My Mystery Friend

AHugging Child

by Fei Wyatt | Jul 26, 2018

Service had just ended, and on my way out i saw this lady i recognised and stopped to say hello.

You see, I changed branch due to distance, distance😁 plus convenience and i really didn't know people like that in the branch i moved to. 

I see a few familiar faces every now and then but not the type of "familiar" you stay and gist with, mba. The type you smile and wave at while passing. 

So, do you understand why i stopped to greet her? I wanted human contact. I wanted to connect with someone that morning. Na only me dey waka go after church. No familiar face, no friend, etc. Even though i no dey do church friendships🤪 for many reasons, one of which is; The Hospital has become the Court Room (with all due respect to "we" church folk who accept all with open arms and hearts🤪😋)

The church is for perfecting people and not for perfect people, okay?

My heart was yearning for more.

While i was greeting her, this boy of about 3/4 years walked up to me, smiling and reaching out with his hands raised, like he wanted me to carry him. So i smiled, picked him up and hugged him.

The woman asked me, "whose child is it?" probably wondering if he's mine. So i shrugged, "i have no idea who he is" i said.

He was still in my arms all that while.

He clung to me for a while and then relaxed his hold. I sensed he was ready to go, So i dropped him and he walked away, still smiling, looking back and waving at me. I tried to find the adult he was with by quickly scanning with my eyes but many people were walking out of the church hall and somehow he got missing in the crowd.

After every service since then, i have looked out for the child that hugged me that faithful day but i haven't found him. 

His face is embedded in my heart, i would recognise him if i ever saw him again but...

I haven't stopped wondering at that act till date 

Was he even Human?

This was sometime last year...

Was he just another child who probably wanted some love? Why did he choose to come to me if all he wanted was a hug? How did he know i would indulge him?

Or ...

Was he responding to the longing of my heart? I used to feel very lonely walking out of the church hall only me, myself and I, that day especially, then this angel walks up to me with a very large smile on his face and raises his hands 😭😭😭

He didn't know me because like I said, i was relatively new in that branch.

I barely knew a handful of people, yet the yearnings of my heart was fulfilled by a child i can't seem to find❤️♥️.