WHAT BLESSING
Money on wings
WHAT BLESSING
Peju took another look at the opulence of her refurbished and newly redecorated living room, and a big smile formed around her lips. She moved gingerly as she looked for the remote control to turn on the over sized television set which occupied a huge portion of the room.
26 year old Peju had spent more than half of the previous year in a West London hospital where she had gone for a routine operation to remove what was considered a benign mole from around her jaw. It had started as a pimple, but then grew a bit larger, and annoyingly refused to dissolve and disappear, but instead; stuck out prominently.
Peju tried every type of cream and ointment, but the mole remained unyielding. Her local GP suggested that the mole be left alone but Peju would have none of it, and she would have sawn it off herself if only she had the liver to withstand the pain. As she persisted in her visits to the GP surgery, she was referred to the hospital where the consultant agreed to her request to surgically remove the offending mole.
What was meant to be a routine surgery developed to a significant medical emergency, as Peju began to bleed uncontrollably and subsequently suffered a stroke, which paralysed the right side of her body. A procedure that was primarily undertaken to effect cosmetic repairs turned out to inflict an impairment of monumental proportion.
How could it have happened in a first world equipped and resourced hospital? Peju had gone in the morning, expecting to be back home by noon. Instead, she spent 9 months recuperating at the hospital, and was discharged to the care of physiotherapists who started to teach her how to use her limbs again.
Peju's family felt that the hospital and the surgeon were negligent in the care provided to her and sought judicial redress to compensate her for her trauma, and the life changing injury she had suffered. The hospital board decided to settle the case before it got to court and awarded Peju the sum of £560,000 to compensate her for the trauma she suffered.
Six months later, she was left with a slight limp and the left hand was no longer as strong as it used to be.
Peju went to town as a socialite with a newly acquired boy friend. Ignoring all entreaties from her parents to live soberly, she became the toast of praise singers. She was invited as the chairperson to various social functions and received invitations as chief launcher to numerous unworthy but vain functions.
Inevitably, the fortune dwindled and the boyfriend was the first to leave to the hands of another woman. The invitations disappeared and the reverential treatment was replaced by obvious disdain. Peju became afraid of showing her face in public and was diagnosed with depression at the age of 29.
King Solomon wrote in Proverbs 10:22 that “The blessing of the Lord , it makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it”. In other words, every blessings has its source. While the blessing from God comes with peace and contentment, the blessing orchestrated by evil means come with temporary excitement, but is inadvertently replaced by regrets and sorrow.
Psalm 122:8 also says, “for thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.” This scripture established the nexus between riches obtained by the blessings of your hands and the state of your wellbeing. Proverbs 23:5 adds another dimension as it states that money can grow wings and fly away!
There is no doubt that money is good, however, it must be your servant and not your master.