TREASURES AT THE BACKYARD

      

     TREASURES AT THE BACKYARD

The sixth month of the New Year made it exactly 8months I moved into a new apartment in an upcoming area of the town. A 2 bedroom bungalow with a mini 2bedroom attached to it on 2 plots of land inside an uncompleted fence. The main gate was yet to be fixed at the time and the other flat was occupied by a neighbo(u)r.

Houses were at the 4 sides and a road passed in front of our compound to link others in the neighbo(u)rhood.

All I could see at the rear end within the compound are the following; 2 small sized uncompleted blocks suitable for stores, a well with a pumping machine and a storage tank to serve us water, used planks, my neighbor(u)r’s waste bin, and an uncompleted building on our right outside the fence but, I never knew there was treasure in my backyard.

It was a Sunday morning, one of the days my fiancee who is now my wife came visiting. The pumping machine was faulty and we had to make do by manually drawing water from the well. As we were busy rushing not to be late to church, she saw a giant snail and exclaimed to me; “look at this thing!” Immediately, I turned to see it, there I saw more - one, two, three and four and many more. Then, those snails got our attention. We made haste to conclude fetching water to pick them up and there began the discovery of treasure in my backyard.

This exercise took us to the uncompleted building outside our compound on the right side at the main entrance. We were able to pick more snails but had to withdraw because of Sunday service in church. All together, we got about 30 snails that very moment which we kept to be roasted another day. Though, rats do check on us often but if not until then, I never knew such giant sized snails could be found in that vicinity not to talk of my own backyard.

The day was loaded with activities. After the church service, I had to take my people to meet my fiancee's parents on a second visit to finalize our marriage ceremony date. As soon as we finished the discussion which lasted for about 2 hours, I made a quick return to church for another 1 and half hours meeting though I couldn’t wait till the end. I left at exactly 30minutes into the meeting to attend to some emergencies in town. By the time I got home it was too late to continue the hunting for snails at my backyard.

Early in the morning on the following day which was Monday; I got out of bed to observe my devotion and prayer after which I went out to continue from where we stopped the previous day. To my amazement, I got additional 55 snails making it a total of 85 snails all together. I stopped picking the snails because of other things I have to do and not because I have picked all. What a surprise I got in the backyard.

That experience got me to reflect a lot about the realities of our lives as human beings and made me to really engage my mind in deep thinking all through the time I invested into picking up the snails Mother Nature has blessed my backyard with. I suddenly realized; neither has it crossed my mind nor have I thought of hunting for snails around the house yet, they were all over the place but little did I know about it. The same way many people wouldn’t even discover opportunities around them but will be crying of lack and impossibilities without seeing the treasures within them. Meanwhile, the solution to their problem(s) may be right there at their backyard.

I thought of it this way: had there been any moment there was no money on me to buy meat or fish in the house and got disturbed about it – right there in my own mind, I felt God’s response would have been like; “Son, you have no reason to complain for lack of meat or fish in your soup because I have given you plenty snails at the backyard which could last you for a while - why are you not exploring the world around you? There are treasures wherever you are if only you will search them out you will get them my son.”

As a result, I got to work by writing my experience to share the wisdom I gained while hunting for snails at my backyard possibly someone out there will gain insight into diligent exploration of the world around him to birth unequaled opportunities by working his backyard.

I know surely, many of us have failed at one time or the other to look inward and outward to discover the possible riches at our disposal always beckoning on us to explore them but we didn’t see them wrapped up in crude format. Some under the earth crust, some inside the rock, some inside the deep oceans, some in our looks and statures, some in our kind gestures and excellent conducts, some inside the forest, some in the cities, some are in the villages and some within our hearts. While some could be in a far distance, some could be so close to us like our ears exactly the same way I and my fiancee found plenty snails at the backyard.

Who knows what treasures are there untapped over the years at your own backyard? Mind you, the backyard here isn’t just the rear end of a building but the world where you have found yourself. When you diligently explore it and maximize it, you won't be suffering lack in the midst of plenty.