Tales of Light

TREASURES IN JARS OF CLAY

This is a story about grief, love and God's intention in it all. 🥹

It's my submission for a mini in-house contest hosted by Shuzia.

I'd love to see your amazing comments.🤗🤗🤗 Feel free to share as well. God bless. 😁

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Treasures in Jars of Clay

A prickle of tears stung the back of my eyelids.
Pain, pain, pain so raw I could almost taste its bitter tang on my lips.

Sophia, my universe, had been yanked away from me by death's cruel grasp.

I didn't understand why she had to die.
She was a strong believer and loved God fiercely.
Even when the ovarian cancer started slowly eating her, her faith didn't waver. She believed till death.

We were married for two years with no fruit to show for it, but I loved her regardless. That cancer was the monster hiding underneath the surface, waiting for the perfect moment to pop out like a jack-in-the-box.

I had many questions in my heart, for God especially.

In my grief, two weeks after the burial, I opened my wife's Instagram account which had been dormant for the past three months since she became terminally ill.

We were so open to each other that we knew each other's Gmail account passwords so accessing her Instagram wasn't a hassle.

Sophia was a fashionista with a growing brand. She'd grown a moderate following on IG and was consistent in posting her 'Christly Chic' reels.

Her bio: You carry God, show it!

Tears clogged my throat as I scrolled through her feed and looked at her dazzling pictures.

Her natural beauty had been what caught my attention at first glance. But then, her pure heart made me fall in love.

I had teased her while we were courting that her fans were Jesus freaks with a superb fashion sense just as she was leading the train.

She'd smiled and said, "No, I am just an earthen vessel with a large-enough capacity to allow men to drink from the rivers of living water springing in me."

Sophia had a way with words, bringing scripture into every conversation. That statement stuck with me for days.

Finally, I mustered the courage to do what I'd opened her IG account for.

Selecting the best pictures from her wake keep, I proceeded to inform her fans of the gut-wrenching news.

"She is gone," I wrote simply as the caption. I was too heartbroken to write more. With shaking fingers, I posted it.

Some minutes later, shocked comments started pouring in.

One comment struck me like a cane.

"Noooo! Sophia was my role model! I loved her... She inspired me that I could be a Christian and still be beautiful inside and outside. She was the real deal. *Cries* All we like grass and flowers... While Sophia was on this field called earth, she blossomed and she won't fade so quickly away from my heart. Sophia, rest on in the bosom of the Lord. I'll miss you."

Crying, I took out my journal and started to scribble the poetry that was surging in my heart.

Treasures in earthen vessels,
Of whom the world was not worthy,
Reaching out to souls and councils,
But still hidden from the lot of the ungodly.