Pearling

…the gathering of ants implies the presence of something sweet, but that gathering is an invitation for lizards…

It was a beautiful Friday morning. Like other days, I had woken up quite early as the rays of the sun filter through the thickness of darkness to birth a new day. This season in Maiduguri is very hot with temperatures getting to half boiling point on normal days, so I actually slept outside under the full glare of the clouds, stars, moon and most importantly God (since the bible says ‘He holdeth back the face of His throne and spreads the cloud upon it’ Job 26:9).

In order to start the day as usual with God, I got a chair from the room and placed in the open enjoying the cool breeze of the day as I lift my voice to worship God, pray and meditate. It was in the course of my meditation that I noticed some lizards that had woken up, just like I had and were trying to look for what to eat. They had gathered to pick up small black ants which have congregated around grains of sugar which I cleaned out from my sugar can the previous day. At the sight of the lizards, I remembered my dream overnight for which I had been asking the Holy Spirit for understanding. The dream involved a lizard that I shook off while trying to crawl up my hand as I tried to pick something. At that moment, the inspiration came for this write up. My spirit began to concentrate on the lizards and I started gaining some insight into the allegorical codes in my dream- the ants, the lizard and the shaking off.

THE ANTS: Life is a pursuit. A pursuit of goals, dreams, aspirations, desires and whatever fulfillment for a core need. However only a fool continues in a line of pursuit that has no indication or clue to the presence of a gratifying entity at the end. Well, except that man is working on faith on a CLEAR instruction from God. Life is a pursuit of gratifications. Ants are therefore like the pointers to a presence of gratification in our line of pursuit. The gathering of ants definitely signifies the presence of something sweet or at least food. However these ants are small and it only takes a clear vision to notice them on our way. If there are no ants on your way, there is probably nothing sugary in that path.

THE LIZARD: The gathering of ants is an invitation to lizards. Do you still remember the food chain you were taught in ecology in secondary school? Lizards are reptiles that predates on ants. They feed on ants. As I concentrate and meditate on the scene of the big Lizard before me, I wander how many of those small ants can satisfy the hunger of the lizard? However the presence of the lizard is not just about the ants but about the man trying to pursue a path where he has found ants-indicators of presence of gratification. In my meditation, I stumbled on the following

1.Lizards eat ants. Since ants are like pointers to the success of your pursuits, they represent the image of men who eat up those pointers thus making your pursuit look unattractive and empty.. They deflate your passion, puncture your motivation and belittle your dream. These are not the kind of men you must take along on your pursuit. However even when you don’t take them along, since they are attracted to signs of impending success, they will always find their way along with you. You must shake off such men before they make you shake off your dream.

2. Lizards nod. One very striking and easily noticed characteristic you will see in a lizard is nodding. Lizards represent men who are always nodding in agreement to your propositions even when you are going wrong. They are sycophants who keep inflating your ego until you crash. They never tell you the truth about what is happening they only tell you what they think you want to hear or what will be pleasing to your hearing so that they can continue gaining and profiting. As a person with a leadership inclination, I appreciate men when they say it as it is to my face because I know the dangers of sycophancy. They are flatterers! They don’t care about what is happening to you, once what they tell you will boost their favour in your sight. Such men are dangerous for your success.

3. Lizards run on their belly. Taxonomy taught us that lizards are reptiles and so they run on their belly. This is almost the same with what has been discussed above. They are men that are only interested in their belly at the expense of your future. They can eat you up alive. Beware of such men.

4. Lizards live in groups. If you don’t deal with one quickly, you will soon see another one strolling in until they become an undefeatable nuisance to you. A lizard is enough nuisance to crash your destiny. Deal with it and do it fast. Don’t give lizards space to breathe or breed. They respond to chasing, chase them far.

SHAKING OFF: Mind you, these men will definitely show up on your road to destiny whether you like it or not. But you must be very sensitive to discern and quickly shake them off. They don’t care whether you are friendly or you are not. You don’t deal with such men emotionally. If you don’t shake them off, they are on an assignment from the devil with a vision to make you useless and unfulfilled; and a mission to ensure you are derailed from the track of fulfillment using sycophancy and discouragement. Common, shake off that lizard!
Oh my God! I am late for class. See you next time.

Written by O’dayo Afolabi