16 MARCH

MOTHER’S LOVE IN ACTION

“Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.”(1 John 3:18, NLT)

My mum is a living example of love with sacrifice and action. Each time I read the verse of our text, I remember an incident during the Nigerian civilian war. Towards the end of the war in Biafra, whenever there was no electricity, we used the locally made lanterns called npanaka. It was a cylindrical tin, usually an empty milk tin, with two holes–one with a type of rope as the wick, and the other for pouring in the locally–made kerosene.

We had all been warned to fill the lamps before dark and not to take shortcuts by filling the lamp while it was on. That very night, Christopher, our steward, decided to do contrary and of all places, in one of the bedrooms where one of my younger brothers and I were already asleep. As he was refilling it, the lamp exploded in his hands. He threw it away (right on my knees–God is good!) and as the room caught fire, he ran out.

I had been woken by the sound of the explosion and quickly opened the window to jump out. Thank God it was a bungalow and there were no burglary proofs as there are in all our homes presently. With the explosion and fire, I still do not understand how my mum did it but she ran in through the fire to save us and was able pull out my brother as I jumped out through the window. Both came out untouched. I had a burn on my knee from the initial explosion but all healed with an almost invisible scar, despite the scarcity of medicines at that time.

ACTION: Show love to your mum and all mother figures.

PRAYER: Lord God, I pray for all mothers that you grant them long life in good health and prosperity.