by Maureen Nyasha Hove 

One of the best Duchenne smiles come from those people who once experienced unpleasant sensations resulting from a derangement of functions. It’s so warm and beautiful that it’s so contagious and makes you forget all your pain and hurt.

There is no heart as receptive and accommodating as the heart that was once betrayed. One would like to call it a “one heart- fits- all”. There is no better optimist than the person who once drank from a half-empty glass.

There are no eyes as silvery sheened glass panes through which one can see the soul melting and glowing delicately in the warm light shining and glimmering softly like the finest diamonds from Africa which sparkle and twinkle like those which were once flooded with tears.

There are no ears that listen attentively as the ones which were once spewed with blatant nonsense and lies so venomous and noxious making the person susceptible to a malignant infection.

There is no strength and determination as that coming from someone who has been buried in heaps of failure before. No resilience displayed better than that coming from a person who was once told straight in the face that they didn’t have the fortitude!

There is no hand which cheerfully gives as the one that has been denied so many times. The coffers of the one who once survived on minimal resources are overloaded as we speak.

There is no touch as tender and amiable, so gentle as that one coming from a hand that once ceased to flow with blood.

There is no love as colourful as Joseph’s coat of many colours than that coming from a person who was once loved in gray areas.

No speech is as eloquent as that coming from a stutter like Moses. That injudicious individual is now as wise as King Solomon, they can now make a decision based on knowledge, experience, and intuitive understanding and there is no person as beautiful and as sweet-scented like a rose that came out of concrete.

God uses the good and the bad in our lives for the greater good. We need to let our struggles mould and shape us into becoming the person God intended for us to be. If life was free of struggles, many of us would be shells of the people we are today. 

When the storm has subsided, and the clouds have cleared, you may not recognize the person you have become. Trust the process!