It was a morning when the clock ran in geometric progression. I woke up quite early alright but now if I don’t make haste I’d run afoul of the day’s commitment. So very quickly I bath, dressed up & was in a mad hurry to leave the room. Then, it rang in my head ‘you can not leave the room scattered. You got to arrange it’. It was my wife’s voice! I just froze there. I quickly retreated, cleaned the room, arranged stuff, and promptly left.
The truth is that there is no strand of anything domestic in my DNA. Granted, I love a clean house & surroundings, but sweeping the house, making beds, and washing plates are not part of my makeup. The worst of chores for me is ironing. It was my upbringing, at some point I was a sickly child & was excluded from work at home & eventually, I just got set in my ‘lazy’, soft life, lift-no-finger ways. Now, I prefer to spend my time on things I consider more productive than handling chores that I can outsource.
But my wife is the complete opposite of me. She cleans, cooks, washes, mops & waltzes from chore to chore with the grace of a ballet dancer. Just play the music for her & in an hour, she’d complete work that 3 adults would handle in a day. Never would she leave the bed unmade, or the room unkempt. Then there is the shouting at home as she marshals the children to work. The children seem to only respond when an order is given a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th time; plenty of repetitions to clean, mop, brush, bath and clean up after themselves. It is a house of commotion sometimes with all the talking & shouting.
The remarkable thing is that this level of detailed arrangement of things extends to Apartments we stay in when we go on vacation. She’d say ‘you cannot leave the room scattered. You got to arrange it. The Housekeepers should come & see that humans, not animals stay here’ & regardless of time constraints, she’d go right back & begin to arrange things to my annoyance, often, nay, always!
So it was a wonder that this morning as I left the hotel room, I, ‘Mr. I Don’t Care’ was bothered about the state of the room & I went right back to tidy things up hearing my wife’s voice in my head! That I heard my wife’s voice has a lot of implications. I now fully understand what it means when the Scriptures say ‘train up a boy in the way for him & when he grows old he will not depart from it’*. Instead of annoying me, I now fully support all the constant reminders for the children to do what is right for them – read, clean up, brush, bathe, study, etc. Hopefully, when it has sunk in enough, they will begin to hear and heed our voices to do things that benefit them. Short of exasperation, please ‘shout’ in your homes, and teach repeatedly lessons you want the children to learn. Never give up or tire out. If what you are saying is good, they will remember & it will guide them aright.
I hear other voices in my head – at work, it is a reminder to pursue excellence in all I do and to give my best in continuous improvement. In dealing with people, I hear the golden rule; I hear my Parents’ voices at times and on & on it goes. Sometimes, the voice seems to be that of many people at once, such as the admonition to make my Tribe & People proud.
Whose voice are you hearing in all of your endeavours and dealings? If the voices are from your religious persuasion or from your relationships and interactions you need to check it out now. Are the voices leading you to live well? Are the actions engendered by the ‘voice’ making you a better version of yourself, a parent, lover & partner per excellence? Are these actions beneficial to the community and the world at large?
I unexpectedly heard the voice of my wife in my head & it led me to do something I believe was good. If the voices you hear are not making you thrive positively, you need to challenge them & root them out of your system. But before you do that, you need to know whose voice you hear & heed.
*Proverbs 22:6