Letter 6: A Muffled Laughter Is A Strange Thing
Dear Omobolanle,
A muffled laughter is a strange thing, a [asphyxiated] cackle even stranger. You must be bold to truly live. To be alive is to laugh out loud. To laugh out loud, to care less about scary things like shame or the squinting [gaze] of strangers. Oblivion. Forgetfulness. Absentee-mindedness. Allow. Disregard. To live a full life is to be fully aware. To live a full life is to proceed with caution, but to proceed anyway. Laughter is a statement of defiance. It is a shouting colour from the spectrum of courage. A muffled laughter is neither darkness nor light. Neither blackness nor white. Neither surrender nor strife. A muffled laughter is an awful, silent death.
So, please live. Truly live. Be merry. Enjoy the life that our Lord has given to you. This is not just my thought, He commands us in his word to do this (Ecclesiastes 9:7-10). Live for Him shamelessly. Live for Him truthfully. Live for Him wholeheartedly.
Live. Laugh. Love.
We oftentimes procrastinate our living. We say, “I will do this or that later.” We say it like time is in our hands. Sometimes we do not say it; we simply just live it. But time is not in our hands. The Apostle James reminds us in his letter that we must think about tomorrow in the sense that it is up to God to will us to have it. Because it is indeed up to God. However, he has given us the present. May we enjoy it fully, in moments, as he wants us to. Amen.
Love. Laugh out loud. Live.
[P.S: I know this letter might come off to you as stranger than my other letters. It might seem to you that my thoughts are frantic, that I am writing in a frenzy. If you think so and are worried about my wellbeing, do not be worried, my dear Bola. I am alright. However, you will never do wrong to pray for me. So, pray for me. I also have you in my prayers.]
Yours in highs and lows
Uncle Akin