Twelve Lessons That My Mother Taught Me

1. Faith in Christ is the foundation for life and eternity. Without it the entire life is vain and void.

2. Your health matters. We often struggle to find a cure when we have failed to prevent the disease. She often said, “ Ti o ba je l’ounje, o o je l’ogun. “ if you neglect to eat healthy, you must be ready to live on medication. “ To the best of my knowledge, my mother was never hospitalized. She died of old age, not of any known disease.

3. What you invest in life is what you get as a result. “Ko se isu, ko je isu.”Those who don’t cook yams are not entitled to eat yam. Life’s inputs and outputs are directly related.

4. Your pain points may be pointers to your life’s mission. She was deprived of education because of polygamy, but she invested sacrificially in the education of her children and relatives.

5. Self-leadership precedes leading others. Organise your life before you can organise others. You owe it to yourself and to others around you. She was a trusted extended family and community organiser. Her advice was sought and taken on extended family issues. “Iya Dada ko ti soro o, “ her significant others would say, meaning Iya Dada has not spoken on this issue.

6. Live with integrity, serve others with sacrifice. Those who did business with her kept coming back because they trusted her.

7. A life of prayers leads to confident living. Praying for others is a great investment. She often said, “Eyin e sa a ma a se Amin.” You just be saying Amen! That was her way of telling us that she was always praying for us.

8. Enterprise is for wealth creation; it is the antidote to poverty. I must have sucked the milk of entrepreneurship from her breast.

9. Be strategic and resilient in business. She pivoted from kolanut trading to cement distribution, but still kept her values of service and integrity.

10. There is no limits to learning and achievements. You must keep growing. She encouraged me to undertake a postgraduate education after my bachelor’s degree. Her words: “Okunrin kekere ko to.” A small man is never enough.

11. Giving is like breathing. Give to God. Tithes were a priority for her. When I presented her with my first income, she yanked off the tithe from the pay envelope for tithe. The lessons came later. We owe God our very breath. Giving to others is self-service. She never lacked what to give.

12. Starting well is good, but finishing well is better. My mother had a challenging beginning, including marriages that didn’t endure, but she finished well. She committed her life to the sanctity of marriage among her children, relatives, and their friends.