TRICK OR TREAT?

Christmas is magical!

No it’s not Halloween (this is 9ja o) but it was Christmas! And officially, Christmas is my favorite holiday season. Not because of Santa (Fada Christmas) as I am too old to go on his laps and even as a child I was terrified of him (maybe that’s how I landed the nickname bush baby), neither is it because of the birth of Jesus or the nativity story but it is because for the first time in my life, I actually felt the magic of the season. I did not have any Christmas tree at home but I helped decorate the Christmas trees at church.  As we put up the trees and began to decorate one piece after another; as the trees came to life, something also lit up on my inside and I am truly grateful for that experience.

Growing up, Christmas was more of the tradition of attending mass and killing Christmas chicken! We had a Christmas tree but I don’t remember gifts under the tree, maybe there were. Last Christmas was truly special because I learnt something – Christmas trees are never fully decorated all round, only in front! Duh? I hear you say, well I never knew and it hurt so badly! Well before you begin to wonder what planet I’m from, let me explain. You see, I’m sort of a late bloomer so when I eventually get the hang of something, I become a staunch disciple – I guess it’s the only way I think I can make up for the ‘lost time’. So after we spend the greater part of the day and around Lagos too, shopping for a Christmas tree and appropriate ornaments, we begin to give life to our white and green trees (the memory of the day just brings a smile to my face) and my H.O.D says “focus on the front”. At first, I don’t take him seriously and it broke my heart when I realized he meant business. I kept saying “why? It should go round”, to which he replied “so that it’s richer in décor”. I do admit that it’s quite expensive to have a decent Christmas tree that is fully decorated all round so I understand that we had to be prudent but I kept thinking to myself – “this is deception, we are the Church, we should not be deceiving people.” See how extreme I can be? Ssh…I still ensured it was 65%-35%, only then would my conscience let me be!

Just after Christmas day, boyfriend and I visited his aunt and I see the tallest, most beautiful tree ever in a home!  I mean, the lights were so alive and the balls were just huge and amazing! My eye balls are about to roll out of their sockets in awe and for a second I am Charlie in the chocolate factory. Suddenly, I can’t wait to see the back of the tree; surely this tree will be fully decorated! God! I’m laughing at myself right now. See, this tree was between the angle of two walls so it required quite an effort to get to the back. Guess what? It was empty! Yes, empty! Not one ball, not one light, just plain empty! I almost cried; I could not believe the deception, my church was generous! Seeing this fully decorated (or so I thought) Christmas tree was a treat for me so imagine my sadness, disappointment and maybe anger when I realized I had been tricked.

Are we not like the Christmas tree, putting our best foot forward always? Why can’t both our feet be the best so that by merely standing, being ourselves and not assuming an awkward posture that is uncomfortable; we may be noticed and given our desired and deserved attention? Why must we show people our fully decorated front knowing fully that when they eventually take in the beauty of our front and proceed to the back they would find nothing but emptiness? What kind of relationships do we hope to have if we continually throw people’s trusts back in their faces?

When Jesus said “be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect”, He was not just talking about being holy or not sinning. He was referring to the totality of your being – Spirit, Soul and Body. It’s not enough for you to be so spiritual that you see God and yet be ignorant or dull intellectually and I don’t mean being educated. It’s not enough for you to be a Harvard professor and be dead spiritually. It’s not enough for you to be spiritual and intellectually sound yet you neglect your body after all it’s just the ‘casing’ for the real you; of what use is your spirituality and intelligence if your body shuts down? We have to be perfect in all three areas, 100% each just like our Father. Imagine if God was only perfect as the Father, manageable as the Son and ‘just there’ as the Holy Spirit. Do you think a ‘manageable’ Son would have saved us or a ‘just there’ Holy Spirit can teach us all things?

Our Government is scarier, God help us!

Nigerians are not mad at the Fuel subsidy, we are mad because our leaders put their best foot forward – democracy; and now that we have taken in the beauty of the front and are eager to see the back, we find nothing but emptiness! People have a right to be angry at deception, how do you take someone to the pent house, let them take in all the luxury and without any notice announce to them that they would be sleeping in the drainage! Our government might have the best economic brains and the best laws in the world but it is weak spiritually.

Perfection is not a one-off achievement; it is a daily feat so every day, you get a chance to be 100%! Some days you hit the target, some days you are close; but on other days you are totally out of range! Since the beginning of the year, I’ve been out of range a lot!

A treat is who we ought to be! yummy right?

Whatever result you get at the end of the day, strive afresh at the beginning of a new day! Do not get too comfortable when you are 100% and do not give up when you get a minus (-) %. Let each day end with whatever it brings and be ready for tomorrow’s challenge. At the end of each day, ask yourself – Trick or Treat? Whatever your answer, fight to be 100% tomorrow.

With steady feet and a new Love for my Maker!

P.s This is my first post for the year – Happy new year guys *with hands over my face* Love you to bits!

Advertisement

Who run the world – Words! (2)

I did not think my original note needed a sequel but a call from a friend got me thinking. My friend did not quite agree with my piece so I reasoned an explanation was in order which I mailed to my friend about an hour after our conversation. Somehow I woke up really early Sunday morning – 6am (which is weird as I am not an early bird and I love my sleep which I believe is a gift, you know,” He gives His beloved REST”), pondering on my note and my conversation with my friend. The initial note was not something I gave much thought to, I just wrote it because I have to write something for a friend every week as a way to improve my writing. I was not in the “inspired writing mood”, that was just my way of sulking at the time. Anyway, this is what I thought of that early Sunday morning…

Every action is preceeded by words spoken or unspoken (thoughts) and your reflex action (you know the one where someone suddenly slaps you and just as you feel the hot air that preceeds the sting, your reflexes, on your behalf return the favour with lightening speed and did I mention with both hands so much so that the sender receives a double portion of his message before his is even delivered, Lord have mercy!), yes your reflex action is a reflection of who you really are.

Let’s take a walk through history….

In the beginning the earth was without form and void, God made everything by speaking, calling them forth with words.

Then God thought ‘let us make man in our own image and likeness’ and voila! Man first and right behind him, Woman (trust us, to ensure peace God made sure we were the most specially made – words, dust, Man’s rib and God’s breath!)

Everything was fine until the serpent said to Eve ‘you will not surely die; God knows that when you eat of the fruit, your eyes will be opened and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil’. Immediately, light bulb came on in Eve’s head; she ate and who was Adam to say no.

Wait a minute; let’s go back to the serpent (Satan). Now he was not always evil because everything God created is good and beautiful including Satan. Satan was created as an angel by God, God forbid?  That is the truth! In fact, he was the most beautiful of the angels, the music director of heaven. So why are 90% of our prayers binding him to the bottomless pit? Because he thought ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God… I will be like the most high’ that’s all it took to go from Lucifer to Satan.

The seed ‘God respects Abel’s offering and despises mine’ was sown in Cain; it yielded sadness, envy, anger, then the ultimate fruit – murder.

The woman with the issue of blood thought ‘if I could but touch the hem of his garment, I will be whole’, the result? Twelve years of bleeding dried up instantly!

When Satan was to tempt Jesus, he understood that words are life and life is a battle of words. So he tempted Jesus with words and Jesus resisted and won with words. When Satan foolishly reasoned that crucifying Christ would thwart God’s plan to redeem man, he accomplished that mission with a single seed – ’this man blasphemes against God! Saying he is the son of God and will pull down the temple and rebuild it in 3 days!’ which he planted in the Pharisees.

Words (good or bad) are arrows fired at a target; the strength of your shield and your alertness determine how badly you will be hit because like in every battle, you could be caught off guard.

Words spoken to and by you determine who are and who you will become. Often times we are oblivious to who we really are or maybe we have a faint idea but live in denial until the unexpected happens! We are caught off guard and our reflex is activated! This reflex sometimes surprises, scares, even impresses us but it always confirms who we really are.

So who are you? You are who you believe and accept you are.

What forms your belief and acceptance?

The subtle words you proclaim with your mouth –‘anybody can just die anyhow’, so a drunken driver veers of the road and hits only you, even the driver survives; ‘I am finished’ – so in a day you lose your job and your house burns down; ‘I must be cursed because nothing I do prospers’ – I think that is self explanatory; ‘I am beautiful’ – the whole world is wondering how you landed yourself the finest bloke; ‘ I will lend to nations’ – enemies naturally start to spread rumours about you when Forbes names you the richest in the world; ‘my children are blessed and will serve the Lord’ – your friends can’t understand how all your children turned out right even though theirs were more privileged.

And

The words spoken by others that you accept – ‘it is well with you’ or ‘May you never know peace’; ‘I love you’ or ‘I hate you’; ‘You have no future’ or ‘your future is promising’.

This battle of words and of life is not about physical strength, speed or skill. It’s about decision and choice. God has given all men equal weapons –our mouth and the power to choose. You choose either to serve God or Satan (you can’t be in between); you choose either to shield or shoot yourself (words you proclaim with your mouth); you choose either to fortify yourself so even when you are caught unaware you are still unharmed or go into war without your armour and be hit by even the impact of the enemy’s grenade to another (sharpening your reflexes, who you really are).

It’s all up to you, the question is, what do you choose – life or death?

With love, mayo-chop dressing and a brand new 4*4.

SAVED TO SERVE

I have heard this expression before but it never meant more than a cliché to me until Sunday Morning, two Sundays ago. It was my final class of Foundation school (yes, I just dey do foundation school o!) and my Pastor’s wife taught the class that morning. She was teaching on “STEWARDSHIP AND SERVICE” when she mentioned that we are saved to serve else we ought to have ascended to heaven the moment we got born-again. For some reason, that phrase just kept ringing in my head – saved to serve, saved to serve, saved to serve,…Well my exam was on Sunday, last week and as I studied (I dey aim to collect prize), the different parts of the bible, the phrase gradually came to life.

To serve is to wait on someone, to take the back seat, to work for, to labor in behalf of, to exert one’s self continuously or statedly for the benefit of, to do service for; to slave, to be subordinate to, to appear as the inferior of, to minister to, to obey and worship, to profess love to,…

To serve is to be humble. It takes extreme humility to take the posture of service. Jesus is our perfect example, leaving all His glory in heaven to come dwell with us mortals and not as Ceaser but as a carpenter who was killed like a thief.

We are saved to serve.

 Jesus came to restore man back to God and to achieve that He had to serve us, even to death. In serving us; Jesus healed many of sickness and disease, raised the dead, fed the hungry (thousands), saved a prostitute from being stoned to death, saved a couple from disgrace at their wedding, cast out demons from the possessed and oppressed, forgave sins, taught God’s word and ways. In Mark 16:15-18, He gave the great commission and His disciples operated in that might. Jesus and the earliest saints had enormous faith in God amidst all the tribulation in their time. They were bold, powerful and miracles was their culture. But was Jesus’ life, death, resurrection and the gift of salvation all a show of God’s power?-No, it was and is all about Love, the power of Love. The power of the Love for God, Jesus and fellow men enabled the saints of old to live ‘supernaturally’.

Today, we are saved for miracles, prosperity, breakthroughs, to surpass our enemies – not to serve and not to love.

We want miracles but we fail to realize that a blind regaining sight, a lame walking, a dumb speaking, a dead living, is not a miracle. The miracle is loving in this world. The devil (the prince and father of the world) is not capable of loving and so the children of the world cannot love. That’s why Jesus came, to restore us to Love (God) and teach us to love through service. What we call miracles is the nature of love and is borne out of genuine compassion and mercy. No miracle is possible without Love.

We want prosperity, breakthroughs, to be the head and not the tail but refusing to serve is pride.You wonder why things are difficult, stagnant, how you have enough but never abundance – do you not know that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble? How will you prosper when God is against you? Even the gospel that you preach will not be heard.

He gives grace to the humble.

In the beginning, God made man and put him in the Garden of Eden to serve – Gen 2:15. When Jesus came, He gave the same instruction, this time explicitly – John 21:15-17. This is how we are to serve. When was the last time you visited those in prison, went to the motherless or even the Down Syndrome Association of Nigeria (that’s if you have ever heard of them)? Let me guess – your birthday, Valentine’s Day (as no one valed you) or children’s day (that’s when the orphanages are most crowded). Assuming everyone had the same birthday as you and in all we have 10 national celebrations, what happens to these people during the remaining 354 days? Who feeds them, clothes them, cares for them? ‘But I am busy; in school, trying to make ends meet, God understands’. God does understand so he won’t ask you about those in institutions, he would probably ask – how about that time in the bus, did you help the mother with 3 children carry one child even if you couldn’t pay for an extra seat?, why did you start avoiding your Muslim friend once you became born again?, why are so unforgiving and unmerciful?

Look, service is hard and requires grace but that grace will only be given to the willing. Remember, Jesus prayed so much so his sweat was as thick as blood, just for our cup to be taken away from Him yet He received grace and strength only because He was willing. We are all servants of our Master, He has set the example and we cannot be greater than He – John 13:5-17 and in the end we will answer to Him – Matt 25:31-45. God is bound by His words but when we are faithful in service even when we do not meet His requirements, He will personally send help to make us qualified to receive His promises just as He did with Cornelius – Acts 10:1-end.

It's all about LOVE!

I leave you with these words by Bill Bright and Ted Dekker – ‘whoever said a straightened hand is more spectacular than a healed heart?’

I am Anwulika and I am Free!

Free as a bird.

This was inspired by a mentor.

I am Anwulika and I am Free…

Free from the prison of the past – the good, the bad and the ugly. I’m free from the deception of past glory and victories, while they will always be cherished; I realize that my life has only just begun and I have the world to conquer. I’m free from the sting of hurt, grief, regret, struggles, disappointment; I was poisoned by the venom of these emotions, blinded even after I received the antidote at the cross until I sought truth. Now I see! These things are not strange and will always be in the world; they are evidence that my life is significant and part of a greater glory. I’m free from the suffocation of rejection, anger, unforgiveness, spite, abuse; I have learnt from these experiences and taken responsibility for my life.

Free to believe God is crazy and seriously concerned about me. That I’m His masterpiece, the one he’s obsessed about and can’t afford to auction. That He has set my face before Him forever and whatever will harm me hasn’t been created. That His plans for me Einstein couldn’t figure out, scientist’s haven’t discovered, the highest of IQ has no clue (my humble self included), the world has never seen – don’t bother your pretty head, you can’t imagine either. That all power He gave His son, He gave me also as I am a joint heir with Christ. That if my eyes are stayed on Him, He will keep me in perfect peace. Isn’t that what we all desire?

Free to love and be loved in return. Love is hard (giving and receiving) because it is free. We live in a world where something goes for something even spiritually. Everyone yearns for love; it’s the only thing that can fill the emptiness we all have. Love is not earned, it is a gift. Love is not to be understood, it is to be felt. Love is not indecisive, it is a choice. Love is not to be resisted, it is to be embraced. Love is not convenient, it’s a sacrifice. Love is that secret kept, the prayer in the text message, the excited scream at the other end of the line, the credit alert in your bank account, the nod, the silence, the surprise visit, being beside you at the funeral, the listening ear, a smile, food for the hungry, shelter for the homeless, clothes for the naked, encouragement for the downcast, knowledge for the ignorant, chastisement to get you back on track. I have been loved, crazily so and I am loving in return.

Free to dream, to see and be anything I can imagine. Life is purposeless without a dream or vision and they are free of charge! Please, call me Anwuli the dreamer! My dreams inspire, encourage and push me to make them realities – it’s only a matter of time, so you better be nice to me!

Free to be me whenever and wherever. To have lunch at Southern Sun after church on Sunday, enjoy amala at Iya Basira on Wednesday or hussle puff-puffwith school children on Monday morning. To love football and have no clue how to seduce a guy. To be helpless about the sound of my voice when I’m sleepy – guys love it, my dad gets worried and my sisters are irritated by it!

Free as an ocean

Free to say YES and to say NO. Free to be different, to go the opposite way. To be ministered to by Ted Dekker and have no ‘popular’ song on my playlist.  To cry embarrassingly for movies, novels and sometimes football; and can’t find a tear at gunpoint.

Free to choose. Free to give. Free to share this thought with you.

Did I speak too soon?

Emm, this is my attempt to make you laugh.

Hey everyone, I’m two posts behind on my promise to post every week. Forgive me, please!!! However, I’m making it up with two posts this week. I’ve been in a reflective mood this past week so I might not be able to make you laugh but I hope you are blessed. Love you all.

 

 

I came, I saw and I stayed.

Oh, my Prince!

How do I begin? Well it all started on a Saturday afternoon, 14th of June to be precise, 4:03pm(earth time). I was riding on my favorite pet (an elephant we named Pluto cos he was just so cool, like d planet exactly!) with my twin sister, God had told us we’d be going to earth pretty soon and we were both ecstatic. We had our lives all planned out, I was going to be born into the Middleton family so that in future I’d be married to a very famous prince and become a princess just as I was back home; my sister on the other hand just wanted to be with some guy in the Dekker family who would become a famous writer, telling the whole of earth about God and our kingdom. God had told us that though we wouldn’t be born in the same family, we would meet on earth, that was good enough for both of us. So when God finally said it was time, we couldn’t wait to get going, so we went or rather came.

The first word I heard was PUSH! then I stuck my head out, yay! earth! I thought. I hadn’t opened my eyes but there was something horribly wrong with the air that greeted me. It was just so hot! and so unbritish!, I knew, even though I had never been to earth. Ah! (the Nigerian version) God why? I suddenly remembered the mischievous grin He had on his face just as we left heaven; it was the look that said “I have a prank up my sleeve” but this wasn’t funny one bit! I was out with another push and prayed immensely that the joke was over.

“Madam, you don born girl”(pidgin english), the nurse said to my mother and I cried out hysterically- “What language is this?, where am I?” no one understood me and I would not be consoled. In the midst of my lamentation I suddenly cried out, AH!(our version again) and the room fell silent; in a second, the nurses were out of the room with lightening speed and I was dumped in my mother’s arms who was screaming something about me being her mother-in-law coming back to live with her son. What? Didn’t these people know that there was nothing like reincarnation? Oh my God! I must have traveled back in time, this must be the dark ages!

The doctor came into the ward to find out what the commotion was about, how could his nurses believe they heard a new born baby speak? My mother hurriedly handed me over to him and it was a miracle I didn’t fall. The doctor took me and scowled, whoever scowls at a new born baby? I wasn’t enjoying this experience at all, no one has been nice to me since I arrived and that wasn’t fair. I managed to get cleaned up and my mother shed tears and mumbled prayers as she fed me; what she was so scared about?, I’m the one in a strange place with strange people acting weird yet I’m calm enough to eat.

My father and the rest of the family came by in the evening and it was just horrible.  With everyone who peered into my blanket it was “hmm”, “na wa o”, “mba”, “ahn ahn” (all Nigerian expressions), some would just shake their head like all hope was lost. My father didn’t say a word, he just paid the bills and left. We were discharged the following the day, when we arrived home, it was like someone had died and the family was mourning. I didn’t understand this strange tradition that mourned a baby’s arrival, why did they have babies then? this didn’t make sense. Once in the bedroom, my parents got into a big fight. My dad wanted to know how come I was so different and didn’t look like any member of the family, not even my mother. I was so relieved that someone had noticed the mix up and I would soon be returned to my British family.

Unfortunately, my relief was expressed as a cry and my mother trying to calm me down, carried me. That’s when it happened… I saw my reflection in the mirror and I understood the sadness and mourning, I was BENJAMIN BURTON! The movie was just an exaggeration to make it seem original but it was really my story. YEH! (9ja) I cried out, as usual, pandemonium again but that was the least of my problems. My real family wouldn’t accept me like this, even if they did, Prince William wouldn’t marry me, what would become of me?. Well nothing became of me, I was just a plague quarantined except when I was to be fed. My only companion aside angels was my three year old brother who was just fascinated by the little creature everyone else claimed was from his mother’s tummy.

Saint Augustine - Gran ma's hero

On the eight day as was customary, I was to be named. My siblings had beautiful names like Michelle, Alexander, Anthony, Gloria, etc, at least these people had an amazing taste in names, I thought. After the prayers (which was more of an exorcism) and passing me around, I was finally handed over to my maternal grand mother who looked at me, smiled and said “AUGUSTINA (which is my name) after Saint Augustine!”. At this point, I’m too exhausted to throw a tantrum. My only consolation is that God always has a beautiful end to His pranks, I just pray I’m humoured else He has some explaining to do when I get back to heaven!, I say to myself. I hear Him laughing (He obviously heard me), when I look up, He’s there smiling at me. Who can say no to LOVE Himself?, I smile back , my first smile in eight days, probably my only till God knows when.