Grace

We come and we go as we wish.

We leave or might I say, we are not so keen on Him when we seem to “have it all together” and run back when we need help, need a restart or when we get stuck and don’t know which way to go.

The thing is He is always there.

I like to think that even if he didn’t start out as a jealous God, He would very easily have become one now with the way we act.

It’s amazing how His being jealous never affects the abundance of grace He has and continues to extend to us. Nothing affects His love and grace for us; not the hardness or our hearts, the magnitude of our sins or even our evil thoughts and desires.

Grace, the one thing we receive so freely but rarely extend to our fellow friends, families, neighbours, colleagues, bosses, servants and all other people around us.

As often as I receive grace from God, I hope I can extend human grace to others too.

Is there someone we can give grace to today?

LEGEND

My knowledge of John Legend and his songs used to be quite limited and then when lots of people wore out the song ‘all of me’, I didn’t even bother giving him a chance.

It wasn’t until a little over a year ago when I saw someone name him as one of the most under rated artists; immediately, the music part of my brain became curious. That was the beginning of my “affair” with Legend.

I feel as though his last album was a gift from him to me. As if he knew how his music had affected me and decided to make more for me.

The album has Twenty-Four songs, Twenty-Four…and every song is amazing.

Home is one song that really did me in. I don’t know why he wrote it or who he wrote it for, but whenever I listen to it, it warms my heart as I sing it to my son. It is the best song for a parent to a child. It is a beautiful song.

My next favourite is Wonder Woman, I had a thing or two to say about it in my post Wonder woman.

Nervous makes me nervous. It makes me feel. It gives me the same goose bumps I get when I hit the make up scene in a romcom.

Rounds, the very first song in the album. I laugh every time I listen. Naughty.

One Last Dance is so beautiful. I think it is possible to write a beautiful book from that one song.

Dope is so upbeat, whenever I want to dance a bit while I work, Dope is the choice I make from this album. Some other upbeat songs in the album are Waterslide, Guy Like Me and All She Wanna Do.

Now, Love is so mixed up for me, the toxic relationship that is sung about unsettles me, yet, the combination of voices between Legend and Jazmine Sullivan gets me playing it over and over again. He gives me the same feeling with Amber Mark in Fate; I am really curious about the song and the idea behind it.

Good makes me feel good.

Pieces gives me a feeling of melancholy.

A few others I enjoy are; Strawberry Blush, Honey, I Want You To Know, Speak In Tongues (with John Keith) and I Don’t Love You Like I Used To.

A few songs that are still growing on me are: Splash (feat. Jhnene Aiko & Ty Dolla $ign), You, Memories, The Other Ones (feat. Rapsody), Stardust.

I think John Legend is a legend.

…I forgot to mention…the album title is Legend

ABLE

Having recently concluded Holly Furtick’s six week study on the book of Ephesians, I thought I would share a thing or two about what I learnt.

The memory verse for the entire study was from Ephesians 3: 20-21

Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than All we ask or imagine according to His power that is at work within us…to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus through out all generations, forever and ever. Amen

I didn’t have to memorise it… thank God (I have never been too good with memorising verses). The reason I didn’t memorise it was because I already had it in my memory for about 25 years or so. They were the exact words to a song I learnt as a kid from an acapela mix tape.

The verse has always been a comforting one for me. Only, during the course of the study, one word seemed brand new to me; Able.

God is Able to do what ever I ask of Him. There are no limitations to His abilities. None. If He has not done or does not do a thing for me, it definitely isn’t because He can’t do it. He is ABLE.

In addition to the one word that got me, I learnt that the entire book of Ephesians has a guide for me for:

Immeasurably more Wisdom

Immeasurably more Grace

Immeasurably more Confidence

Immeasurably more Peace

Immeasurably more Love

Immeasurably more Strength

To learn more about the study, please visit http://immeasurablymore.com

Dear Mimi

Write a letter to your 100-year-old self.

What are you doing, staying up this late?

Shouldn’t you be asleep by now?

While I got your attention, I would like to know… Was our life all you dreamed it would be?

Tell me about every decade. What happens when I turn 70? What will I know then that I do not already know now?

Will everything be worth the wait?

What are people calling you now? Great grandma? Or are you greater?

What did you do? Will I be proud of the choices you made?

It really doesn’t matter does it? I still get to see for myself.

Are you happy? Do you still love all the things that I do?

I can’t believe you stayed up this late.

Go to sleep, it’s way past your bedtime.

With all my love… Mimi

Twelve

There’s a lot to be said about the number 12.

12 months in a year, 12 zodiac signs, 12 tribes of Isreal, 12 Apostles and a lot more.

The number is also said to represent perfection, entirety; completeness, healing and luck.

Today, on my 12th wedding anniversary, I feel a certain sense of beginning. I keep asking myself how something that has already started could possibly feel like a beginning.

I don’t know.

I plan to spend this entire new year creating a brand new meaning for number 12; Beginning.

Beginnings are beautiful, they make room for new creations.

Happy wedding anniversary to me and Terver

(11th anniversary message available on 11th)

Mimi’s Thoughts in Text

I suddenly realised there was no introductory blog here…none.

I just love to put thoughts into written words. I express myself better in writing.

If I think it, I may write it. If I write it, I may publish it

Today it may be my love for music, tomorrow it may be God’s love for me and the next day it may be my love for Him. Another day it may be my impatience with humanity, another day it may be my appreciation for one human or the other.

As I write this late post, I have successfully published 100 posts and this is 101. I peeked into my drafts and found 87 items. I wonder if they will all become publishable posts.

Most of what makes it to my drafts are random thoughts that pop up while I do dishes, clean up the home, drive or from random things that happen around me. I often pause to note them down so that I don’t get to forget.

When they read, I hope readers get the same peace and satisfaction I get when I write.

Welcome to Mimi’s Thoughts in Text…

Woman

It’s the season again, we begin to hear all kinds of greetings and then we get confused and out comes the question; “How many mother’s day do we have in a year”?

To be totally honest this really got me bothered at some point. When on two of the “mother’s days” I didn’t get to call my mom because I didn’t even realise it was “mother’s day”.

These days have always been marked but they have become more popular because of social media. It’s very likely to go online and find out it is this day or that day for so and so.

Women are a special specie of humans. In 2022 the Word of the year (most searched word) on dictionary.com was woman.

She can and must be celebrated daily.

I have listed a few selected days for celebrating women and why.

Women’s day is an international day set aside for celebrating and recognising women’s achievement and development. It’s also a day for recognising women’s rights (gender, reproduction etc) and violence/abuse against women. It is celebrated yearly on Marth 8th.

Mother’s day – This is celebrated on different dates, depending on the country. The dates change every year. It often is between the months of March and May (commonly second Sunday in May). It is a day set aside for honouring and appreciation mothers, motherhood and maternal bonds. As there isn’t any specific day for mother’s day, it’s likely for someone in Australia to wish a ‘happy mothers day’ on her social platform and then someone in Nigeria could go ahead to assume it applies there too.

Mothering Sunday is a day when people honour their mother church (where you were baptised). On this day, the mothers are also honoured, along with Mary the mother of Jesus. Some also honour mother nature on this day.

Women’s History Month – March

Today, I join women all over the world to celebrate ourselves.

May we find the strength, peace, wisdom and courage we seek. May we be bold enough to rise up and take It.

Happy International Women’s Day

Tamed by age

Mimi stop that… Mimi don’t do that…Mimi why did you do that?

It was always one thing or the other.

One time it was a bead, passed through my nostril, my mom had to rush me to the clinic. I don’t know how but thank goodness it eventually passed through the northern end.

Another time, when I was four years old, my mom and I had to spend weeks at the hospital… I had successfully burnt my right thigh with a flask of boiling water.

Of all my wild adventures, one that always gets me is the look on my dad’s face when he came home one day found me on top of a hinged door.

The one that scared me the most was when I got stuck in a mango tree with a monkey who seemed to be out for revenge because I and the neighbourhood kids used to make fun of him.

At 40, I wonder where this wild child is.

Do I miss her? I am not so certain.

Do I like who she was, oh yes I do. She was wild and free.

But for the way I drive, I think everything else about the child seems to have been tamed with age.

I’m just younger

I find joy in my own company.

I mentally plan my alone time activities and I execute them. I frown when anyone or anything interrupts.

I dont like being disrespected.

I cry when I’m happy, I also cry when I’m sad. I just cry.

My skin glows and I look pretty even without making any effort.

I love company and then I get fed up when it goes on for too long.

I am fascinated by well spoken and written English.

I am a DIY lover.

I’m a sanguine with family and friends. To the stranger, I am antisocial.

I love my nails.

I have a nonexistent temple hair problem.

I have a very thin line between between love and indifference…it just takes one last straw to cross it.

My mom is all this too.

I am my mother’s daughter…

I am my mother, I’m just younger.

How dare you!!!!

We often get to feel many different kinds of emotions…pain, joy, fear, sadness and more. Of these emotions, only the positive ones are permitted.

One of the major reasons for the rejection of the expression of negative emotions is religion. We often believe that if we say we feel it then it has won.

For me, I think the stories from my religion are not just for story telling. These stories teach me that God loved open and honest relationships. We can see different examples with Hezekiah, Moses. Abraham, David, Job and many more characters.

As a believer of openness, showing/saying how you feel and feeling your feelings, I do not subscribe to the rejection or avoidance of any kind of emotions. You can read about some of my views in Feelings and Beauty in Candour.

It’s okay to feel it, what I beleive is harmful is staying in the feeling. But how can I work my way out if I don’t call it what it is?

Many have died in silence…literally, because they are afraid to say the words; I am sad. I feel lonely. I feel anxious. I am afraid.

The world will not let them.

Even when they do not say anything in return, their stares screem ‘How dare you’.