KOKORO NO KAZE

 

I was thinking this morning.... Days ago, I walked into the staff canteen with a colleague. As we stood on the short queue waiting to be served, my colleague said, "Have you observed how almost everyone in this canteen is wearing a jacket? Is it that the AC has been adjusted to be extremely cold, or the recent heavy rains made it seem so?" I looked around and truly saw so many people wearing fleece and other jackets that made some look like Eskimos in the North Pole.

As I watched these colleagues walk back to their seats, tray in hand with all sorts of orishirishi, to provide food for their bodies, I got thinking. We give so much attention to providing food and avoiding cold for our bodies but do very little to prevent a cold of the soul. In Japan, a cold of the soul is described as "kokoro no kaze." While Kokoro no kaze generally refers to mild depression, I prefer the literal meaning - cold of the soul.

Too many people around the world are suffering from colds of the soul (Kokoro no kaze). Imagine the other day, I walked into a supermarket to pick a few things. Just a few items that couldn't fill a disposal plastic bag and the cashier said N32k. I looked at the queue behind me and looked at the young lady. With a confused look, I asked the young lady if she added the bill of others on the queue. She laughed and confimed it was only my bill. 'Jesu!' was the only word that came out of my mouth.

As I walked out of the supermarket, I wondered how people survive in Nigeria. Yet, we see less than 1% of the population loot our common wealth and recklessly flaunt it, while millions die from hunger. They don't even pretend that they care, and I wonder why. Now I know that they are suffering from Kokoro no kaze - cold of the soul. When parents sell their babies to survive and children use parents for money rituals, the root cause is Kokoro no kaze - cold of the soul.

It is foolish to pay attention to the food for the body and less to the food for the soul. Yes. It's okay to quickly react to external cold by covering up, but we must be urgent to stop the cold of the soul (Kokoro no kaze). It is better to have a warm soul and a cold body than a warm body and a cold soul. Do all within your power to avoid Kokoro no kaze (cold of the soul) because it is the kokoro (worm/insect) eating your life away. Matthew 24:12 says, "And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold."

Stay hopeful. God's got our back.

Happy Sunday!

......Just the thoughts of a certain Wey Mey