ARCHIVE – Page 27 – Promise Tewogbola

Words Onwards

Confusion, fear and all its adherent complications all start from that small seed that we all tend to forget exists – a word. Peace of mind, sense of joy, happiness and fulfilment also spring from the self-same, almost negligible source – a word. The baffling issue, however, is why do we see more of the former around us than the latter, if they both are from the same origin. The reason is not far-fetched: We fail to recognize the tremendous amount of power that is latently existent in a word.

You see, a word is capable of triggering an idea which in turn provides a reference point for our emotions and thoughts which would invariably govern our actions. The power of a word, whether spoken or written, is more or less like a dynamite – use it wisely and you might get some form of natural resources from a rock, or use it wrongly and you might just inflict injuries on yourself and others around you.

Now, if a word is as a see, there’s nothing more qualified to serve as the fertile ground than our minds. The mind is unique in that it processes information only in the form of pictures. This is why you would enjoy reading a novel more than watching the movie adaptation of the same movie. Furthermore, we know that when someone speaks to us, the words we hear are not seen or perceived as letters in our minds but as pictures too.

Pay attention now, I’m heading somewhere: If what we read and what we hear are seen by our minds’ eyes as pictures, then our thoughts and emotions are more or less the products of what we see or hear, and what we say or write is simply an expression of our thoughts and emotions which would invariably govern our actions.

So what am I saying? In order to possess that sense of peace, joy, happiness and fulfilment within and around you, you have to choose to make words work for you. For example, if you keep on reading positively edifying literature, over time, you’d see desirable changes in your thoughts, emotions and actions. Conversely, if you keep on giving your mind non-edifying material to consume, there’s no chance of you not having deteriorations in your thoughts, emotions and actions. The same applies to the spoken words. Definitely, you do not have a choice in determining what you hear but you can choose whatever you listem to. So selectively choose wisely. You could also speak out positivity continuously into your own hearing and with time, you would only be wishing that you had started the practice earlier.

Words are the sources of the ideas that could make you or mar you. Make words work for you as you push onwards in life.

Selah

Eleven days after and my roomie still not helping matters,
Like clockwork that ticks and talks,
He counted every minute, but never did quite reach the hour,
Was bored by my bed, yet the loquacious bore,
Unforgivingly into me he bore,
But by Divine Providence, I was soon to be freed,
Drunken with euphoria, that which only peace can bring,
I drifted, ever slowly, into the treasure island of thoughts

Why are swayed and tossed to and fro,
By all that we let life throw at us,
With ourselves we struggle by ourselves, Hoping
To outdo ourselves in catching up with ourselves,
In a vicious cycle, satisfaction evades all, so search for more,
It’s a frantic race, and we are lost within it,
Then, we find ourselves, worrying,
Fittingly that we have nothing to worry about.

But have we considered ‘SELAH’?
Taking a break….to stop, think and meditate,
Stepping out of the frenzied rat race,
Pausing everything and playing it all in slow motion,
Stopping and searching for the security
Of that hidden treasure – the rivers of peace
Breaking forth from within and sweeping you off your feet,
Ah! Serenity and Tranquility.

Selah

Number Of The Day: Eleven.

I can’t think of any quote on numbers to kickoff this article. So, I’d just say that, ‘Numbers are….well, just numbers!’. I know that there are a thousand and one books and materials on the subject of numerology and symbology. And there have also been a lot of interpretations and deductions that have been deduced from numbers. For example, some say that good things happen in threes, while others claim that bad things happen in threes; some see seven as the number of perfection while others are of the opinion that thirteen is the unlucky number. Every person’s entitled to his opinion and as a matter of fact, I believe that inasmuch as you are currently on MY blogsite reading THIS particular article, you are going to have to adopt MY rules on this platform. So, I say, the number of the day is ELEVEN!!

Good. Now that is settled, let’s deal with what number eleven stands for. Err…..I really don’t know. The thing’s just that, as at today, Eleven is the most important number on this blog right now. I know I’ve been ranting for the past couple of sentences, but please bear with me, it’s just the wave of excitement that is currently sweeping over me as I’m writing this down…..

Well, in case you didn’t know, you are currently reading my ELEVENTH post on this site. I don’t know about you, but for me, this is special. Very special.

You see, the fact that I’ve entered a double digit number of posts shows some form of consistency on my part (‘The Real McCoy’ was my tenth post and though ten is also a number with two digits, I would stick with eleven due to the recurrence of ‘1’). You might be thinking that, ‘Just eleven posts in two months? So?’, but let me help you put everything in perspective:

I happen to be in my final year at the first (and one of the best) University in Nigeria. I’m also working on my research project on a relatively untrodden path in Physiology. In addition to that, I’m the Editor-in-Chief of my Department’s Students’ Press Organization and we are working on getting our maiden magazine publication ready (check my article on ‘FACTOR VI’ for more details). Finally, to crown it all, I publish my posts from a small JAVA phone with the old-fashioned keypads. Yeah, I still use that kind of phone in this 21st century! For those who are so used to the QWERTY phone keypads, or even better, computer keyboards, let me try and remind you of how excruciating, agonizing and frustrating it could be to type long posts just to ensure that I can publish on a blog. It’s very much like trying to peel an orange with one hand!!!

But against the heavy odds that are against me, I’ve been able to come this far, despite the lack of free time to publish posts and maybe, at times, the unimprovised resources too. And that’s why this eleventh post is important and very special to me.

Many thanks to my numerous readers, for your encouraging comments and corrections, for your likes and follows. I really appreciate you all.
And finally, a million thanks to my God and my All, for being my stay and source of inspiration in those times when I was so overwhelmed that I thought I could not go any further.
ESE BABA.

The Real McCoy

Shhh!
I’ve got a little, teenie-weenie secret for you. I’m not flattering you, but I’m telling you the gospel truth.
So, here goes:
You are special and you are unique. You are the only one of your kind. You are the only one with your specific combination of genes. You are the only one with THAT combination of talents, experiences, abilities and personality. There has never been anyone just like you and there would never be anyone just like you. Oh yes, you share some similarities with certain individuals (past, present and future) but you are not quite exactly like them. As it were, you are THE REAL McCOY!!!

For those of you who are quite familiar with my write-ups, I’m sure that by now, you know that I’m a lover of history and I also love retelling stories. So, in this particular article too, I’d be keeping true to style (A leopard can’t wash off the spots on its skin, can it?).

I’m very positive that not many people, even die-hard boxing fans, have the faintest idea of who Norman Selby was. Well, he was an American professional boxer in the early 1900s and he went by the pseudonym KID McCOY. It happened that Kid McCoy had a very colourful and stellar career in the boxing ring; and his life outside the ring. Such was his interesting lifestyle that he became the inspiration for so many legends amongst the Americans. Kid McCoy, however, had a messed up life at the end and he ended up ending his life by suicide (pun intended).

One of the many legends about Kid McCoy went as follows:
It happened that while Kid McCoy was a lion in the rings, he was a man with a slight build. One fateful day, when he wasn’t having any fight, Kid McCoy decided to take a stroll to a nearby bar and get a few drinks. He had hardly settled down at the bar when a heavily drunk man staggered towards Kid McCoy and started disturbing him. But our hero, ever the gentleman, gently warned the inebriate man to take a walk. The drunk man refused to leave in peace but continued to piss Kid McCoy off. People nearby started warning the drunk man that the fellow that was being disturbed was the American Boxing Champion- Kid McCoy. At this, the drunkard laughed and scoffed and continued brewing a brouhaha at the bar. This went on for a long time until our ‘gentlemanly hero’ finally felt that he had been pushed to the wall. Kid McCoy got up quietly, walked up to the drunk man and taught the guy a few lessons in practical boxing (Actually, he gave the drunkard an upper cut to the jaw!). The man who had been drunk only a few seconds ago instantly sobered up and testified, ‘Wow! It’s actually THE REAL MCCOY!!!’.

Now, no one’s telling you to roll up your sleeves, flex your muscles and start punching people left, right and centre, just to prove a point. No, but it’s high time you started comporting yourself with the knowledge of who you are. I keep on repeating this, ‘The fact that you now in THAT uncomfortable position you currently find yourself does not mean that that’s all there is to write about you’. No, that’s not the entire picture. Your best is within you and it is yet to come forth. You are original, you are unique, you are one of your kind. Later on, you’d look back at all those low points of your life that eventually shaped and refined your person and just start to shed tears. Yes, tears of joy!!!

In conclusion, I could easily mumble something about a decoy and the real mcCoy, but instead, I’d leave you this quote by Hermann Hesse, ‘Every man is more than just himself; he also represents the unique, the very special and always significant and remarkable point at which the world’s phenomena intersect, only once in this way and never again’

As the clocks CHIME away (Part 2)

Continued from Part 1

Eventually, as the weeks wore on, the man became weaker and weaker and it became apparent that he was more or less like a human marrionette in the hands of those whom he surrounded himself with. The final straw that broke the camel’s back led to pericarditis for the then President. He went to Saudi Arabia for treatments and never came back alive.

I decided to check Governor Sullivan Chime’s story online (with my Java phone, of course) and I was shocked to see so many similarities between his history and that of Yar’adua. In the first place, even before Chime stepped into the Governor’s office, it was an OPEN SECRET that Mr Chime was an individual with poor health. In addition to that, rumours were rampant as to how he indulged himself in nefarious activities, such as heavy smoking and drinkin, as well as sleeping with different girls from the state’s universities. It was even reported that his doctors counselled him and advised him to reduce/totally stop his frivolous activities. He heard them but didn’t listen. Eventually, all these culminated into him falling very ill. He was taken to India for treatments (hopefully, JUST medical treatments) and no one has seen him since then. In the meantime, everything in Enugu State seems to be in place; the deputy Governor is acting as the Governor, Clara Chime is performing the duties of a first lady and no one is asking any questions. The clocks chime away, yet Governor Chime is no where to be found.

I’m not a political columnist but the little I know about politics in Nigeria never ceases to amaze me. It even obfuscates me most times. I always wonder why we aim to pattern our system of government after the Americans. We claim to be practising the American Presidential system and that’s where the similarities end. Have we taken time to see the tolerance level of the American system to corruption? Or even if the ‘normal’ is unattainable and otherworldly to us, how about the build-up to the elections? In America, people contesting for public offices take jogs in the full view of the media and the masses. They do this to show that they are physically and mentally fit to handle whatever the demands of the public offices throw at them. But back here in Naija, the only requirements are having a big round pot-belly, a solid capital base (no one cares whether the money is legitimate or not) and making sure that the godfathers have been appeased. Nobody cares about the man himself, nobody cares about his health status, nobody cares about the nitty-gritties of his personal life.

In my humble opinion, as long as this negligence of significant (usually not prominent!) issues in the health and lifestyles of runners for public offices in Nigeria continues, we would keep on having the deja vu feelings related to the Yar’adua’s (then) and Chime’s (now) administrations.

I wish the Governor of Enugu State a speedy recovery and a speedy return to the helm of affairs at his state. However, the clocks are chiming away on the hour, every hour, it’s high time we learn from the past to create a better future for ourselves and posterity.

CONCLUDED

As the clocks CHIME away (Part 1).

Due to the fact that I picture myself as much more than a Nigerian (I like seeing myself as a global citizen that should be able to fit into any country, culture or continent), I try to be sensitive to the similarities that exist between my native culture and foreign cultures far and wide. I haven’t mastered all the similarities yet and there’s a lot of room for improvement but I’m no novice either.

Right from my elementary school days, I’ve always known that culture is the total way of life of a group of people. Furthermore, I know that the major distinction that stands to differentiate cultures from each other is the element of language. Now, when there are similarities between the sounds, spellings and even words in 2 different languages, you cannot help but start to wonder how this came to be.
For example, I was reading the Bible the other day and I saw the words, ‘TOLA’ and ‘DODO’, which in Yoruba language means, ‘with or for riches, wealth or affluence’ for ‘TOLA’, while ‘DODO’ is a local delicacy made by frying plantain.
Another example is the case of the hourly sounds that are made by the old standing grandfather clocks. These clocks CHIME every hour. The word ‘CHIME’ is also an Igbo name, although in this case, it is pronounced ‘CHEE-MAY’

How about ‘CHIME’?
The clocks chime on the hour, every hour but yet there’s no sign of the erstwhile Governor of Enugu State, Nigeria- Mr Sullivan Chime. This is a sad, unnecessary and totally unfair scenario that is played again in the minds of every Nigerian. I really cannot lay my fingers on the circumstances that led to this highly discomfitting state where the populace of Enugu State are being kept in the dark, regarding the whereabouts of the Numero Uno of their state.

Not many Nigerians would forget in a hurry the late ex-President of Nigeria, Umaru Musa Yar’adua, who despite being a man with a fragile health condition, underwent the rigours of a vigourous political campaign from ‘Dan to Beersheba’ of the nation. I can vividly remember when midway through the nationwide campaign, there were rumours of Yar’adua’s death, long before a single vote was cast. Alas, we had forgotten about the element of truth in every rumour. Perhaps, the rumour mongers had seen the poor weak man collapsing out of sheer exhaustion from the campaign, but such news was carefully and efficiently kept away from the media.
Even at that time, the then president of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, dismissed rumours of Yar’adua’s death in the most comical manners by calling him (Yar’adua) on phone during one of the open-air campaigns that Yar’adua had missed and using speakers to project to the congregated masses what was being said. Laughs were shared and the issue about Yar’adua’s health were swept under the carpet.

Yar’adua eventually won the election, but day by day, he showed signs of being crushed by the daily pressures of leading Africa’s most populous nation. Yet, the psychophants and ‘yes-men’ that he surrounded himself with (NO DISRESPECT TO THE DEAD) could not give him quality advice since he had to be the president for them to survive. This was getting to be more than a symbiotic relationship, or even commensalism. This was parasitism……………..

TO BE CONTINUED

SOS, Songs of Solomon in the Bible?!!

Let’s picture this scenario in our minds’ eye: You pick up your Bible, flip through the pages and then your eyes happen to fall on the this short book of the Old testament. You start reading the 1st Chapter and before you finish the second verse, you see it. You shout ‘Yikes!’ in your mind and you might start wondering out aloud what a book like this is doing in the Word of God. You decide to give yourself a benefit of a doubt and continue the Bible passage. At the end of the entire book, you are awestruck, dumbfounded and spellbound…. And you ask yourself: ‘WHAT IS SONGS OF SOLOMON DOING IN THE BIBLE?’

I’m not a pastor, neither am I so much of a Bible scholar, but I have come across articles that have tried to explain why Songs of Solomon is found in the Bible. Of all the reasons I saw, the ones I felt were most plausible were:
1. God is interested in all facets of our human existence, even up to the love lives of married Christian couples.
2. It is a shadow of the type of love that Christ has for His Church.

However, in my relatively short Christian life, I’ve come to understand that when one’s dealing with God, or His Word (the Bible), one must avoid stereotypes. When dealing with God, or His Word, you have to be ready to drop any religious prejudices, sentiments and personal beliefs and just depend on the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Now, the vivid picture I painted in the 1st paragraph was quite similar to my exact feelings when I first came across Songs of Solomon (funny, eh?). I was amused, bemused, ‘ceemused and demused’. But when I dropped my own human thoughts and decided to depend on the Holy Spirit for interpretation, I found ‘platinum’ NUGGETS that were even totally unrelated to love or something of such. The interpretation was so applicable to present day situation. Now, that’s sublime! What’s more, I’m going to share what I saw with you. Huzzah, right?

Well, if you were patient enough the first time you read Songs of Solomon, and you were able to get to the 4th Chapter and the 12th, 15th and 16th verses, you’d come across something poetic as follows:
‘A garden is inclosed in my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed…..
A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon.
Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out…..’

The 1st portion of the passage above shows a case of untapped potentials, a case of what COULD have been but is NOT, a case of unseen glory in an individual. Notice the phrases, ‘a garden inclosed’, ‘a spring shut up’, ‘a fountain sealed’. Can’t you see the sadness and pity oozing out of those words? ‘A garden inclosed’ could imply that the potential available in an individual that the individual has failed to tap into as a result of ignorance. Every person has a hidden treasure embedded within him or her. It would be the highest form of selfishness to deprive humanity of that treasure in you, just because of ignorance! Well, as the Greeks would say, ‘Gnosthiseauthon!’ which means, ‘Search yourself!’. The other phrases in the first portion of the passage, ‘a spring shut up’ and ‘a fountain sealed’ typifies the case of individuals who were initially on the road to maximizing potential but as a result of one mistake or the other (usually sin or delving out of one’s purpose) they become stagnated and are unable to maximize their full potential. All isn’t lost, however.

Now take a look at the life and excitement found in these phrases fron the 2nd portion of the passage: ‘a fountain of gardens’, ‘a well of living waters’, ‘streams from Lebanon’. See the joy and almost touchable happiness that is leaping from each word of these phrases. This is a vivid picture of fulfiled purpose and maximized potential. Also note the God’s ultimate plan for you: OVERFLOW TO IMPART OTHERS. Would a fountain of gardens be meant for just one person to eat all on his own? Or would a well of living waters be used by just one person? No! No!! No!!! Your maximization of potential is meant to lead to an overflow in your life that would impart sporadic impacts in the lives of all you come in contact with. This is the joy of it all- Nurturing others to tread the paths you tread to attain potential.

Finally, in the last portion of the passage, there’s a kind of climax to all the build up of the previous portions of the passage. ‘Awake O North wind……blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out’. This is the work of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes, just knowing what to do isn’t enough. Knowing that you have to give yourself to others without having any fears of losing in the ‘competition’ can only come via the extra nudge from the Holy Spirit. Once that extra force is there, there is the facilitation of events that would leave one with no choice but to joyfully impart lives.

So, do you still have any reservations about Songs of Solomon (SOS)? I didn’t think so too…..

Three Words

‘I love you?’
Yeah, even more,
God loves you
‘Cause He’s love!

This whole business
Of three words
Still bores down
All to perspective
What you see’s
What you are
Nothing more explicit
C’mon let’s go!

Grace’s three dimensions
Father, Son, Spirit
Power above powers
Spirit, Soul, Body
Inspiration, then Execution
Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding

Mysteries of Godliness
Breaking of Bread
Drinking of wine
Piercing the Body
Spilling the Blood
Power of Tongues
The tongue’s choices
Life and Death
Curses and Blessings

Wonders without numbers
Ask, Seek, Knock
Ask, Believe, Receive
Answers by Fire
Beauty for Ashes
Way, Truth, Life
Accept, Believe, Confess

King of Kings
Lord of Lords
Prince of Peace
Word of God
Mercy and Truth
Righteousness and Peace
Beginning and End
Alpha and Omega
First and Last
Power and Glory
Light over darkness

Word of God
Thirty, Sixties, Hundreds
Bread of Heaven
Lips of Grace
Anoited by God
The Double-edged Sword
From the Spirit
Divides the soul

‘Come up, hither!’
Body of Christ
The Perfect Bride
Yea…..and AMEN!!!

Waiting for the good weather.

A couple of hours ago, I was lying down on my bed in my room at the topmost floor of Block D, Sultan Bello hall in the University of Ibadan. The weather was cold and chilly and I was trying to get some sleep but couldn’t, so my mind drifted back, floating in the recesses of my memory to a time when I was a young lad. I was wearing the blue and white stripes of my primary school uniform. I looked ahead and i saw a fair-skinned young man who happened to be the school’s newly recruited music teacher. He was teaching us something about the aesthetic values of music before he stopped abruptly and told us that he wanted to teach us a song. Up till this present moment, I still cannot fathom the circumstances that made him teach us this song. But what I do know is that, over a decade on, that song still plays itself over and over in my subconscious and has an impact on me one way or the other. The song went thus:
‘Whatever you can do today,
Don’t leave it for tomorrow,
Whatever you can do today,
Don’t leave it for tomorrow.
For tomorrow has it’s own problems,
And they would surely come.
Whatever you can do today,
Don’t leave it for tomorrow’

The reason why my primary school music teacher might have sang the aforementioned song might have been in order to curb laziness and procrastination in his young proteges. To think in this direction is very much proper and even plausible. But in my little experience in life, I’ve come to understand that the factors that militate against doing what is expected of you, when it’s expected of you is much more grave than Procrastination and Laziness. Oh yes, these two play their parts in not getting things done….and yes, they are the most important reasons why we don’t get things done. But how could we ever forget about the syndrome called, ‘WAITING FOR THE GOOD WEATHER’!

We are all guilty of ‘waiting for the good weather’. For some, this syndrome is mild, while for others it’s moderate while for some others still, it’s so severe and deeply ingrained into such individuals that they don’t even know that they are sufferers of the syndrome. ‘Waiting for the good weather’ is characterized by the desire and willingness to have all variables swinging in one’s favour before one decides to make any move in getting things done. The truth remains that no matter how much we want an ideal world similar to our worldview of how things should be, there is nothing that’s going to change the way things are-the real world-except we make moves NOW to create our ideal world. Many of us know what we do, in actions and thoughts, that typifies the syndrome of ‘waiting for the good weather’, so I’m not going to spend any more time on that. However, I have some recommendations that could be helpful for us in our bid to break away from the syndrome of ‘waiting for the good weather’. My recommendations are:

1. Don’t be afraid of trying new things. This might be difficult when all the resources you need are not in place. But you just have to start the new thing first. Remember, ‘To begin a task is to have half completed it’
2. Challenge yourself. You want success, don’t you? If yes, the fact that you want success in a task should provide enough drive for you to prevent you from ‘waiting for the good weather’. If conditions are not favourable, make them to be.
3. Reach out to others. Don’t sit still within your area of comfort and wait for others to meet you, as if they are owing you or something. Step out of your comfort zone and you’d be surprised at what you’d find.
4. Before you get into something, make sure it’s God’s will for you. Even if you wait for the ‘good weather’ and God’s hand isn’t in what you want to do, you are asking for frustrations and disappointments.
5. Expect criticisms and move on. Someone quipped that, ‘the only way to avoid criticisms is to say nothing, be nothing and do nothing’. Unless you have plans to remain a nonetity in life, I don’t think you will still want to wait for the ‘good weather’ just to avoid criticisms. Hear all criticisms, learn from the constructive ones and discard others.
6. Accept mistakes as the price of progress. Because you want to avoid mistakes is no reason to wait for the ‘good weather’ before performing tasks. A benefit of making mistakes is that you learn an additional way NOT to perform a task. A mistake every now and then won’t kill you. Learn from them and move forward.

Don’t ‘wait for the good weather’, but in your thoughts and actions, make the ‘weather’ how you want it to be!
YOU ARE A WINNER!!!