WHAT JUST HAPPENED?????

I have seen a lot of ladies of (or sometimes past) ‘marriageable’ age still very single. Often times these ladies are the good ones, the ones we all expect to settle down long before the bad gals begin to join the fray. But unfortunately- or fortunately- they are still unmarried while their mates keep sending down the IVs for their weddings every other Saturday. These seemingly not-very-fortunate ladies are pretty, well behaved, domesticated and even have respectable jobs. They are the ever smiling and kind tailors, hairdressers, doctors, secretaries, nurses, tellers, lab scientists and front desk ladies we meet every day who willingly and efficiently help us fix one issue or the other.  And then I wonder: why are these ladies not yet married?

DOES GOD REALLY LOVE ME? - MUSINGS ON A COLD EASTER MORNING

A lot of times I have paused to wonder if God really does love me as the Bible says; and if He does, why? Very many times in my over twenty year stay on earth so far, I have pondered over this issue. Sometimes I agree that God does love me, other times I wonder what could have made Him forsake me in those times it seemed like He did. Often times I have asked for forgiveness of confessed sins over and over again thinking “well maybe He still has some grudge for me for having annoyed Him in so and so way, so let me keep saying sorry; hopefully He’ll one day finally decide to forgive and forget and start letting the light of His countenance shine upon me again.” But I have now come to realize that I have been viewing God as an all-powerful, knowing, seeing and mighty human instead of the God He is- and still with all those attributes. Human beings will do things for me because of something(s) I had done for them, or something they hope they will get from me. But not my God, He does things for me simply because He loves me and not because I had done some stuff for Him in the past or that He hopes I’ll do some stuffs for Him in the future.

DADDY, MY DADDY, TEACH ME HOW TO LOVE

© Somadina Mbadiwe

Lovers of the late Jim Reeves’ songs will quickly relate the above lines with one of his titles: Daddy, My Daddy, Teach Me How to Pray. Today, my own cry (and I hope you join me) is for Daddy to teach me how to love.

Two incidences that happened recently in my life brought to my face squarely the need for more love. The first was listening to Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, the current Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese (more popularly known by Nigerians as Father Kukah). The second was watching the action (reaction, rather) of my co-passenger in a cab as we were coming back home late one night. I will present both experiences here as I share the powerful lessons they have taught me.