Sweet Little Girl

– Oluwalanu Adepitan –

 

One Friday afternoon at the end of my work day, Ifew moments later a couple arrived pushing a sweet little child in her stroller. The bright and beautiful eyes of this small girl could melt any heart. Yet it was painfully evident that the man and woman were chronic substance abusers. They appeared to be very excited and optimistic as they chatted about a telephone interview earlier with the Central Benefits Office. Because I worked in the social services sector I could understand the issue they were discussing. Their disability living allowance was being queried and a review officer would be visiting to reassess their situation. They would be offered help and support to return to paid employment. While waiting for the bus to arrive the man pulled out a bottle of brandy from under the child’s stroller and the woman quickly covered it with a paper bag. They took turns drinking from it and shared a cigarette as well. They moved away from the bus stop, supposedly not to blow the toxic smoke at the group of people at the bus stand. At this moment, a woman standing close to me shook her head in dismay and remarked: ‘Poor innocent little girl. Imagine having to grow up in this kind of environment.’ I responded saying: ‘One never knows. She might escape this one day and live a completely differ- ent lifestyle.’ The woman persisted and replied: ‘I have seen all of this many times before. Ninety percent of the time these children will live a wretched life.’ I was quick to point out that she still had a ten percent chance to live a better life, far removed from that of her parents, regardless of the odds stacked against her. The woman’s bus arrived, she boarded and was gone. My hopeful heart called to mind a passage from the Grail Message that clarified this for me:

 

‘Qualities regarded as inherited are not really inherited, but are merely due to this power of attraction. ... It is only that the child has similar qualities through which it felt attracted to [the parents].’ My thoughts returned to my conversation with the woman. We often blame circum- stances and whatever else for our inadequacies. Accountants refer to the ‘limiting factor’: whenever a company falls short of expected levels of production or profits, managers look for limiting factors to excuse the shortfalls.

 

The Grail Message once again points out the exact opposite: ‘Great also is man, placed as such in Creation as master of his own destiny ... Therefore strive to free yourselves from all ties arising from base feelings.’ My thoughts returned to the sweet little girl and that she was being given an opportunity for spiritual development by incarnating into a family and circumstances best suited to enable her to free herself from similar traits acquired in a former existence by coming to the recognition of a better way to conduct her new life. This, of course, is not the only possible basis of the attraction. She may have some ‘outstanding issues’ with either or both parents from a former life, the resolution of which is enabled by incarnat- ing as their child, or she may have voluntarily accepted a difficult childhood in order to gain the necessary experi- ences to help others in a similar predicament. Whatever the reason, with a good volition on all sides, the situation can turn into a ‘win-win’ for everyone concerned, enabling old ties to be severed or bonds of love forged anew.

 

Many of us have heard numerous times that a child is protected by the Light until the spirit breaks forth and then the child must decide where his or her path may lead.

 

The Grail Message explains this: ‘Thus in the mighty machinery of the Universe there are many things which contribute to how man “fares”, but there is nothing to which man has not himself first given cause. He furnishes the threads out of which in the untiring loom of life the cloak he has to wear is made.’ My bus arrived and I noticed the couple and the sweet little girl were boarding as well. I gazed upon this beautiful child and sent her my loving thoughts. She flashed her bright and beautiful eyes in my direction. Our eyes met and we smiled at one another!

 

The couple continued their chatter, discussing a possible strategy to increase their disability allowance, oblivious to who was listening or to the fact that they could lose their daughter to social care if, because of their dependence, they are deemed incapable of looking after her.

 

They soon disembarked with the sweet girl, now sleeping. I silently bade her goodbye. My thoughts now focused on myself and I recalled the sentences from the Grail Message:

 

‘The hardest work that awaits man is on himself.’ and ‘Every hour of an earth-life is therefore more precious than ever.’ I asked myself how my life’s journey has been thus far. Have I learned any real and valuable lessons? Have I made any spiritual progress in my life on this earth where I have already spent over half a century? I reassessed the good and bad of my own past and the opportunities along with the choices I have made. Have I been searching for excuses for unattained gains in my spiritual life, claiming limiting factors, so to speak?

 

I must confess that I spent the rest of the day in solemn self-examination. I was filled with gratitude for the incon- ceivable love of the Creator, Whose perfect laws provided me with yet another opportunity through a commonplace activity of daily life, such as commuting by bus, to re- evaluate myself, awaken my spirit, thereby allowing me to realise once again that it is up to me to tend the garden of my spirit and not let it become overrun with weeds. Wisdom is indeed everywhere and cries out in the streets!