We die every day in installments, and with every breath, we draw closer to our next birth in the peregrinations of the human spirit. Would heaven rejoice at your birth? Would you have fulfilled your purpose before you died or by your death? Death is not to be feared: what is to be feared, is to have lived a life devoid of purpose.
When I heard the news of Mrs. Ibidunni Ighodalo’s death in the last week, I was filled with a deep sense of sadness at her passage, I thought it untimely, and as the Yoruba would say; Oku n’sun ‘kun oku, aka’so lo’ri n’sun’kun ara won. We mourn ourselves, as much as we mourn the dead. The dead mourns the dead. Her death, reminded me of my own mortality, and the untimely and sudden nature of her death, reminded me, of the fact, that none of us, have any say, as to the time, place, and manner of our demise.
I was not privileged to have made her acquaintance. I am blessed to have known her from a respectful distance. She worshipped her God at The House On The Rock, when the church was still at The MUSON Center, and I believe that that remained the case until her marriage. She was a paragon of beauty, but she was more than a beautiful woman. She carried herself with the grace of God evident in her person, she radiated peace and tranquility. She would have been a beautiful person, regardless of her physical looks. I thank God for the lives that I am sure that she blessed by her presence. I was sad to hear of her death.
I was sad. Until I watched the interview. I am sure that Ibidunni gave several interviews in the course of her glorious life, but whilst I shall certainly be looking to watch as many as I might find, the one that I providentially stumbled on, was with a lady on Channels TV, and I only managed to catch the part that God must have intended to infuse into my spirit. Ibidunni was speaking of her struggles with having her own child. She spoke earnestly, and the words tumbled out of her. She spoke with passion, clarity, and purpose, she had a lot to say, and her death lent an eerie urgency to the speed of her speech.
She spoke of how she went to God with her burden, and of the journey through the IVF procedures. Eleven she endured, and she then told of the charge she received from God, and the joy she radiated in the interview attests to the glorious joy that she spread thereafter, and that filled her heart as she yielded herself to the will of her Maker. The joy that issued from her on the screen was infectious, and in place of the sadness I had felt, I became deeply happy for the exemplary life of service and piety that she had lived, and keenly aware of the depth of Pastor Ituah’s loss. May God console him, and the family and friends that she has left behind.
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Because Ibidunni Ighodalo lived on purpose, she has touched lives, and shall continue to touch lives, long after we have all returned to our Maker. There are children born to Ibidunni Ighodalo, that are giving joy to several families that would have never been able to afford the IVF treatments, and the foundation that she found, has assured that the work to which she dedicated her life, shall continue long after we have slept. Ibidunni was faithful in keeping the charge of her Maker, and has thereby assured immortality for herself on earth, and eternity with her Maker, in heaven.
She would have been 40 years old her next birthday, I am told. And it is easy to understand those that are grieving what is in truth, a most painful parting. But as I have learnt to accept the fact of my own mortality, and to then recognize the place and importance of purpose, in the life that a man is blessed to live, I am left with no choice but to conclude, that Mrs. Ibidunni Ituah-Ighodalo has fulfilled her purpose in God, and her family and friends should rejoice in the knowledge that she is well in her new birth.
The Koran says that a man is old enough to die on the day of his birth. I posit that this is so, because a second is an entire lifetime for every creation of the Almighty God. We, His creations, are the ones that are bound by time. We are the ones for whom time passes and exists. He was, before we were. He will remain long after we have become as the dust from whence we were fashioned. He created time, but God exists in all dimensions of time, at the same time. We spent months in our mother’s wombs, and necessarily died to the womb, in order to be birthed. We have no recollection of the life lived in the womb, and our death here, is merely another birth.
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We die every day in installments, and with every breath, we draw closer to our next birth in the peregrinations of the human spirit. Would heaven rejoice at your birth? Would you have fulfilled your purpose before you died or by your death? Death is not to be feared: what is to be feared, is to have lived a life devoid of purpose.
“I exist, therefore I am” declared Rene Descartes. He was speaking to the human consciousness of existence, but Rene said more than he might have intended. At least I have come to believe it so. I believe that Rene Descartes was speaking to how a man might come to gain immortality, if the purpose of the life he lived, assures his relevance, beyond the mortal limits of his own life. How do you think, you will be remembered, and what would be called the purpose of your life? Would your death be welcomed by admonitions against speaking ill of the dead, or would the heavens rejoice at your coming, even as the living mourn your passage?
Selah!
DF
These are thoughtful questions. Death is the necessary end of everyone Irrespective of our class, status, creed, and colour. And the only thing that could be left behind are gestures we extended to people while alive.
May her soul rest in perfect peace.