Mar 16

Everyday is Not Christmas

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Wrote this on boxing day last year.Treat this as as stop gap until I get my mojo back.

‘Every day is not Christmas’

How many times have you said those words to another person or heard them directed at you?

Simply put, these words mean ‘do not have the same expectations you normally would have if it was Christmas day’ In my experience, they usually precede or follow some sort of disappointing episode.

But why can’t everyday be Christmas?

Why can’t we approach and live every day like it was Christmas? At Christmas, most of us become more human, anyway. We love, share, give and give some more. At Christmas, we smile more, laugh more and sing more. Not because we have no worries or troubles, but we choose to be merry in spite of our situations.

A lot of wonderful things happen during Christmas, things that don’t happen to us every day.

We care for people that we normally do not care about.

We visit orphanages and make a lot of donations.

We buy our housemaids new clothes, even if they are second hand.

We visit our aged parents and give them more than the usual monthly stipends.

We actually get to know our neighbours and exchange more pleasantries other than, ‘please come and move your car’.  We spend more time with our children, family and friends.

We are more forgiving and tolerant.

On a lighter note, at Christmas, it seems as though the roads are freer, the drivers friendlier and the traffic a little more tolerable also. Or is it me?

Even NEPA is slightly better on Christmas day.

So why can’t every day be Christmas?

Why can’t we make every day Christmas?

Whoever legislated kindness, love, sharing, giving, to one particular day in a whole year?

Whoever said we shouldn’t be nice and tolerant every day?

Whoever said we couldn’t share humanity today or any other day for that matter?

Whoever said today is not Christmas?

MERRY CHRISTMAS Y’ALL

11 comments

Dec 15

My Woman

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Strong and beautiful are you,

Loving and caring, that’s my wife.

Vibrant and productive, she’s a wellspring of life

A fertile ground for my seeds

The bearer of beautiful kids.

A lighthouse is what you are.

An anchor in troubled times

All day long I wait for your sweet embrace

On your bosom I lay and peace I find in your love rays.

You are strength, warmth, wisdom and beauty all in one

You are that rare melody that is a beautiful song.

And yes, you are my woman.  

And I will sing that song all night long.

14 comments

Nov 11

Greatness has lost its greatness.

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Greatness has lost its greatness.It is not a word I want to use any longer.

Back in the days, greatness used to mean something.

Back in the days, greatness was not used so loosely.

No one was called great unless they did something that the World could not ignore.

No one was called great until they left something the World could explore.  

To be great meant you had influence.

You were great because you had presence.

Alexander the Great; Jesus Christ of Nazareth; The Prophet Mohammed; These are men whose influence the World felt long after they were gone. Their lives helped shape the World as we have come to know it.

History tells of many other great people whose influence and acts amongst other men could not be ignored. They may not have been perfect men and women but they stood to be counted.

Martin Luther King Jnr, El Hajj Malik El Shabbazz, Kwame Nkrumah,  Gani Fawehinmi but to mention a few etc

And we really do not have to look into the past to recognise greatness. We are fortunate to still have living amongst us today some great men and women whose lives generations unborn will celebrate.

These great people, whether living or dead, earned the right to be called great by the kind of lives they lived.

Some laid down their lives so that many might live; others laid down many lives so their ideologies and beliefs could live.

This is why I cannot understand why this generation has so belittled such a …great word

We seem accursed with a need to outdo one another in adjectives.

We no longer speak English; we converse in superlatives.

Now I do not know what words like ‘amazing’, ‘fantastic’ really mean anymore. 

Words like awesome which, when I heard for the first time, was used to describe how great GOD is, is now used to describe how yummy a hotdog feels

The other day, a friend of mine said she met this ‘great’ guy and she couldn’t stop talking about how he had a great smile, spoke in a great way, walked like a King, and how he did so many ‘mundane’ things, well, great . A few days after, this ‘great’ guy had become a ‘great jerk’. She realised that everything she called ‘great’ about him was all part of a routine aimed at tapping her ‘great ass’.

To hear the word great attached to words such as ass, breasts and sometimes even to a beautiful word such as smile, is an abuse of the word.

Greatness is what everyone should aspire to even if not everyone will achieve. Sometimes, greatness even lies in trying, I have come to see.

Greatness, I have also come to realize, is often about sacrifice; placing others needs before yours and making their lives better.

Mother Theresa and Mama Ekundayo, these women did not lead any troupe to battle, but they battled and won the fight for human dignity and with that touched generations yet unborn.

So excuse me if I do not bellow with excitement when you point out those ‘great legs’ or if I am mellow when you talk about ‘what a great party’ you had’, I am only mourning the death of greatness and several other words that used to mean something

19 comments

Nov 7

Lemonade

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I will not hate

I will not break

I will not suffocate

I will make lemonade!

I will meditate

I will create

I will participate

I will be great!

So keep throwing those lemons

And I will keep making lemonade

8 comments

Sep 1

He Visited

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 I had a visit from an August visitor on the 1st day of September

God came to visit.

No, he didn’t come in a flash of blinding white light.

I woke up in the middle of the night and knew immediately He had come to hang out.

I said, it’s been a while. He said, I never left you.

And so began what would turn out to be long night.

He said, let’s take a walk. Not knowing how that was going to be possible as I was still lying on my bed.

Obeyed I did, nonetheless.

Our walk started from the Garden of the Beginning and took us through the Mountains of the Prophets and the Kings until we got to a place called Revelation. 

As we began to reminisce about the beginning or when I thought everything started, he began to tell me how much he missed those times. I said I missed them too.

I wanted to start apologizing for the way I have been the past couple of years but He said He’s already forgiven me.

As we continued on our walk, the consciousness of His presence and greatness enveloped me and I asked,

Who am I that you are mindful of me? Who am I that you visit me?

He said, I love you my son. I have loved you with an everlasting love.

We walked on, hand in hand, God’s fingers intertwined with mine like a closed zipper.

 I felt whole again.

Then he began to remind of those words he spoke to me back in the days.

He reminded me of his promises. He said, ‘if it were not so, I would have told you’.

As I heard that, I felt something leap inside of me. The same way I used to feel back in the days whenever His word was being preached. I was coming alive; the entrance of His every word impacted life and lit up my being.

As we neared the place of the Revelation, I asked that he tells me my favorite story in his WORD. He started to smile as He began to narrate the story of the prodigal son.

When he came to my favorite portion of the story, the part when the father saw his son from afar off and started to run towards him, tears had welled up in my eyes and by the time He was through with the story, tear drops laid clinging kisses on my cheeks and all I felt was His arms around me and his voice telling me ‘He never stopped loving me’.

I woke up this morning with a strong sense of His presence and I am starting the day empowered by His grace.

I am so glad he visited.

24 comments

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