Eyes Wide Open!

At the beginning of the month I got an invitation to cover the Elysee Summit on Peace and Security in Africa which held in the romance capital, Paris. Exciting right? However, I was not so excited about it. As is the norm at such events, you don’t really cover much, only what you are “fed”. Most of the meetings of course are closed door so the thought of flying thousands of miles to a temperature exactly opposite mine for a week just to take pictures of Presidents arriving the Elysee Palace did not quite appeal to me. Did I also mention hanging around for hours in nice press rooms, waiting for these meetings to end? However, my friend Doki would hear none of it. Doki is a medical doctor fascinated with politics. He unashamedly says he did not become a medical doctor to save lives but longs to save lives in politics by stopping wars! I will let you all know when Doki decides to run for President, I go be Chief of Staff be that *big grin*.

See Paris and die, they say. Na lie! See Paris and wake up! Be inspired to create!

Anyway, Doki would not hear any of my reasons. “Anwuli, what are you talking about? This is Paris! The city of romance! You are the only one I know who would be asked to come to Paris for free and would be concerned about being in the meeting rooms with the Presidents!”. Eventually Doki “convinced” me (Did I mention Doki specializes in messing with people’s minds, Psychiatry?), truth is Doki was attending and did not want to go alone. So few days later, I was seated in Economy class and no Doki was not sitting beside me, he was sipping champagne in Business class! See friendship o, at least you won’t be surprised that Doki lodged with all the dignitaries at Paris Le Grand (Lekki, Ikoyi equivalent) and I was at Cambronne (Agege, Abule egba environs), anyway God dey.

After the summit, I planned to go shopping at an affordable commercial centre in my district – Rue de Commerce, but first Doki and I decided to take a tour bus round Paris. The tour bus took us through popular landmarks in Paris, Paris le Grand, but did not even smell my area! Doki and I joked that Cambronne was not Paris; so the next time someone says “I vacationed in Paris”, be sure to ask them where, lol! Paris Le Grand (Doki’s area) is indeed a beautiful city! I can’t explain it but it is just gorgeous, I mean they even wash the streets! Most of the restaurants there are pretty high end and sell mostly beautifully designed and decorated finger food; and the presentation is just out of this world! I mean you see it and are more than happy to spend your euro, lol, unlike my hood where you can get two bowls of pasta bolognese and orange juice all for 20 euros and you would still raise an eyebrow. Anytime I insisted we ate in Cambronne (which Doki resisted alot), Doki would tease me saying “Lagos girl, wey come Paris dey find rice and stew”, lol, like I care!

Not this year Doki, can’t rule out next year though! *big grin*

Tour over, it was now time for some shopping, yay! Doki suggested we shop in his area but who born me? I had a budget and a list and there was no way I was spending all my money on one item in a Louis Vuitton shop for example. We decided to go to Rue de Commerce as originally planned and the most amazing thing happened. After spending time in Paris Le Grand, I couldn’t recognize Rue de Commerce! The same place I had been to twice to window shop now looked so ordinary, ugly, the whole street changed in an instant! I walked back and forth looking for the nice, classy shops I had seen a day before and they had disappeared or rather, I saw them differently. It was like scales had fallen off my eyes,I just couldn’t believe it. In the end, I did my shopping but with less excitement and enthusiasm as I had before the tour. Later that evening, Doki and I went window shopping in his area and guess what? The prices were the same as my area, only slightly higher in some instances and there were more options obviously!

You know, that’s exactly what wisdom, insight, revelation does – it opens your eyes to really see and when you do, life is so much easier. When Thomas Gray coined the phrase ‘Ignorance is bliss’, perhaps he was truly ignorant at the time. Ignorance is anything but blissful, the bible says my people perish for lack of knowledge and guess what, ignorance is not an excuse for living a life lesser than what God wants for you. Ignorance is darkness, wisdom is light! Your prosperity can be progressive, your walk with God can be on auto cruise, your life can genuinely move forward on every level if you will only seek the wisdom of God and who better to reveal God’s wisdom than His word and Spirit!

In 2014, let your steps be deliberate; be guided by the wisdom of God; fall in love with the Holy Spirit all over again. Speak less and listen to God more. Be spiritual, God is a spirit and those that worship him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth. Being Spiritual means listening to God and obeying what He says to you. Be honest, just do whatever He tells you. Go to that driving school, learn the excel, pray when you get that nudge, register that company, build that ark even when there’s no rain, wait even though you are itching to make that call, just do whatever He says. You may feel your dreams slipping through your fingers or perhaps you can’t even remember them anymore but can you trust God this new year, doing things His way this time? And if every of your dream is now a reality, God is still not done with you; stay connected and let the creator give you a 1st Cor2:9-10 experience!

Your life can be this colourful!

Compliments of the season, may the new year be a promise fulfilled. Have a grand year!

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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!