My mother's first fruit money confession still sits in my chest

I was helping her count the offering from a naming ceremony when she said it. Just like that, quiet quiet, still folding the naira notes. "They told us if we don't give the first fruit, the child will not prosper." She was talking about me. My whole life, every salary, every promotion, she had been paying something somewhere so I would not fail.

She carried that fear for years. Not because she had plenty. Because the pastor said it with fire and she had one daughter and no backup plan. Wallahi, I sat there doing the maths in my head. What she gave away in Kaduna could have been my school fees in Abuja. But she did not see it as loss. She saw it as insurance.

Pastor Abel Damina said there is nothing like first fruit money. I read that headline and I felt something I cannot name. Relief for her. Anger for the years. My daughter is seven now. I will not be counting offering and trembling over her future. I will be putting that money in her account and teaching her to read the fine print. What did your parents pay for out of fear?