Higher Above

The air is clean

The breeze is fresh

The sun is kind

The moon a delight

The stars wink at night

Just as a friend does in jest

The rocks massage your feet

And knocks away the feel of pain

How wondrous and how beautiful

The works of a God unseen

Who makes things bright and new

Bless Him bless Him everyday

               ©January 2020

Dreams of a little girl

On Tuesday I saw a girl in uniform (don't get me wrong, I see students in uniform everyday) but this one hit a chord. Why? It did because as I looked at her I remembered I was that small (she was very small!) and at that age I had so many dreams. My mind was and still is very imaginative and has the ability to dream far into the future. I would pen all my ideas and save them. Recently I looked at some and wondered to myself, “did I do that?” Some of my dreams I have been able to run with and bring to reality.

I remembered back in the late 1980s that anytime I watched ‘Youth Scene’ that popular program on NTA2 Channel 5, I would tell myself I would be able to meet with the anchor of the program. Today I can safely say that I have fulfilled that dream or part of it as the anchor then is my mentor today. I used to tell myself I would never work for anyone, well maybe I worked for someone for a while but today I work for no one but myself and my clients. I remember also saying that I would grow up to take care of my parents, a lot of us wish for this but few can actually say they do.

I am grateful to God that he has given me the grace to fulfill this dream. I still have so much and so many dreams that are yet to be made a reality and so many that are already a reality. I write for a living, a passion I get satisfaction from. I talk for a living a dream that is a reality. But I still have a long way to go and if God has brought me this far, I am very sure he will take me to the very end of the road.

Let us all remember that dreams can come true. All we need is the power to be able to run with our dreams! There is a quote I love so much from the good book (the bible) and it says “Write this. Write what you see. Write it out in big block letters so that it can be read on the run. This vision-message is a witness pointing to what’s coming. It aches for the coming—it can hardly wait! And it doesn’t lie. If it seems slow in coming, wait. It’s on its way. It will come right on time." Habakkuk 2:2-3 MSG. I like it a lot because it refers to our dreams (vision) as something that points to what is coming and not that will be at the right time.

As I looked as that little girl as small as she was, I remembered that I was that small and now I have grown (still growing). I realised that time waits for no one and its what we make of our life now and how well we invest in our future that will determine how fast we rise to the challenges that life deals out to us.

What money cannot buy............

This week I came across a very beautiful woman who was nicely dressed. If she did not open her mouth to speak you would actually pray to have such a beautiful woman as wife. But when she opened her mouth to speak I almost cried. All I ended up doing was pray and pray. Today going back home I saw her again and I realized it is impossible to value sanity until we actually see those who have lost it. Beautiful people who are in a world of their own not knowing or recognizing life as we see it. Place much more value on the little things please because they matter. Little things like the ability to swallow, smell, feel, go to the loo, bath yourself, reason, etc are daily miracles and gifts from our maker who gives us a tune-up each day before we wake up. Wake up count your toes, fingers, speak and hear, touch and feel, brush your teeth and take your bath, go to the loo and do tha' thing. Open your eyes and behold the beauty of a new day! Recognize your siblings, husband, children, and home. Money will buy you cloths but not the skin to put it on, money will buy you shoes but not the feet its worn on, money will buy you books but not the eyes to read or mind to understand, money will buy you food but not the tongue to taste or the mouth to eat, money will buy you perfumes but not the nose to smell it, money will buy you a lot of things but then money will never buy you those things that we take for granted and which we sleep with and wake up having. That is not the end of it. Very few people who have an abundance of money do not have that which you wake up with; peace in your heart and home, joy that runs deep and a happiness that cannot be bought. The ability to think and create is a miracle, a special gift that everyone should have but not everyone does. We say common sense is not common, but do we know that money will not buy common sense? The ability to think and differentiate wrong from right, the ability to chose right in itself is a gift that we need not take for granted. Why? There are a lot of people out there who would love to be able to think straight and make the right choice but then they just end up making the wrong choices every step of the way. When we were asked to "count our blessings and name them one by one", the author of the song did not mean those things which we have worked for and bought with our hard earned money; those things that money can buy. The actual fact is that he meant those things which no amount of money can buy; those things that we wake up each day taking for granted. Our senses of sight, smell, hearing, taste, feel, or organs - the beating heart, functioning lungs, working kidney, our spleen, pancrease, bladder, brain; our limbs, even our natural clothing - our skin. Its so beautiful to have them and to have them working perfectly without any external use or aid. Learn to value those things in your life that money cannot buy, they matter a lot and the value of it cannot be quantified. God has made a perfect machine in us, one that cannot be replicated, duplicated or disengaged. That in itself is a miracle!

A man of service

Obed Edom was recorded as the most wretched man in the land of Israel during the reign of King David. This prompted the King to order the Ark of God be put in his house when it killed two of the Ark attendant. Many would have been scared thinking they would also be struck dead. But NO! Obed Edom used that time to be of service before the ark and every day he served he got a good report direct from God. People around began to notice and wonder. They marveled that is this not the wretched man? Why is he still alive and not dead? Obed Edom's life experienced a change that people noticed, gradually this brought him before the king. Before long he got the King's attention and the Ark of God was brought out of his house by the order of the king with joy and dancing. Since that day the most wretched man entered the book of history as the man who due to his service became elevated to a place of prominence. What is that situation that you are going through? It must not have been easy for him the day the Ark entered his house especially after the reports gotten of what the Ark did in the enemy camp and even when the Ark came into Israel. He must have thought so this people want me to die like the two levites. He was poor and did not have a say against the order of the King. His life had no value and was not of importance to the throne so if he had died the land would not have gone into mourning. But he did not go into self pity and was not dejected. Instead he would sweep and clean ensuring that the Ark was kept in a clean and as proper a place as it could be. He spent time making his home habitable and presentable. As he swept he got gold dust and I am sure the first time he would not have believed it. Most times God takes what we see as a dead end to take us to a place of notice and attention. Whatever we are going through let us remain to be of service. Leave self pity out of it, don't see where you are as a place where you must lie down and die. Continue to render a good service, be noted for your good works because people are watching. They notice and are keeping count. Soon the people watching waiting for you to give up will be the one to start spreading the news of your works. Have a wonderful new month!

THE “EMBER” MONTHS OF REMEMBRANCE

As I grew up the "Ember" month was the count-down to Christmas. For children it was that time you began to sing the song “Christmas is coming, Papa buy shoe for me” and the joy of coming to the end of a year in one piece began. But as I grew older and began to understand the ways of the adult, I realized that the last four months of the year otherwise known as the “ember” months bring anxiety instead of anticipation. The adult become more careful (at least the ones I grew up with) more prayerful and more watchful. To them the “ember” months were those that played a lot of havoc and ones in which crimes are perpetuated. It’s funny though since the worrying of the adults did not change the names of the months and it most definitely did not make the months either bad or good. In fact the months just kept answering to its name. Now I prefer to call those months the “remember” months. It is during this period that we all remember those things we have left undone; we remember God’s promises that are yet to manifest, we also remember all our clients that are yet to pay for our services. However for me it is that time I began to count my blessings as I gradually write the last chapters of the year. We have 12 chapters each year, towards the end of the book you must ensure that the reader remains captivated so he can read to the end. Or else he will set the book aside and move on. I remember one of Gloria Estafan’s songs “remember me with love”. The “ember” months are those times when we remember with love the goodness of God and bless his name for life. Lastly just as it rightly says, the “ember” months are periods in which the dying flames (embers) of our hopes, faith and life are to be stocked so they can burn more fiercely. Remember what the bible says about Adam and the animals? It is the name we give to a thing that it will be called and it shall act in accordance to its name. That is why my people say “we look at the home before giving a child its name”. Therefore it is the name we give to these months they would answer to. Have a wonderful “EMBER” months as we round-off 2013!!!

My people suffer for lack of Knowledge

You know a few months ago someone told me that my issues don't come because I had enemies or not. He told me just one simple phrase. He said and I quote "You lack understanding". Truly I was insulted and a little angry, but because He was older and a man of God I kept quite. Plus the fact that my mum instilled in me that you listen while people talk. So I kept quite and listened to him talk. Truthfully, I had this believe that I might not be very knowledgeable but that as long as I had the internet nothing was far from me. But that one phrase really undid me and kept me thinking. Today I know for a fact the meaning of what God meant when he said "My people suffer for lack of knowledge". God's knowledge is not the same with ours. The knowledge he was speaking of is not the same that I was thinking of. It was not the knowledge of what I could read online, neither is it the knowledge of what I can read in the bible. Yeah! I know we are all wondering her what I mean by "not the knowledge of what we read in the bible. But the truth of the matter is that like me a lot of us just "read" the bible and not get to "know" God through the words. I know that sometimes I would read and just sleep off, other times its like reading the same novel all over again. It was so bad I had some passages I loved to read and some I dont bother to open. I would read the book of Esther, and jump past job, I would read Isaiah or Ezekiel and past Jeremiah and Lamentation. I rarely read Revelation but I would glance through first four books of the new testament. Then someone told me that I must read a chapter of the bible every day and I just said okay. I tried doing so mainly because he would ask me everyday if I read my bible and I could not tell him a lie that yes I did. But after the experience and time getting to know i my suffering because I did not know God as I should things changed. Now I really do want to know God and in knowing God I am becoming more confident and doing away with old habits one at a time. Now I know that those habits are there because because I let them stay. I gave them room and bed to sleep, but now they have had to vacate and the power of the Spirit of God and His word is working miracles. Its a good thing that this is happening now because it is God's perfect moment. I really don't know of this is making sense but I hope that just one person gets what I am saying. That knowledge of God and who He is helps us to know who we are and the power we hold. Now I know that when I dream of eating I remember God's word that "I would feed and lay down and I shall not be afraid". At times when somethings come to mind and thinks it can scare me I remember the words of Apostle Paul is Colossians 2 "He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the Cross and marched them naked through the streets." So I know that their power has been taken from them and they are exposed. So I don't have anything to worry about, just let God do His bit while I do mine by believing all of his promises. Now there is no room for any kind of doubt not one. I am not there yet my friends. Don't get me wrong. I still stumble sometimes but just like a child is with her precious dad I just smile at my dad and look up because I know he would kiss the pain away and make it better. In all truth I never meant to write a note, I was going to put up a status update but knowledge I know is of God and the note is a way for me to say thank you. I heard from somewhere that a lot of times we never give testimonies for things in our lives. We don't have success stories either or we do but don't share it. Most of us are worried that if we share our success stories something bad would happen. Don't worry I used to think that way but no more. I am happy to shout the good of God in my life, but when I am facing challenges I also know I can't walk it alone and I would share that too. Let us learn like me to actually take time to know God and not be one of those that only "read" the bible.

BRINGING FULLNESS OUT OF THE VOID WE SEE OR FEEL!!!

Most times we look around us and find nothing! We turn right, left, we move front and back and all we see is the void and emptiness. It’s a wonder why and how we can make sense of it all. Most times we just give up and make do with the emptiness. What is a void to you? Does your life seem to be empty? Or maybe it’s your business or the work you do. Are you finding it difficult to find fulfillment in what you do and how you do it? Sometimes it seems as if we have purposely put ourselves in bondage with no way to get out of it. Our life seems to be one form of emptiness after the other and we don’t know how to fill it up.

Well let me tell you or should I say it this way; “let me take you back to the beginning of life itself?” And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. Most times darkness and emptiness goes together, you hear people say; my life is a void, my life is empty, some say my life is going nowhere fast or maybe I feel a darkness inside of me. It a form of existence where everything to you is moving on but for you life is at a standstill. It’s like you are waiting for something or someone but you don’t know what. For most of us that time never comes for some we don’t know when it come, it just does and while for other something provokes the coming. However or whenever all it means is that we have been able to bring fullness out of the void or emptiness we find inside ourselves. We have been able to make something out of nothing. We have in essence become creators and drivers using the utmost capability that has been given to man to make something of the emptiness we feel inside of us, at our place of work, in our businesses. The hopelessness we feel has been converted into something with meaning and hope. Most often than not for most of us what we need is already inside us. All we actually need to do is to listen and be very attentive. Most times we are burdened by so much of what is happening around us that we fail to even listen to the voice and the creativity inside of us. We might come to this world naked with no cloths on but we never came empty, we came bearing gifts; we came full and brimming with those things that would make us stand out from the crowd. But the truth is that like the earth we must bring out of that formless void and darkness that has shrouded our fullness the great potential that we are. No one can do it for us, not even the God that you have will. It is your birthright to choose to look inside you and listen to the voice calling to you. Only you can hear it, only you can make sense of it, you alone can interpret what it is saying and make something of it. The beauty of who you are is that you are not empty, you are not a void, you are not a failure; you are unique human being born with talent and gift that which the world is waiting to celebrate. The only thing is this; what space will you fill. Who will benefit from the fullness and how will they benefit from the fullness? These questions are the things that are making it difficult for us to actually bring fullness out of the void of our lives or businesses or ideas. We fail to think of others or listen to the sound of their groaning. We most times focus only on our own pain and in focusing on our pain alone we fail to reach the maximum potential of our creativity. I could go on forever about this but in essence what I am saying is this; “we alone are the ones that can make our lives and those of the ones we love a better one”. Think about it!

THE YEAR 2010: TAKING A LOOK BACK

“Defeat is a choice, so is victory; you can only be beaten when you decide that you can never win. As long as you have breath and life in you keep on fighting and you will come out on top! - Anonymous”

At the start of the year, I had so much expectations; some of which I achieved completely, some in parts and some not at all. But! There were also the unexpected that signified and brought to the fore the beauty and goodness of God and his enduring mercies. To a lot of us what I am about to do is “counting my blessing and reviewing my losses”.

“MY BLESSINGS”
1.It will be remise of me not to start with the greatest expectation of all i.e. been alive to see the end of 2010 and starting a new year. GLORY BE TO GOD WHO MADE THAT POSSIBLE!!
2.Good health, this year I have not been to the hospital for any kind of ailment but only to visit with my sister when she gave birth
3.I am still single but I am also happy in that God would do the best
4.My business is moving forward a step at a time
5. Made new friends, great friends so much so that if I start mentioning names I might have to write a book. I hope we enjoy many more years as friends!!
6. Got selected to participate in a Youth Entrepreneurship program bootcamp out of about 1,000 applicants. Made it to the top 30!!
7. Volunteered for a teaching project, PROJECT RAISE ONE MILLION. Taught English to WAEC students of a school in Lagos and got a certificate to show for it!!
8. My sister got married and in December gave birth
9. Was selected to be part of the SMEDAN training of trainers program organized for enterprise developers
10. Was and is part of a facilitating team teaching entrepreneurship to a group of young men
11. Attended a minimum of 10 seminars and conferences all of which have opened my mind to new and greater things
12. A year older and wiser
13. Helped a friend organize the flow of caterers on her wedding day
14. Was on radio; Unilag FM (stood in for a friend actually) to speak about “business planning”
15. Was featured in Vanguard newspaper in Patricia Omoqui’s column ALLURE
16. Started three (3) blogs and still run them
17. Volunteer for a leadership school, NGOs, and causes
18. Reconnected with old friends even some as far back as my primary school days
19. Visited another state in the federation
20. Started another income generating project a bit staggered but with good potentials
21. Discovered a new and vital service that Nigerians and Nigerian Businesses need to help them survive. All I need now is the right person that can run with it!!
22. Go to bed each night and wake up to a new and better day each day!

“MY LOSSES”
I would like to call this part moving experiences that tried my faith in God and myself and not losses.
1. Did not meet my expected number of clients for 2010 (and I know why)
2. Failed to make it to the top 20 list for the YEP trip to Miami
3. Ended the year with a broken relationship (his loss is someone else’s gain)
4. Made a bad investment decision and I have the scars and dents in my pocket to show for it!!
5. Discovered a new weakness in my business (although I am not sure if this is a weakness) which has resulted in slow growth of business
6. Was unfortunate to be introduced to 2 persons (make that three) who turned out to be untrustworthy. You know yourselves!! You cost me money and a lot of trouble
7. Worked on a proposal for a LGA project but due to bureaucracy and the choppers syndrome it did not fly
8. Was broke for a third of the year, I wonder why!!

Whichever way I look at it, I find that “MY BLESSINGS” far outweighs “MY LOSSES” for this I give all glory to God who has made me see this. But most importantly I thank God for my losses and those events that I have not listed (so many of them) for without them I can never be a better person come 2011!

“Don’t look down while passing through life for your vision and faith is not linked to the ground. Look up and ahead because your vision is from God (who is up above and inside of you) and the sky is just the beginning”