THE CHILDREN-KINDA LOVE (A christian short love story)

THE CHILDREN-KINDA LOVE (A christian short love story)

Written By: Lizzy Oyebola Yakubu

 

 

“We will take the last question for today; our guest will answer it and we will successfully bring the programme to an end. Who will our lucky last caller be?” Sharon, the radio presenter announced and I smiled as I raised a cup of juice to my mouth.

 

 

It had been an amazing moment in the studio with Sharon. When I was stepping into the radio station an hour before, I never knew I was in for some unprecedented fun.

 

 

I was in South Korea the month before for a timeout with my hubby when I received a call from Nigeria. I had been selected to be a guest on a Love and Family segment of the station’s programme. I asked them to give me some time to inform my hubby and also pray about it.

 

 

Well, obviously, my answer was a ‘yes’ and it felt fulfilling to be on the show a month after, gisting with thousands of people over the world and giving them some lessons marriage had taught me for over sixty years!

 

 

The phone beeped and it jeered me off my ‘dreams’

 

 

“Hello granny, it’s Aloe! I am so happy to be the lucky last caller. Like, I have been trying since ages to connect to the station. Ugh, finally!” I could hear my granddaughter’s voice ring from the other side, filling the whole studio.

 

 

“Aloe, is that really you? From New York?” I asked to be doubly sure.

 

 

“Oh yes granny! Thanks for coming on the show. I have been so blessed” She said and Sharon smiled at me with a look of ‘Kindly let me take over my show, would you?’ That was when I discovered that I had taken over the presenter’s position from her.

 

 

“Hello Aloe from New York! We are very happy to have you on today’s show” Sharon said.

 

 

“Thanks Sharon!”

 

 

“You are Mama Jay’s granddaughter?”

 

 

“Oh yes! I am the seventh grandchild and grandma has really been an inspiration to the whole family, sincerely! She is a mother indeed!” She said and I blushed. I was used of course to the compliments from friends and family.

 

 

“Wooow! What a great testimony! What question do you have for our guest before we round off?”

 

 

“Granny, you are eighty-six and well, you look so radiant and young. People say it’s because you are ‘foreverly’ in love, mind my grammar, with grandpa. You’ve been married for over sixty years, granny, how is it so smooth? I look at Dan sometimes and I am like, are we really gonna last like grandma and grandpa?” She asked and I chuckled.

 

 

“You will last in Jesus’ Name. Don’t be naughty!” I laughed some more. She laughed too.

 

 

“Amen. I am asking this so we can actually really last, mama” She added and I nodded.

 

 

“John, my husband and I are actually still in love. It is amazingly sweet as we stay longer together. I have thought really about it and I have found the answer which I will share with you today.”

 

 

“Alright” Sharon and Aloe said almost together.

 

 

“We have never grown up!- that is the secret! We are still babies! We are playmates!”

 

 

“Ugh!” They exclaimed together again.

 

 

“If you will not break into my talk again, I will appreciate it so I can share before our time is up” I said and they both agreed.

 

 

“One of the major causes of ‘dead’ or ‘dying’ love in any Christian home is that the couple grew up so fast! Responsibilities take over! Ministry takes over! Pride takes over! The love they both shared during courtship is swallowed up quickly and then, they are left with some really dead love batteries”

 

 

“Hmmm” They sighed.

 

 

“John is my head. He is my King. He is everything the Bible says he is to me but he is also my playmate. When we love like children, oh how great it would be! John and I love like children! I will tell you how children love so my words can make sense”

 

 

“When you see two children who deeply love each other, what do you see? Number one, they touch incessantly. When you stop touching your spouse everywhere that matters, you are putting the love out!”

 

 

“You see children look into each other’s eyes deeply while saying nothing. The same way, when you stop looking into your spouses’ eyes even when you have nothing really to say, you are putting the love out!”

 

 

“You see the children jump on each other, roll on each other and all. When you and your spouse can’t jump at each other or roll over each other on the couch, on the bed, anywhere, the love is going out!”

 

 

“Wow!” Sharon exclaimed. Sharon wouldn’t stop nodding, jotting as well.

 

 

“Children would hold each other’s hands and show off the other. ‘Mum, meet my friend’ They would say, showing him or her off. If you say they shouldn’t be together, they would shed tears and throw tantrums. ‘But he’s my friend!’ ‘But I love her’. When you are no longer able to show off your partner or fight for her behind her back, the love is going out!”

 

 

“Hmmmm” Sharon wouldn’t stop sighing. I wondered briefly if her airtime wouldn’t be exhausted quickly, then I remembered that she’s a rich kid!

 

 

“Have you ever tried to carry a baby before? She wants to smell you, she wants to lick your lips. They want to bite your ears. Do same! Do same!”

 

 

“Oh my!” Sharon exclaimed, laughing sheepishly.

 

 

“Children have no secrets! They say everything to anyone they love. ‘Mum has bought a toy for me’ ‘We now have a dog’ ‘Mum and dad have gone to Dubai’ Just anything! When you start keeping things from your spouse, even things that look unimportant, you are growing up and that’s dangerous!”

 

 

“Deep!” Came Aloe again.

 

 

“Children are the best forgivers! Their hearts can’t hide any size of grudge! They are crying now after being beaten. They are smiling with the ‘beater’ the next minute especially if you say ‘sorry’ to or pat them! If you both keep grudges in your heart and wouldn’t be easily intreated when apologized to, you are a love killer!”

 

 

“Wow! I wish we could go on and on momma but it’s five minutes to closing time. Can you tell us some practical things you and your darling husband do that makes the love this beautiful till date?” Sharon asked and I smiled.

 

 

“We touch each other almost everywhere, anywhere, anytime! We hug a lot. When both of us do not hug passionately, we know something’s wrong and we sort it out immediately”

 

 

“Great!”

 

 

“I do initiate sex. Sometimes women do feel it’s shameful to tell their husbands ‘It’s time, let’s do some fellowship’” I paused to laugh. “But I do not find it shameful. My husband feels so loved when I do, so I do!”

 

 

“Hmmm” Sharon smiled coyly.

 

 

“We are vulnerable to each other also.  When we are hurt, we say we are hurt. When we are jealous, we say we are jealous. When we feel lonely, we say we are lonely. When we feel betrayed, we share that feeling. We do not say ‘I’m fine’ ‘It’s alright’ when it’s really not! We are vulnerable to each other. That is love! There is no forming!”

 

 

 

 

“We also make sure we do things together. Despite the fact that we are old and that we have maids, there are some things our maids don’t do for us. They don’t pick beans for us, we do it together. We make our fruits salad, feeding each other with half of the fruits before even dishing out” I said and started laughing out loud.  The ladies joined me.

 

 

 

“We play games. We cook together. So many other things we do together, not because we don’t have people to do them for us but because we are intentionally trying to boost our love!”

 

 

 

“Also, we make use of the magical words daily. ‘Please’ ‘Thank you’ ‘I love you’ ‘Sorry’. We use them judiciously”

 

 

 

“Oh wow!” Sharon exclaimed.

 

 

 

“Did I tell you? Just before I headed to this station, my husband and I washed my car together and the poor boy turned the water hose at me, completely wetting my body! I started to chase him around with my own water hose too” I paused to laugh. “Childish but I loved it! When we were done doing that, we headed for the bathroom where we had a wonderful warm bath together! That is what I am talking about!”

 

 

 

“Wow!” They exclaimed together again.

 

 

 

“Yeah! We laugh a lot together too. We laugh so much that tears roll down our faces. We don’t form and say ‘it’s not funny’ when it really is.”

 

 

 

“We go out together a lot! I told you that we just arrived from South Korea. We see Jeju Island a lot in movies and intentionally decided to go see it together. When we couldn’t afford going abroad when our marriage was younger, we formed our ‘abroad’ in our vicinity.”

 

 

 

“We help each other a lot too. I am a cook, sometimes my husband helps to turn the steak. He is a writer, sometimes I help him edit his writings. Even when we can’t do it perfectly, we still try, like children would try even when it’s obviously they won’t do it well!”

 

 

 

“Another thing is fitting ourselves into each other’s hobby. I sometimes watch football matches because my husband loves it. He joins me to watch the food channel sometimes because I love it. Love is sacrificial!”

 

 

 

“Lastly, we pray together. My husband gets to hear my heart’s desire when we do and I get to hear his when we do. A couple that prays together stays together! We also study the Word of God together. We would memorize the Word and recite it, laughing at each other when we flop”

 

 

 

“Hmmmm, wow! Thank you so much momma for this exposition. Aloe, I hope granny answered your question well” Sharon asked.

 

 

 

“More than I expected! I am blessed this evening. Thanks, so much Sandra for a beautiful, godly show. Thank you so much granny. We will make you proud in Jesus Name”

 

 

 

“Thanks, Aloe, for giving my show a little spice of ‘unusual’. You aren’t just a lucky caller; you are a blessing!” Sharon said and I smiled.

 

 

“Awwnn…I am so blessed. Good bye!” Aloe exclaimed and dropped the call.

 

 

“A last word for our listener, mama?”

 

 

“Marriage is hardwork! The love wouldn’t just flow automatically, you have to make it flow! You have to fuel it! You have to feed it! You have to intentionally love and keep at it. Christian marriages should be what God intends it to be- a heaven on earth! A reflection of the relationship between the Son and the church!”

 

 

“Listeners at home, we need to have the children kinda love! That is a big lesson for me. I will share this with my hubby so that henceforth, we will look more at kids to see how they do their love. I pray for a Christlike humility to be able to learn from them and apply all that we have learnt. May we never feel too big to love!”

 

 

“Amen!” I resounded the amen. I really didn’t like seeing adults grow up to be daddies and mummies instead of husbands and wives. The children will leave eventually but what stays forever will be the man and wife who were in a loving, passionate courtship twenty something years ago!

 

 

The ministry might fail, of course, when the love is no more there and the man and wife who were passionately in love during their courtship are left to start learning what love really means again!

 

 

Let us fall into the Arms of Love so we can grasp the meaning in full and in turn spread the love.

 

 

Let us be childlike in our love lives!

 

 

He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. Matthew 18:2-5

 

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