A plea to God for Nigeria

I am sitting at my desk and wondering what 2010 holds for me as an individual, for my family and for the country as a whole. A friend has suggested we seek God's face, really commit the year into His care. I am doing just that but then again I read the papers, hear the comments all around me and experience a profound sadness for the state of the land I belong to. What I feel is far from pride, far from hope, far from peace. what I feel is closer to bleakness, despair and chaos. My heart is being rampaged by a myriad of emotions.

God, Oh God! Can Nigeria be saved? Or as BBC puts it, are we a failed state without hopes of redemption? The streets of our towns are a witness to the state of our nation...dirty, ravaged and all attempts at restructuring appearing like a piece of plaster over a festering sore.

I weep for the land, for the people, a people trugding along like the living dead, a people hit by the wave of corruption, militancy, death and now stigmatized by terrorism.. 2010 is starting out with a bleak outlook, Lord turn our story around, bring us up from the status of scum of Africa..Help us and the future of our unborn generations.

My heart-cry today is that the God of heaven will look down on us with pity and save us from ourselves, our corruption, our self serving attitude, and especially our complacency. God please save Nigeria the country of my birth, the country I call home. Save Nigeria please..

December 1st..yeah!!!

It's the first day of the last month in the year 2009, yippee!!!!..and then ooohhh..It's that time of the year when I have mixed feelings, first of joy for making it this far, then a bit of sadness for all my unaccomplished goals, then finally anxiety, wondering If I can still accomplish any before the year runs out.

What the heck!! this year I will just skip the last two emotions and bask in the first, imagine if that runaway trailer had crushed me?, or robbers had sacked my streets?, or that sickness had killed me?..wait a minute what If I had lost my mother to that stroke? or my sister in the miltant attack?..Abeg o, I have no choice but to be joyfuland bless the God of heaven for deeming it fit to bestow His grace and mercy upon me.

I truly have a lot to be thankful for....
I am thankful for life
I am thankful for health
I am thankful for my family
I am thankful for a great job, and great employers
I am thankful for great friends
and most especially I am thankful for a God that loves me inspite of myself..

When all around you is silent....

Have you ever been surrounded by a lot of people and still felt alone?
Have you ever watched your phone all day and yet the only noise it made was from a reminder you set?
Have you ever logged on to your messenger and though there were several little yellow smileys ,none of them was interested in having a conversation with you? (I know you are thinking, why don't you buzz one of them)
Have you ever felt like church was a routine?
Have you ever felt like your life was a routine?
If you answered yes to any of the questions above, then you will understand what it means for all around you to be silent.When it seems nobody really cares, when it seems like even God has left you to your own devices, when it seems you are all alone in the world. But I learnt one thing recently, that when all around me is silent, that is when I should listen more, because something is brewing , because in a short while something will explode, something that cannot be contained, something that God was working out in the silence..

The talk..

I had the talk twice in one week! Wondering what talk I am refering to? It's the talk you have with the one that never worked out, the one you thought was the "one". The special one that you always wanted to be around, that you could tell anything to,that you thought the world of, but suddenly they said "sorry I don't think we will work out". And that was it, their explanation sounded lame and all you could think was, "maybe, just maybe I wasn't good enough". Then you struggled through the emotions, of hope, then hopelessness , then hate, then self pity, and finally you tried to let go while still wondering what actually went wrong.

Time passes, seasons ccome and go, people come and go, then you are fine again, more beautiful, stronger and with the knowledge that you were not the problem in the first place. Then one day you come across these people and you are bold enough to ask why? That's when the talk happens. Maybe the passage of time makes you more objective and the pain less, but you somehow understand now. The talk is helpful, but you are secretly thrilled by the fact that you can detect a note of longing in their voice , howbeit small. You had the talk, and you know that somewhere in their mind they are still wondering, how their life will have been If you were an active part of it. You walk away from that talk with a smile on your face and springs in your step, secure in the knowledge that, that chapter of your life is finally over.

Back to life, back to reality...

That song makes more sense to me now than ever before, life is actually our reality..(okay forgive my philosophising) I just returned from my vacation, and the last few days of it were quite anxious for me, as I pondered the reason why, I realised that somehow, I had managed to create a parallel reality with my vacation time, one in which I didn't care about work,who was angry at me and who wasn't, who loved me and who didn't, what clothes to wear, how to walk, talk, eat, sleep. A reality in which every time was me time!

"Selfish"! I hear you say, maybe, just maybe you are right. I must admit though it felt really good, I had some spiritual awakening, a truck load of sound advise, some unhealthy indulgences (I truly regret them, but they are behind me now)and most of all, a lot of me time. Come to think of it,is it really selfish to indulge in me? Is it selfish to go by yourself, into yourself to know yourself (hope you aint lost yet?). Is it selfish to take out time, not to care about the news headlines, the excitement of work, the intrigue of family and the hassles of life?

If your answer to my questions is yes, then I am guilty as charged. Anyway your distinguished highness, temper justice with mercy because I am back to life now, and back to reality. The story of my life continues from here, and like I love to think, it is a beautiful life.

Who needs friends anyway..

Some days I wake up thinking, "Who needs friends anyway". How wrong I was on those days, everyone sure needs friends. I am on vacation, yippee!!! I had looked forward to it from the beginning of the year and I decided to use the opportunity to visit with a friend I hadn't seen in over a year. She was a pleasant surprise, first she hasn't really changed from the fly , fun loving person I knew, this was made evident when I heard my name mentioned over the P.A system in a crowded airport..lol ( I felt like the heroine in a movie..lol).Anyway the next pleasant surprise came when we got gisting, she had really matured spiritually, physically and emotionally (this is not a cliche, it is for real). She told me all the things I really needed to hear, it was like scales falling off my eyes..need I say more..I love her!!.

Now I open up my mail box, and got a prompt from facebook, informing me that another friend had tagged me in his note, he hadn't written a note in a while, but he now goes and write one titled "What have I done....differently"..highly thought provoking, it should have come with a warning sign..."If you don't want to think, don't read". Since it didn't come with one, yours truly read it, and now I can't stop thinking, he asked a question that is begging for an answer, and my mind doesn't want to ease off until it is answered, help! my mind has gone all scholarly on me! Before I lose you completely, the question was.. where were you in October 2008?, and what have you added to yourself in the one year since then? Are you just busy hanging on to what you had then? Or have you done things differently to achieve some results?

Both my friends have provoked me to be a better person, to let go of things I can't control (leave them at God's doorstep)focus instead on the things I can, and improve at them. So now, when my scholarly mind asks the question " who needs friends anyway, I quietly answer, I do.

Wishes..

If wishes were horses, they say men will ride. It's the end of another month, a feat that moves us closer to the end of the year, believe it or not, I have a load of things I wish for..

I wish I could be proud of Nigeria the way an American is of America..
I wish we are a disciplined people, with visionary leaders and beautiful cities..
I wish every Nigerian child had an opportunity to really live
I wish the educational sector in Nigeria will be comparable to that in the UK.. ( hmmm...)

Enough about Nigeria...now about me..

I wish I was married already with three kids.(lol working on that)
I wish I didn't have to work so hard to make money..(maybe I should just marry a sultan and be his 20th wife..lol)
I wish I could just blink and find myself in another country instead of spending long hours in a plane..phew!!(renta-ghost)
I wish I could wave a wand like Harry potter and solve all our problems in Nigeria.. (back to Nigeria again, you can see how much I love this country).
I wish I could eat anything I wanted without adding an ounce of fat..( I particularly love this wish).
I wish everyone loved and obeyed one God.. (then there will be no need for the UN, or wars, or hatred..hmmmm..)

I wish , I wish, I wish... If wishes were horses, men will truly ride.