Mind Boggling
By Njeri Mucheru-Oyatta
My husband also came from a humble background. He was born in the village and his home was a mud hut. He was nevertheless fortunate enough to secure an education in public schools and performed well enough to be admitted to university to study law. Yes, he is also a lawyer. A much more successful one than me. We do not work together and for good reason. His way of seeing things is parallel to mine. Yet we a married! Strange world!
Looking at him made me realize that passion is what drives us to do what our heart desires. For as long as I have known him, he never makes decisions based on how much money he has and I am always amazed at how he proceeds first from his goal, then he takes time to think about the formula for attaining that goal and then he does what he knows he has to do and voila! In the meantime, he is laughing at me screaming, “Look, we do not have the money to do that!” And almost pulling out what little hair I have left with anxiety. He is the best living example I have of someone whose life is not ruled by money. He is also a very generous person, a teetotaler and deep thinker like my dad. My grandmother always tells me that my husband is her son-in-law (my dad) come to life.
I have a tendency to reach a point in life when I feel that I have worked hard enough. For my husband, as long as there is any breath left in his lungs, he will be starting a new project, not knowing where the money to complete it will come from but being absolutely certain the money is there and he will get it. I was happy with myself after I settled down in my firm but my husband keeps me on my toes telling me to get up there is more work to be done when am just catching my breath waiting for the harvest after a long day planting. When I moan and complain about all this determination and hard work, he tells me that we should not let even the smallest opportunity to make a difference in the world pass us by! Yah right, this is when my shallow thinking makes me walk away saying “I couldn’t care less if the world went to hell” and whispering, “I am not my brother’s keeper!!”
To him, hard work is serving God and letting an opportunity to serve God pass you by is a loss that he could never bear.
I still do not understand this reasoning. As far as I am concerned, I am a hard worker so am already serving God. What more does He want? Or why can’t He just do it Himself? Stupidly, I am very happy when all works out well and then my husband will say; “See, I told you it was easy!” Well, am sorry that I cannot see it that way. For me, starting a project not knowing where the money will come from is like diving into an empty pool hoping that someone will fill it up before you hit the bottom.
The truth of the matter is that passion makes you do things which appear stupid unless you have faith in yourself and your abilities. I must admit that my faith in myself and my abilities is not built on rock. I think it is built on some kind of soft stone.
My husband does not believe in bank loans and overdrafts and credit cards. He believes that ALL the money in the world belongs to God and all he has to do is make an application to God telling Him what he wants and why then God grants it. All the long winded applications to be filled in banks giving all your personal details except for your inside leg measurement and sacrificing everything to the bank is nonsense to him. Simply put, his bank manager is his God.
By Njeri Mucheru-Oyatta
My husband also came from a humble background. He was born in the village and his home was a mud hut. He was nevertheless fortunate enough to secure an education in public schools and performed well enough to be admitted to university to study law. Yes, he is also a lawyer. A much more successful one than me. We do not work together and for good reason. His way of seeing things is parallel to mine. Yet we a married! Strange world!
Looking at him made me realize that passion is what drives us to do what our heart desires. For as long as I have known him, he never makes decisions based on how much money he has and I am always amazed at how he proceeds first from his goal, then he takes time to think about the formula for attaining that goal and then he does what he knows he has to do and voila! In the meantime, he is laughing at me screaming, “Look, we do not have the money to do that!” And almost pulling out what little hair I have left with anxiety. He is the best living example I have of someone whose life is not ruled by money. He is also a very generous person, a teetotaler and deep thinker like my dad. My grandmother always tells me that my husband is her son-in-law (my dad) come to life.
I have a tendency to reach a point in life when I feel that I have worked hard enough. For my husband, as long as there is any breath left in his lungs, he will be starting a new project, not knowing where the money to complete it will come from but being absolutely certain the money is there and he will get it. I was happy with myself after I settled down in my firm but my husband keeps me on my toes telling me to get up there is more work to be done when am just catching my breath waiting for the harvest after a long day planting. When I moan and complain about all this determination and hard work, he tells me that we should not let even the smallest opportunity to make a difference in the world pass us by! Yah right, this is when my shallow thinking makes me walk away saying “I couldn’t care less if the world went to hell” and whispering, “I am not my brother’s keeper!!”
To him, hard work is serving God and letting an opportunity to serve God pass you by is a loss that he could never bear.
I still do not understand this reasoning. As far as I am concerned, I am a hard worker so am already serving God. What more does He want? Or why can’t He just do it Himself? Stupidly, I am very happy when all works out well and then my husband will say; “See, I told you it was easy!” Well, am sorry that I cannot see it that way. For me, starting a project not knowing where the money will come from is like diving into an empty pool hoping that someone will fill it up before you hit the bottom.
The truth of the matter is that passion makes you do things which appear stupid unless you have faith in yourself and your abilities. I must admit that my faith in myself and my abilities is not built on rock. I think it is built on some kind of soft stone.
My husband does not believe in bank loans and overdrafts and credit cards. He believes that ALL the money in the world belongs to God and all he has to do is make an application to God telling Him what he wants and why then God grants it. All the long winded applications to be filled in banks giving all your personal details except for your inside leg measurement and sacrificing everything to the bank is nonsense to him. Simply put, his bank manager is his God.
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