Suzy Peaches' Fruit Basket (Issue #3)


Living a life of Relevance

Hello my lovely readers thanks for all your notes and comments of the past couple of weeks. Today I’ll attempt to write an inspirational blog on living a life of relevance.




A couple of months ago Mona sent me an email containing a link to a website of a girl who had died in Lagos. Her name was Bukky Shonowo and she was only 24. Please excuse my use of the word only but I cant help but think that she was still so young. As I began to read some of the tributes that had been left for her I started to feel dizzy and I broke now – I wept like I have never done before. Sense and reality evaded me, I was conscious of the fact that I was at work but I just couldn’t control myself. I honestly felt I could faint – it was such an overwhelming experience. It wasn’t long before half of the department gathered round to try and console me. Some read it and were sober but others were generally unmoved. No one could understand my grief especially as I had never heard of her or knew her while she was alive. I tried hard to gain composure but to no avail and eventually my manager told me to take the rest of the day, as I was evidently distraught.


I sat in my car for hours I willed to turn on the ignition and drive but my fingers would move - at that point nothing seemed to make sense. As I sat there reflecting on what has just happened I began to ponder on what the essence of life was? I wasn’t shaken solely because someone young had died but rather for the realisation that it could have been me or even you. It was like God was specifically talking to me about the way I had been living my life and the essence or purpose of my being here. I later found out that all 3 of my sisters had actually attended the same school as her and that I had been in the same year as her sister who was equally as lovely so maybe we are somehow connected.

What am I getting at? Bukky - like many others, who went before her lived a life of relevance. She played a major role in the lives of those connected to her and always some how managed leave a positive impression and mark wherever she went. Her mother described her as a woman of virtue and good character and even likened her to the Proverbs 31:10 woman. Now that is some tribute! Someone described her as the epitome of Love – she had a heart for others. Everybody had nice things to say about her – I ask what do people have to say about you?

In hindsight I realise that I was not weeping for her but for myself – we were the same age and I knew that I had not achieved anything like she had. But most pertinently I wept because I was confronted with the realisation that not all of us are destined to live for many years – till we are old. Although we pray and hope that we do there is no guarantee. Today I want to provoke you to think about how you want to remembered and encourage you to begin to take steps to create that vision. Ask yourself

  • Do you play a significant role in the lives of your friends and family?

  • Are you living a life of relevance?

  • Are you relevant in you relationships?

  • Will your absence cause the world of another to shatter?

Take time out to evaluate your friendships and relationships – identify the ties that need to be severed and those that need to be reinforced. Stop procrastinating and begin to fill your life – so that whenever we are called to glory it can be said of us that we lived fulfilled lives. I beg you begin to LIVE A LIFE OF RELEVANCE!


That's all from me this week – I look forward to getting some feedback so keep it coming. Bye.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

WoW!!!Without a doubt, this is DEEP. I had to sit and cogitate on my Life. I implore everyone to feel imposed upon and do likewise.

Shoot, deep sturvs!

LondonBuki said...

Very DEEP... Life is too short. Someone I know just passed away, he was young too...

We can be here today, gone tomorrow...

Thanks for this post.

Aramide said...

This applies to everyone really, its extremely deep but something we should consider in our lifetime i.e. whether our lives are relevant, whether we are relevant, whether our friendships and unions are relevant, whether our feelings even.....are relevant.

Thank you missy

Dimples said...

DEEP!!! is not even the word to be using sef....as in after reading this...i had to really breathe in and out...and my current life just flashed B4 my eyes..

I thank God i've already started some regime of getting rid of unfriendly friends...or ones that don't add or take anything away from our so called friendship.
I had to draw the conclusion that one hasn't come to this world to be a spectator but that when I leave this world people will remember Dimples for what she did…as in really doesn’t hurt to be in the history books for something positive.

Nice post Suzy..and have a FAB weekend.

snazzy said...

profound, but do not underestimate the power of catharsis. See I'm feeling it right now, and I just finished reading

Anonymous said...

This is a powerful post. Bukky and I were in the same set in high school and it was so sad to hear about her passing in 2005. Anyway, thanks for the post.

Anonymous said...

Yet again another tragedy - news of another young girl dying reached me on Friday she was only 20. I am again reminded of the frivolities that consume my hours daily. Lord Help Us!

Anonymous said...

Very deep and apt for me at this time as I recently attended the memorial of someone I had been close to at University. she was 27.
Her memorial service had me feeling exactly as Suzy described. Exactly the same spirit of thought visited me and tormented me for days, still does actually. This friend of mine had really lived, she was a doer not a wisher, she went for everything she believed in. My mum always says that people who are not going to be here for a long time know it, and always do alot in the time that they have, like Princess Diana. Why cant we all live like that? like there is not tomorrow? these are my new mission statements: If you want to do something, just do it. Don't be afraid, cos the time is now, we will never have this moment back. I think it was Ghandi that once said, 'live like you will die tomorrow, learn like you will live forever'.

Anonymous said...

Nicely said Sue - I am determined to live a life of relevance and influence. I'm glad you are with me all the way!