby but everyone seemed indifferent as she sang because of the bitter attitude she had shown to almost everyone.

Not one soul among the audience bothered to clap after she rendered the beautiful solo except for Victoria and her family who were seated at the corner of the platform.
Soon, the naming ceremony was brought to a close. People shared pleasantries while others went to congratulate Vickie and her husband and then later they started taking group pictures but Baaba refused to join any of these. She quickly left after the program was closed.

She was unlocking the latch of the net gate of her apartment when she heard someone mention her name. It was Mummy Vera; she had her apartment on the first floor with Emma. Baaba revered her a lot. She had seen how bad Baaba had treated the others at the ceremony. Baaba bowed and courtesied as a sign of respect.

Mummy Vera complimented her on how beautiful she rendered the song and also added that she was surprised at the kind of attitude she, Baaba, portrayed at the ceremony. She asked if she had any problem and cared to share. Mummy Vera moved closer to talk more softly for her to calm down and tell her any problem she was facing. She tried to tap her shoulder and tell her everything will be fine but Baaba quickly shrugged and moved back. Mummy Vera surprised, she whispered “it is well” in to the air to the hearing of Baaba and took her leave. Baaba unlocked her door and went into her room, she cried profusely. Just one mistake of not promptly obeying to the Holy Spirit had made her make a mess of herself. She wished she had obeyed initially. After crying for a while, she decided to continue watching the movie; it was surprising; she learnt the same lessons from the movie. The protagonist’s had a rugged faith, he obeyed the Lord despite how awkward the instruction the Lord gave him was. When we fail to obey the Holy Spirit, we embarrass our own selves like Baaba did. It pays to obey Him. We will enjoy the Holy Spirit when we obey Him. His instructions may seem weird sometimes, but it always for our benefits. Baaba got to know in the long run that the recipe for enjoying life is total and prompt obedience to the Holy Spirit; she wished she had initially gone by the recipe.

Buddies, we can’t do without the Holy Spirit.

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▶The recipe to enjoying life and being obedient is total and prompt obedience to the Holy Spirit. Don’t wait till you learn your lesson the hard way. Always lean on Him and entrust Him with every issue of yours.

The recipe for enjoying life is obeying totally and promptly to the Holy Spirit.

▶Never think some things are too trivial or ephemeral for the Holy Spirit to talk about with you. He always knows what will befall you before it does. There was a girl the Holy Spirit told her to be keeping records of how she spends her money. She was not obeying initially because she saw it as not being important. She never knew it was a way the Holy Spirit was schooling her for a firm she is now working with. She wished she had started obeying earlier, she would have learnt a lot before starting to work with that company.
▶God is interested in every aspect of our lives. Don’t log him out when it comes to certain issues, include him in every decision you make.
▶Do not just obey the Holy Spirit, but obey promptly. There is a difference between obeying Him and obeying Him promptly.
▶There are a lot of blessings attached to hearkening to the voice of the Lord and promptly obeying, which a lot do not know.
THE RECIPE FOR ENJOYING LIFE IS OBEYING TOTALLY AND PROMPTLY TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

Stay blessed

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Photo credit : Internet