8 Things I'm Grateful For

Source: http://goo.gl/bBxywq

So I'm grateful for a billion and three things. Most of which, I typically overlook. So, at this end of this topsy-turvy year, i'm listing, as much as I can, the 8 top things I am grateful for.

1. I'm grateful for God's love. It's immense and unfathomable. This isn't spiritual. It's factual. I believe out of all of God's creations, He loves me the most. I'm deeply grateful for that.

2. I'm grateful for my family. I believe every family is unique, like a thumbprint. Mine is as unique as can be. I'm grateful for my parents, as their idiosyncrasies go a long way in making me me. I'm grateful for my twin who is getting married soon. I'm grateful for the success of the preparations, and for his beautiful bride, Folusayo. I'm grateful for my other siblings, and for learning each day how to be a big brother and a role model. I'm grateful for Uncle Remi, who I learn from on a daily basis, for Aunty Jite, who I love very dearly, and who probably wouldn't believe it (lol), for Uncle Tope, who always removes the haughty clouds from my head and verbally reminds of the family I come from, and for Aunty Foluke, who always gives me work that I never get to doing :( (Lol! e jòó, e má bínú)

I'm grateful for my grandma. For my first decade+ on earth, she was unarguable my bestest friend. (Yeye, I'm prepping a separate and special piece for you)

3. I'm grateful for my boo. My friend and arm candy, she brings colour, fun and beauty to my life.

4. I'm grateful for my friends and colleagues. I have the coolest friends in the world. Starting with my two best friends, Belema (who is voting for GEJ in Feb 2015. We're so different, it's amazing how we get along so well. Me thinks it tells of my high degree of love and patience. hehe) and Kelechi (whose love for me is perhaps, next to God's. Lol! I'm grateful for that love. And I pray someday, I'll match and beat it :D). I'm grateful for my other friends too. They are too numerous to count. My colleagues from UNILAG and LBS...those from work, my crazy IT team in the office, my church goons I grew up with... I couldn't ask for better friends. Believe me. I'm grateful for where God has taken us, and the infinitesimal nature of where we are now, compared to where we will be. I'm grateful for those of you who read my blog too, from all over the world. Yes, I also call ye friends. (lol) I'm grateful for allowing me take a piece of your time with my thoughts. I'm also grateful for the feedback that makes this blog and my writing better.

5. I'm grateful for my mentors. For Becky, for George, for Attila, for Dr. Bakare, for Femi Ekujumi, for Dr. Ebun Fasina, for Dr. Adeleye, for Uncle Remi, those who I have had touchpoints with this year (thank you!), and those who I'm yet to have (forgive me!). You guys make me a better me. I'm grateful for that. I'm also grateful for Mummy T and Mrs. Agunbiade. For no special reason. I'm just grateful. Still.

Also to Sam Adeyemi and Tony Robbins, my mentors who don't know I exist...yet (lol), but whose words and teachings inspire me in no small measure...I'm grateful.

6. I'm grateful for knowledge. I learn new things almost on a daily basis! From my family, to my workplace, to church, to the books I read, to the videos I watch, to what my mentors say, the knowledge is just...well, plenty!

7. I'm grateful for action. On my side, there has been very little of this, this year. I'm grateful for the wisdom to see this, the humility to accept this, and the will to make a change in 2015.

8. Lastly, I'm grateful for 2014. Wasn't the best year. If I were to do it again, I'll do a lot of things different. But still, I'm grateful. This reminds me of 2007, the year I dubbed 'My Worst Year Ever'. Lool! (Long story, to be told some other time) 2007 ended poorly to be honest, but 2008 overcompensated for it. So, inspite of 2014, I'm still grateful. Cos I have learnt. And I'm looking forward, with keenness, to applying those learnings and making 2015 the best year I have ever had.

Oluwaseun.

The Bible is Incomplete (Bible Musings Part I)

Source: http://bit.ly/1lPie1g

Wait. Before you bring out your match boxes and gallons of petrol, just hear me out. Try to listen to what I have to say, reason with me, and have an open mind. After which, you can go ahead and burn me, if you please.

But before I begin, let me lay down two important premises.
Premise 1: I am a Christian. I love and believe in God; and I also believe in the authenticity of the Bible as God's Word.
Premise 2: I do not claim to know all the answers. I probably even have more questions than answers; and I'm with this piece, trying to put some structure to my jumbled thoughts. So, biko, follow through with me. And if by any chance you get more confused after reading..well, welcome to the club :D

Now, the title is not just a marketing ploy. I mean every word. Think about it for a second...is the Bible really complete? Now, I'm not about to argue some faith-based circular reasoning that says 'The Bible is complete because the Bible says so' (pls refer to premise 1). Logic 101 tells me there's something inherently wrong with that line of reasoning. I strongly believe God gave us our minds to think and reason things out for ourselves, especially for things that are right out there in the open. And I consider this topic to be one of those things we should think about.

First, who wrote the Bible? Men did. Yes, you heard me. Men wrote the Bible. Largely inspired by God, yes, but penned down by the hands of men. From the historical early books, to the prophetical, the biographical, the letters, and to the revelational, men were those God used to write words that we call the Bible today. This fact is important.

Second, I don't think God sat down one day to say: Hmm..I think I need to author a book, and I'll solidly call it 'The Bible!' (ghen gheunn!!). I sincerely doubt that. In the days of Jesus, what we call the Old Testament were different and distinct books often referred to as 'Scriptures', which loosely means 'Writings'. Just imagine a white-bearded, Gandalf-looking, old man with a crooked walking stick called Isaiah (the old man is called Isaiah, not his walking stick - in case you read that wrong :p), writing down in Hebrew some prophesies that God revealed to him, and finally wrapping up these writings in a scroll for safe keeping. Now, also imagine a young lad in the bush tending to sheep and once in a while writing down poetry on a papyrus sheet and squeezing it into his tunic the moment he sees a hungry bear yawning and prancing towards his sheep to feed (Lool! Too dramaic?) Now imagine a very wise and wealthy king consumed out of deep love (and lust?) for some voluptuous babe(s?) and pens down how much he loves her body and wants to get into bed with her, coupled with his fantasies of her wanting him too (This particular book started with King Solomon Randy asking for a frenchkiss! Naughty, naughty King Solomon. Lool! Go read it from The Message Bible, if you don't believe me). Now fastforward a couple of centuries and imagine a filty, beaten prisoner with shackles on his hands and feet, dictating a letter to a friendly slave, who scribbles what the prisoner says and sends out the letter to his former master named Philemon.

These scenarios are exactly how the Bible was written. Men were the ones, in much later years, who decided to compile these different writings into one volume called 'The Bible'. I won't bother you with the history and controversy behind this compilation...Google (much unlike the Nigeria Police) is your friend here.

Third, and here is the clincher: The Bible is over 2,000 years old, with the earliest books written as far back as 3,500 years ago! Did God stop speaking somewhere along the line? Or do we have everything we would possibly need scribbled in 66+ holy books? Some would argue 'Yes we do!' I won't argue. I'll tell you what I think.

I think there is more to the Bible than the compilation of ancient writings.

So, the question is, if the Bible is incomplete, as I'm postulating, what then completes the Bible?

Two things:

1. If (notice how there has been too many 'ifs' in this piece?) God speaking to his prophets in ancient times and other interesting activities people decided to pen down, make up what we call the Bible, then it takes no rocket scientist to see the missing link in today's world. Books! There are a million and three solid, God-inspired books out there that are valid extensions of the Bible. God still speaks to his prophets, pastors, etc, who in turn write down what God has said. And I'm not talking just about spiritual or 'prophetic' books. I also mean the everyday inspiring books written by everyday people that inspire and motivate us to be better. Considering the fact that people like David, Solomon, Ruth, Job and the likes weren't prophets but wrote 'Scriptures' or had 'Scriptures' written about them, it goes to show that God can inspire everyday people too to write Bible extensions. Everyday people like you and me! Lool! (Of which, if you haven't read my God-inspired book, read it here. hehe...). And also, it means that everyday people can have books written about them inspire others. Now this is food for thought: Will your (auto)biography inspire people?
2. Now the major difference between those old buggers two thousand years ago and now is this: God speaks to us directly! And this is a huge shift. You see, in those days, people like King David, etc used to rely on Prophets (and their writings) to hear from God or to understand the best course of action in any situation. but with the advent of the Holy Spirit, we have direct access to God and his Word. This implies that I can simply ask God for stuff (direction/help/understanding, etc) and trust that He'll answer. I'm not reducing the relevance of the Bible. I'm simply saying there's a difference between 'what God said', and 'what God is saying'. I call it situational relevance! And this, in my opinion, is final piece that completes the Bible. Think about it. 

Do you agree?

Update:
This piece came about from a conversation I had with Ada, and a question she asked. She has also asked that I give credit where credit is due. So, babe, here you go!

...andddd I'm back!!!

Source: www.paulmcveigh.co.uk

It's been two years. Two years since I wrote here. I feel a bit sad and all, but i'll spare you guys the emotional crinkum-crankum. I got motivated by one of the directors in my office, who is a wife and a mother. I recently stumbled upon her blog and was just blown away! Someone, who is easily multiple times busier than I am, still finds time to blog. She writes so well, and consistently so. And she even sings in church sef. Shame on you Jide. Shame!!! With all my excuse of being too busy to do the little things that also matter, here is someone who seemingly does it so effortlessly.

Truth is, my life did really get busier. Work went up a couple of notches, girlfriend (yes, I've got one of those now) also requires 'quality time' as a sign of love (such a herculean task for a loner like me), my dad had a serious 'talk' with me about my being out of touch (at least he stayed away from the subject of marriage in THAT conversation! Or wait...did he??). I'm not even good with birthdays of friends anymore...sending half-hearted sms'es/bbms to celebrants or skipping the birthday altogether (I was once a birthday rockstar! I literally call ALL my friends on their birthdays. it's a very smart and cheap way of speaking to every single friend once a year :D - now it seems I don't even care :( ). Too many balls are getting dropped and frankly it's unnerving. And then there's CandyCrush! That tiny sugary parasite eats whatever tiny droplets of time I have left.

So that's how I got talking with my friend Simone (let's call her Simone). In this talk, she went on and on about how I was so energetic and disciplined and how she wanted to be like me, etc, etc. For a moment, I thought she was texting the wrong person (lol!) But I have been friends with Simone for close to a decade, so it seems she knew what she was saying, no? Still, I was taken aback by her statements - here I was, complaining about my indiscipline, and on the side of town, someone wants to be like me. Hmm. I then looked at my life critically and realized that I am disciplined. At least to some good degree. While in school, i put a lot of discipline to my books, and my relationships. Now, the same level of discipline helps with my work, and a few relationships. But I'm thinking there should be a greater level of discipline I can aspire to. There's some level of personal and professional effectiveness that ensure that I juggle every aspect of my life efficiently and with grace, without dropping any ball. That, in my opinion, is what I need right now to perform at my peak (My office people would find that last phrase interesting).

So I have started a journey with Simone. A journey to a higher level of discipline and the ensuing effectiveness. We started by understanding ourselves (strengths, weakness and all that shit - of which, we discovered during one of our exercises that one of my inherent weaknesses was indiscipline! Lool! I looked at Simone and said 'Ha! You see!!!'). Anyways, now we understand how to leverage our strengths and improve on our weaknesses. We're at the point where we make plans for the next 1, 3, 5, 10, 15 and 20 years! We define the most important part of our lives and think up what and how we want it to be in the future. Its a bit scary, but we're closing our eyes and doing it anyway (blind faith?). I'm guessing that's where discipline stems from - the temerity to pen down our goals and the tenacity to stick with them no matter what. I have always been good at that first part, I need God's help on the second one.

Writing this piece made me happy. Perhaps that's what discipline does to you at the end of the day - You feel fulfilled that you made a promise to yourself, and you kept it. And in turn, it gives you the right impetus to make and keep another promise to yourself, and another, and another. Talk about a virtuous cycle!

So here's to a long life of made and kept promises.

Source: http://renkocafe.nl/oefen-2/discipline.html