Is your GIVING account balance zero?

Again, this letter was inspired by my mum. I should start paying her, rightttt? Soon, soon.😭

During the last Christmas holiday, I was regularly cleaning my mum's poultry (in my books, two weeks is regular, biko!😂). It wasn't the best chore, but it had to be done. One day, I got so irritated by the mess the naughty chickens made that I had to voice out my frustration when my mum and I were cleaning together.

"Why must we even clean this place?" I asked, knowing full well why the poultry had to be cleaned.

My mum replied, "You can't expect them to be full of the nutrients that will eventually be consumed by you for the betterment of your health if you don't take care of them properly." - Paraphrased of course, I can't remember how she said it.😂

Omo, it struck me hard! I bet she doesn't know the weight of what she said. The lesson I drew from that conversation with my mum is, YOU HAVE TO GIVE TO RECEIVE.

The book of Kings even affirmed what my mum said (1 Kings 5, to be precise). King Solomon demonstrated the give-and-take rule (or should I say, I might have invented a rule, who knows?😂). King Solomon wanted to build a house for the name of the Lord his God because his father, David, couldn't do it due to warfare from his enemies.

Solomon reached out to Hiram, the King of Tyre, to help him with the cedars of Lebanon necessary for building the Lord's House. He said, "Now therefore command that cedars of Lebanon be cut for me. And my servants will join your servants, and I will pay you for your servants such wages as you set, for you know that there's no one among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians" (1 Kings 5:6).

King Hiram, in return, told King Solomon that in exchange for the cedars, he would provide food for his household.( Band for band, Aura for Aura.)😂 Solomon agreed to this by supplying Hiram's household with 20,000 cors of wheat as food and 20,000 cors of beaten oil yearly.

There are many things to learn from this story, but today, we're focusing on giving and taking. King Solomon gave food, King Hiram gave timber. You have to give to receive.

When I say give, I don't limit it to monetary things only, I'm talking about time, knowledge, value. You see Substackers with tons of paid subscribers. You think it's easy?😭😂 They give out value-packed letters, which in return makes people pay to read their work.

You want to graduate with First Class honors? You'll have to sacrifice your sleep sometimes (some people sleep a lot and still make that degree, but you know yourself, Amaka, small sleep like this, Otilo).🧎🏿‍♀️😂

You want to have a deeper relationship with Christ? You'll have to die to your flesh, give up your old life. You'll sacrifice time that you could have spent socializing and playing around to working in church, attending mid-week services, and being in service. This is not so say that you shouldn't socialize as a Christian o.😂

You want to be a safe space for people? You want them to trust you? You have to earn it. Give. You can't keep collecting and collecting. You give, you receive. Shikenah.🤎

With love and serious side eye,

Inioluwa.🌚