LETTER TO GOD (V)

Our Father who art in Heaven,

Good evening. I sit in this air-conditioned room in my hotel naked as the day you brought me unto this earth. Father I write this letter to you because I am quite curious about a question that my friend Estelle posed on Facebook. Well, since you know all things, I want to pose it to you so you can tell me the answer. I promise it will not be too difficult a question for you to answer.

The question, simply, is “Where was Adam when the serpent came to tempt Eve”? Now let me go and refer to my Bible so I can make my case with all confidence. I’m back. The Bible made me know that the serpent questioned Eve, and Eve answered as she knew how. The Bible again makes me know that Eve ate the fruit, and gave some to her husband “….who was with her, and he ate it” (Genesis 2:6, NIV). Adam was not there when the devil came to tempt Eve and God I beg to ask, where was that nigga?

When Estelle posed this question, I answered that because the nigga was a caretaker of Eden, he had possibly gone to some section to tend it. Possibly he had gone to see why there was so much noise coming from the southern side where the baboons and monkeys lived, or he had possibly gone to name the goats. But my concern is that wherever Adam was, he had left his new wife vulnerable to attack. And I am worried because this trend is showing in our marriages these days.

You see, man must work and these days, the women are working too. Father, in the hustle and bustle of work life with its incessant deadlines, targets and other headaches, we have left our partners open to attack. We have often left them lonely even on Saturdays to work, we do not communicate with them and so we don’t know what is happening around them. In fact Father, the men barely notice any change in the lives of their wives. And the devil has creeped in now.

Father, you are very much aware that nature abhors a vacuum (of course you knew it before Machiavelli wrote it). If piece of land is left fallow and no activity is carried out on it, it soon grows weeds. Nature abhors a vacuum. In much the same way, by leaving our women unattended weeds have begun growing. Friends are taking our place and shaping our partner's life and marriage views. Other predatory men are filling in for us, pretending to be helping whilst their main goal is to tempt our wives to share our fruit with them. Parents – especially our mothers-in-law – are also filling in for us. Theirs, more out of a concern for the safety of their daughter than an intent to harm but we all know how that ends.

Dear God, it’s about time you informed the men that you gave them dominion of the whole garden, and that includes their wives. It’s time men stayed at home to help their spouse with house chores or do a portion of the chores. It is not out of place for men to cook, wash or attend to the kids whilst our wives do other things. The man can take the children out of the home so that the wives can have some “me” time. It is important, especially in these modern times – when both spouses work – that the men play their roles in the home. It’s about time men stopped being heads of the home by mouth, but rather establish that role through action and teach it to the next generation of men.

Abba Father, I'd conclude by still asking the question, “Where was Adam when the devil came to tempt Eve”? I know you can order Adam to answer but please don’t. I don’t trust a man whose answer to a “where are you” question is “I was naked and afraid so I hid”. Kindly send the answer through Angel Michael and his warrior hosts. My greetings to all the mandem, especially JC. Shout out to HS too.

As always,

Your son,

Harrison.

NB: I started this piece in January 2015 but I got stuck at a point and didn’t know where I was going with this until a fateful Sunday in January 2018, when a series of events conspired to aid me finish this piece.