TO KEEP A GOOD HOME

I graduated from the University with my four best friends namely,  Eugenia, Gabriella, Bervlyn and Joan. We were the best of friends during school days.
I loved them as if they were family and wished we would never part ways but life took a different turn.

Soon after my  national service, my boyfriend, Jack , proposed marriage to me and I accepted wholeheartedly.
I met Jack when he was at the university and I was a senior high school graduate. He was living with his parents but after some time, he built his own house and moved in.
He is the kind of man most women would want to have as a husband since he is caring, understanding and above all God fearing.

My best friends were so happy for me. Some of them kept saying they wished God would give them a rich and caring husband as Jack.

After the wedding ceremony and our honeymoon days were over, I began to face the reality of life.
Jack gave me everything a wife could ask for because he was financially stable.

One weekend, my best friends paid us a visit and were surprised that  I was doing the mobbing, sweeping, washing and cooking all by myself.
(Gabriella decided to speak out)

She's known as the type who wouldn't keep quiet over anything.

Gabriella: Mira, why are you doing all these by yourself?
Isn't jack supposed to get you a house help?.

Me: My husband doesn't support the house help idea.

Joan:  Eiii hmmmm,  then you'll suffer oo. A beautiful modern lady like you paa. You need a house help or better still ask your husband to assist you with the chores.

(Bervelyn joined in the nagging)

Bervelyn: I used to envy you oo Mira because I thought you were given everything by Jack but to see you doing all these junk work all in the name of marriage, trust me, I wouldn't want to be in your shoes.
(They burst out in laughter but I cared less)

They sat and watched  television while I did all the chores and served them lunch after which  they bid me farewell.
I didn't complain because I knew their behaviour from school days that they never liked to do any chores and since I loved and cherished our friendship, I lowered my pride and did everything at the hostel.
Never for once did I leave them out of my prayers for God to change them.
They kept visiting from time to time and ridiculed me that I'm a slave in my marital home and this began to affect me emotionally.

I began to expect Jack to help me with house chores but I couldn't voice it out to him. Everyday after work, he'll eat dinner, then attend to some of his office work, kiss me good night and off he'll go to bed.

He gave me all the care a woman would ask for but I needed help to keep the home.

Sometimes I felt my friends were right and that my husband was making me a slave. There were days that I wished I could ask for divorce and leave his house.
His excuse of not wanting a house help is that they bring problems to the house so I endured in silence.

A year later, I got pregnant and doing the house work alone became very tedious but I couldn't complain and kept praying to God for strength.

One morning,  I woke up feeling very feverish so I had to go back to sleep even though there were chores to be done.  I woke up about three hours later to find breakfast on the bed. It was like a dream. I rushed to the kitchen after hearing noise only to see Jack busily washing the dishes.
I interupted.

Me: Good morning love, please no work  today?.
Jack: I resigned from work my dear. How was your sleep?.

I couldn't believe my ears.

Me:  What? ..but why would you do that, Jack?.

Jack: Because I need to assist my wife at home.

It sounded cool but it didn't make any sense to me.

He explained to me that he had always wanted to help at home but his company wouldn't make it possible for him. They kept giving loads of work to the extent that made him had little time to pay attention to what happens at home. When he realised the workload was too much in the house especially with me carrying his child, he asked his boss for a week leave to assist but he was denied and asked him to either quit or stay. He thought his boss was being unfair so he resigned.
I felt sorry for him.
Deep within my heart, I wanted help at home but never did I ever wish for my husband to quit his job.

Me: I'm so sorry about that ok....I'll pray for you to get another job soon.

He drew closer to me, kissed my forehead and asked me to go and shower before eating. I obeyed while he continued with the chores.

I realised that I had been bitter for nothing, thinking my husband was making me a slave but one thing I was proud of myself was the fact that I kept praying for him and never raised a voice at him.  Jack never knew how to cook or do any house chores when we met but unknown to me, he learnt bit by bit from me and I was glad that my hardwork paid off.

I kept praying for him to get another job and God being so good,  His company called him back to the office a week later and this time around, they made things flexible.

My best friends also learnt their lessons from mine and decided to learn how to do chores and also stand for others no matter how unwilling they are to help in return.

The world is the way it is because we all sit idle and expect the other person to be the first to serve us instead of setting the example for them to follow.

NB: There is power POWER in prayers, It can change any situatio