Double Standards

Disclaimer: This may or may not be the correct application of the term "double standards"...
Can we talk about double standards for a minute please?
"America is racist! Americans are racist!' YET you are the person who vehemently refused your (Ibo) son to marry a girl simply because she was Yoruba.
Hello kettle.
"We are all God's children! The church is s place for sinners! Come as you are!" YET you sent home that girl with the outrageous makeup/flamboyant hairdo/ridiculously short dress from Sunday service. I mean how dare she?!
"Politics is a dirty game! Politicians are corrupt! We need Change! YET you are the person who cheated on your last exam(or even paid for it sef), avoids paying taxes, bribed your way into getting a better NYSC posting or to get that juicy position(because you "know somebody") and there's not a single patriotic bone in your body. You know what they say, "corruption begins at home".
A guy is promiscuous: Achievement. A lady is promiscuous: Harlot! Ashawo! Wife material -100 yards. She cannot cook: -250yards She doesn't want children(hehe! I can't even)
Hello pot.
"Kim Kardashian is this! Kim K is that!" YET you are the person who shared the link of her nude pictures to all your friends on Whatsapp, you are the one addicted to "Keeping Up With The Kardashians"
If she is as bad as y'all make her out to be, how is it that y'all are helping make her even more famous ?! Making money off "zero talent" with a husband/beautiful daughter to show for it.
Take several seats please.

Ok I'm done.
<<end of rant>>

The Preachers Kid

It's probably a misplaced feeling but I usually feel slighted when I tell someone that I'm a preacher's kid and the person responds with "No wonder!" 😑
Oh and then those people that go about saying "Pastor pikin, na dem worse pass" just infuriate me to no end. Judgmental much?😬 Last time I checked, Christianity(or being born again) was not a genetic something.
The worst are the church members(no offense). It's like they are just watching and waiting for you to slip up. I mean God forbid you don't join the choir or any other church activity, one overzealous sister would call you aside on Sunday to "advice" you. They are everywhere, lurking on your Facebook and stalking your updates just so they can go and report their "findings" to your parents or bring you up as prayer topic.
Oh and let's not even talk about the pressure to follow in your parents footsteps and live up to expectation. If I had a dollar for every time I heard someone say "Remember your father is a pastor" 🙈

Chai, even to this day(at my age o!) anytime we go to church together, my mother(bless her heart) makes sure we sit in front of the church, if possible close to her sef 😅 She just signals us with her eye and you better fall in line. We are always the first to reach church(the Father is a stickler for punctuality) and the last to leave, so Sunday mornings in our house is like fire brigade.
I have no regrets being born into a Christian family or being a PK for that matter but Lord knows I most def wouldn't wanna be a pastor's wife(don't judge me)
And like a fellow preacher's kid so aptly stated; "The problem with being a preacher’s kid is that you can’t be a normal Christian"
<<end of rant>>

Much ado about forgiveness

Disclaimer: Nobody is perfect, most especially me.
Elton John once sang "Sorry seems to be the hardest word". I tend to disagree.
People seem to have this preconceived idea that saying "I'm sorry" is a magical eraser of some sorts that is supposed to make everything better between us.
Well its not. Color me cynical.
Which brings me to the term "Forgive and Forget". Is that even humanly possible?(the forget part I mean). I think it's just one of those things people say to sound "deep". Easier said than done if you ask me.
In the words of C.S Lewis, "Everyone thinks forgiveness is a lovely idea until they have something to forgive."
"Forgive and Let go" sounds much more realistic, don't you think?
You know that part of the Lord's Prayer that says: 'And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors'. (Matthew 6:12 KJV)
It literally means, if you don't forgive your neighbor, God will not forgive you. Think about that for a second.
But the importance and urgency of that prayer really hit me while I was reading Matthew 18 earlier where Jesus was telling the parable of the servant whose master forgave him a large debt but this same servant threw his fellow servant in jail because he owed him a paltry sum of money.
When the master found out, he ordered the servant to be put in jail till he paid up his debt. Listen to what Jesus said:
..."So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.” (Matthew 18:35 KJV)
Reading that gave me serious chills. Imagine God putting you in a "jail cell" simply because you chose not to forgive. Unwittingly, some of us have tied down our blessings because of our unwillingness to forgive. "Unforgiveness is choosing to stay trapped in a jail cell of bitterness, serving time for someone else's crime.”
Forgiveness is no easy task but when we compare with how much God has forgiven us on a daily basis, you have no choice but to forgive and let go!
God bless you.

Blast From The Past

So the other day, I was on the bus on my way to school. I see this nicely dressed middle aged woman and a good looking teenage boy standing at the bus stop. I catch myself thinking, "Hmm...I want to look like her when I'm that age and if I ever had a son, I'd like him to look like this dude.
The guy and the woman get on the bus. As it would so happen, the teenager was standing right next to me. I was mildly horrified when I looked up and discovered that he had a tattoo on his left arm. Well no son of mine was ever getting a 'ta', talk less of 'ttoo'! Being the type of person that I am, I like making excuses for people. So I didn't judge him too harshly about the tattoo. I figured maybe he got it in his 'rebellious' phase or 'twas peer pressure.
You can imagine my dismay when I noticed that my 'teenage son fantasy' also has a pack of cigarettes in his pocket. Haay! I started laughing at myself. Fancy me having a son with a tattoo who smokes and does Lord knows what else. Heaven forbid it!
Somehow, a very valuable lesson occurred to me on the bus that day. 

"People are not always what they seem or appear to be.Sometimes people surprise us. Sometimes they outright shock us. Sometimes they turn out to not be at all who we thought they were. And sometimes the clues were right in front of our noses the entire time. Maybe we don’t want to see them for who they are, or maybe the truth seems impossible. Maybe we just want to think the best of those we think we know.
The next time you are shocked at someone’s action or reactions, think about how well you really know that person. Do you know them well enough to predict their movements? Are they really who you thought they were or did you only know the mask they were wearing? Could you see something wasn’t quite right? Were you close enough to offer assistance? Are you who everyone thinks you are? Finally, do you even know who you are?"

Thanks for reading! Have a nice day & God bless you!