A life of Gratitude

 The drumbeats died down as she screamed into the mic, "PRRRAAAAAIIIIIISSSSSEEEEEE THE LOOORDDDD!" The church responded thunderously, "HALLELUJAH!!!"

Mercy was bubbling with so much joy. She rendered another thunderous, "Hallelujah!" and the drummer couldn't hold it in again as he clashed the cymbals melodiously. The church was in a joyous frenzy again as Mercy tuned another song. They all danced for another three minutes, Mercy leading the joyous congregation and a few zealous ones who had joined her in front. Waists, shoulders, legs, feet and heads we're all gyrating to the tune.

Mercy had just shared a testimony of her employment after so many years of being unemployed. Few weeks after receiving her employment letter, the new management retrenched a lot of staff and she had been faced with the possibility of losing the job. In all of these, with so much prayers and fasting and unshakable faith in God, she had survived. It was a thing of great joy for her and the church family. Little wonder there was so much celebration.

***

The classroom block was rowdy. The students had just been dismissed from the morning assembly and were clearly yet to settle in. Mrs. Eno was tired of running around from class to class, shushing the students and flogging the recalcitrant. Just then, Mercy passed by.

"Mercy, please can you send those students back into their classes?" Mrs Eno asked.

"Which ones?" Mercy replied, unaware of whatever was wrong.

"Those ones headed to the toilet area..." Mrs Eno said, eyes rolling.

"But ma, just leave these children alone since they know what to do but have refused to. I can't kill myself abeg," Mercy said and walked away.

***

Mrs Eno looked up at the clock in the staff room. It read 11:22am. She looked at Mercy who was giggling at her phone screen. She looked at the timetable in front of her and shook her head.

"Mercy! Don't you have a class now?"

Mercy ignored her

"Mercy, you're twenty minutes late o o"

Mercy got up, picked up her notes and murmured "Thank you" to Mrs Eno as she walked out of the staff room.

11:45am, Mercy walked back in with a smile on her face and just then the school bell rang for the senior students to go on break.

Mrs Eno could not hold it in any longer.

"Mercy, please can we talk?" She whispered to Mercy. "Let's talk outside."

Mercy followed her out courteously.

"How have you been, Mercy?" Mrs Eno asked with concern in her voice.

"I'm fine ma," Mercy replied, wondering why Mrs Eno asked such a ridiculous question.

"Are you sure? You seem estranged from this school and your work," Mrs Eno continued.

"Hahahha....no ma. I'm very okay," she replied.

"But why then do you carry on so lackadaisically. Why do you act so unconcerned? You come late to work. You don't care about the students whereabouts. You don't even take your classes seriously. You go late to those classes and run out immediately your time is up. You spend your hours lounging away with other teachers," she held her breath.

"See, Mercy, I'm not blaming you. I know this is the way lot of our teachers act but I'm just concerned for you, my dear."

"Ma, but you're taking this thing too seriously. This is a government school for goodness sake. Who takes this job seriously? Who?"

Mrs Eno was taken aback. "Mercy, a government school?"

"Yes ma. Yes now."

"So why do you scamper around and act responsibly when the monitoring unit is around?"

Mercy looked away.

Mrs Eno continued, "Yes, answer me! Because you know your acts are not correct that's why you do that when they come."

"I called you here to remind you of something very important. Please listen carefully. Four months ago, when you started officially, you were telling us in the staff room about how much you suffered while looking for employment. Remember the joy on your face when you told us about how you escaped that retrenchment and recall of appointments that took place even before you resumed work."

"Mercy, remember how you told us about your fastings and prayers and that you even went to church for thanksgiving... Are you no longer thankful??"

"Of course I am, Mrs Eno. I'm grateful to God o. I can't imagine being jobless," Mercy replied.

Mrs Eno smiled with tears in her eyes, "Then do this work well. Thanksgiving is not just about the testimony we share in church or the dance and the songs and offerings. It is much more than that. The very way we handle the gift of God shows how grateful and thankful we are. Everyday we have to enjoy the gift from God should be filled with Thanksgiving. Please, change your attitude towards this job. If indeed you are grateful to God for this job, handle it with devotion and responsibility. My dear Mercy, please remember these words of mine."

***

"Good day, Ms. Mercy. I'm here to inform you about our class just like you asked me to," Patrick, the SS 2 Class Prefect said.

Mercy looked up from the program booklet she was looking at and nodded to Patrick, "Thank you, Patrick. I'll be there with you in few minutes." Pointing at her textbook and notebook, "Take these ahead of me. I'll join you soon."

She picked up the obituary program booklet again and a tear dropped from her eyes. She misses Mrs. Eno. Mrs. Eno died three years ago, but her words still remained with her: If indeed you are grateful to God for this job, handle it with devotion and responsibility.