Dear March…

Your name is a command, and it speaks authoritatively, “No sloppiness, here, it says!” Even on the 31st Day, I still feel that urge to obey you… so I’ll keep moving.

But before we step any further into the joys of awaiting April. Allow me to thank you for the wonders you brought. When the 82 blessings were declared by Daddy GO, every single day, I recorded a blessing until like Peter, I shifted my eyes from Jesus and looked at the “storm.” Did the blessings stop, no! I just failed to notice them. I’m back to keep records and acknowledging God for His goodness. Hallelujah 💃 💃

I’ve dared some challenges in my pursuits, and I’m pushing against the tides, something has to give, and it ain’t me, I’ve got God in and with me. Intentionality is almost a norm, and it feels good to be accountable without stress of ‘a cloud of witnesses’.

If there’s one place that brings me calmness ✌️ and provides serenity amidst all of life’s drama, it is … and March found me there. Mmmhhh, I had a swell time. Let’s do this again soon. 😍

A grateful shout out to every one of my people who celebrated in March, my prayers to all who encountered loss and pain and my worship to the One who knows the end from the beginning. Baba, You too much o!

Happy Resurrection to you all, and gives thanks to Jesus for His sacrifice on the Cross! You were worth it! Enjoy The Jesus Medley by Olumide-Zechariah, Kike Mudiaga and Eno Michael. https://share.amuse.io/track/olumide-zechariah-the-jesus-medley

Shhh 🤫 🤐 I have to whisper this part, I’ve been having deep conversations with my son, intentionally teaching him how to prepare and cook different stuff. The boy dey try. He doesn’t know it yet but I think he’s few hours away from being taller than me and that will make me officially the ‘shortest’ in my home. 😔 😟 but until he knows….

I Am IMAN – I Manifest Adonai’s Nature

#UnapologeticallyMe

@imanikel 31032024 Frances Kelvin Otung (c)

Happy #IWD ❤️

What would the world be like without women? I wonder.
Lacking lustre without a doubt, on these I will not ponder.
Say not that I praise her because I am one…
But then you may not be far from the truth dearest one
Known for her ability to multiply seeds and bring ease
The world stands to benefit from her and find peace
Little wonder the Proverbs 31 woman may sound like myth
Yet a simply search and you find her in every midst
We’ve heard it said, “why so many days celebrating women?”
Deep down they realise what bore it would be with just men!
Don’t think for a second we would have it otherwise…no way!
With the men around we roll on all sides and sway!

Celebrating women everywhere and the men who are not afraid to have us in their space. It is not a man’s world, it is not a woman’s world.

It’s simply OURS!

Happy International Women’s Day

#EmbraceEquity

@imanikel 080323 (c) Frances Kelvin Otung

I Manifest Adonai’s Nature
#UnapologeticallyMe

#MotivationalMonday – Missed calls

So, what’s the phenomenon behind “missed calls”?

Will something happen to me if I have a missed call, whether genuinely missed or intentionally ignored?

A businessman would calculate the value of that call, and so would the operator at the Lighthouse or Control Tower who warns of the danger of missing a call etc.; I’m sure you get the picture now.

One of my friends, (name withheld, but with a sound of ‘war’ in it), used to give me the heat for not picking her call, few minutes after we last spoke. Being about two minutes away from picking me up, I would deliberately ignore her call. Upon querying her as to why this was important, she responded; “what if something happened soon after we got off the phone and I needed to alert you on it”? So, I learnt not to ignore calls, even when I think I know what will be discussed.

So, yours truly is back from work, very tired and have to make food to eat (usually something unusual), with the satisfied look of finally-life-has-new-meaning-to-me and then Oba comes calling! I don’t have a problem with his calling, just so you know, but there are times that though you miss someone, you’d rather just fall into the bed and be watched by a movie (my usual), than pick a call, pretending to be listening and sometimes sleep off on the person as he or she is talking.

Thinking over on this now, there are some voices so soothing, they’d easily send you to sleep.

When you find a missed call on your phone, what do you do? Call back, or thank God you missed it, or blame it on the network.

Well, you did miss a call or two today.

How did I know?

What did you do with that prompting to pray for someone; Check up on someone and or leaving a message (which sometimes may sound silly, but by the time you get a response from that person, you recognize that you had just responded to a call that was divinely dialed), or simply having a conversation with God your Father?

What else did you do after the worship alarm went off, snoozed and continued sleeping till the bath alarm sounded?

It would be mischievous of me to put you on the spot, making you feel funny and sad about your missed calls…

So this is what we will do, return those calls; that’s one of the ways you get to build a stronger bond with Him, don’t you know He loves hearing your voice, be it in prayer, praise or worship or even gisting. I even write Him notes! That’s been a while, but I’m repenting and resuming my duties. I need to fill up His post bin.

How are you going to make up?

It’s a dicey situation, but whatever you decide that makes you happy, may the call you miss not be the one you had been waiting for for a while, to propel you into the next best and big thing!

@imanikel 260421 (c) Frances Kelvin Otung

The Running Thief

Our world has reached a place where everyone wants to be on their own, enjoy their space (so they say)!
Why am I saying this?
I spoke with one of my babies yesterday, trying to tell her about the usefulness of forming and having relationships, not just by name, but by truly having one. She tells me, “I love having my space!” Shocked I was, being a person that loves family, but I tried to see this through her eyes and it wasn’t the having a “me-time” thingy, it was an “everyone-leave-me-alone, I’ll-reach-you-if-I-need-you” and it felt like usury and I’m not sure I want to be reached or checked up on only when someone needs my help. I think it would be sweet to just wake up and see a message for no reason other than, “you crossed my mind”, “I miss you”, OR for “no reason at all!”

With this in mind, on my way to work daily, I don’t do phones, doing phones is another way of saying “leave me to my world and mind-your-own-business.” I watch and take in different scenarios, and trust me, Lagos has plenty drama. The sad part is when you are involved in it directly or indirectly, so let’s say it’s one of the days I was a spectator, not a participant. As the vehicle maneuvered its way through the body of cars, (meaning, we were in a traffic-jam, a norm on any given morning and night), I saw a water-supply truck – not the ones that supply water to tanks, but the ones that delivery bags of sachet water, also trying to maneuver its way through. To move on, the driver had to slow down and allow another vehicle pass to avoid a collision. But that was an ‘error’… in a split second, I noticed a young man weave his way through the jam, grab a bag of water and started running. Hmmm…

Funnily enough, the two young men, (probably his age mates trying to make ends meet by doing the delivery work) were oblivious of what had happened, but will realize the shortage at the point of delivery. I’m thinking, so I woke up on the 1st of February (it happened yesterday) and the first thing on my To-Do list is, “steal a bag of water from a moving truck”. Now, I’m wondering what the second item is on the list, grab bread from the bread-seller or what?!

Who do we blame for this?
Society?
Our lack of values or failure to apply values taught?
Government? (our go-to whenever we need someone to blame)
Our parents? (for not being as wealthy as Mr. Jones next door)
The church? (for not sharing the offerings on the street, despite all the CSR programmes and free vocational training given to point us in the right direction)
Our location? (If only I wasn’t born in Nigeria…rolling my eyes at you for this thought)
Our blaming game is one long list…except ourselves.

Well, the running thief escaped today, will he tomorrow? when he sits in a place of authority tomorrow and has no scruples about putting his hands in the treasury bag, remember the sachet bag he took with ease in public view and the praise he received from other occupants of the vehicle I was in “Sharp guy!” So don’t tell me about how they failed to keep their mandates, because truth be told, they never really had one or a good value antecedent to follow.

Just stating my view on this matter, let’s hear yours.

I remain IMAN – I Manifest Adonai’s Nature #UnapologeticallyMe

@imanikel 02022021 (c) Frances Kelvin Otung

Peace with my Past

You’ve moved on like ‘centuries’ ago
making moments lose its’ glow…
Yet, I still see and reminisce
your moves and several instances
where your words lighted and remained
your deeds impacted and sustained,
leaving behind reminders that reek of you!

There should be a point I let go
and allow the currents to flow
taking with it bits and pieces past
so the new will find ground to breed fast,
creating new experiences with a tinge of old?
Nah! I’d rather grow learning, than put my life on a hold.
Leaving behind reminders that reek of you!

It is what it is,
Be silent in there please!
It is what it is
You’ve lost your ability to tease
It is what it is
With the past, I’ve made my peace.

@imanikel 21:08:2020 Frances Kelvin Otung

This ain’t me…

I know you’ll say it’s law, obey. Harken, no need to delay. But this ain’t me, I’m above the law!

You put stop signs 🚫 in place. Try to turn love to hate. This ain’t me😲 I love too much to have distaste.

With words you explain away affection, calling no-hug a way to prevention. This ain’t me, I’m a hugger🤗, not a leaver. 🚶

I cleave, I don’t leave when it’s hot.
I stay, not as a “been there before”
I stand sure in a world on tours.
I lean on your support for sure!

Don’t ask me to be someone else. Finding my replacement may take a while or never have placement.

Don’t teach me ‘values’ that create vacuums or force me to choose between faith and accepting fate!

Leave me unique, untainted. Leave me free, untamed. Leave me inflamed. Or you’ll have a me that ain’t me.

@imanikel 18082020 Frances Kelvin Otung

#MotivationalMonday – Attitude

Yesterday and over the weeks, so many incidences made me have a re-think about people and situations and as much as I try not to compare them, when you see a pattern – it is easy to tell if there’s change coming or we are in for a long horrible ride with that person.

Bad attitude sucks!

Granted, no one particularly likes being scolded or corrected. But like our on-point manual and Book of Life says, “God corrects those He loves” and in another place, “Godly sorrow leads to repentance.”

Yes, I know some people have taken the duty of criticizing everything you do. But when what is being complained about is done by other people too, then you really need to Stop, Listen, Sieve and get to work; on YOURSELF!

These days when I hear certain complaints, I take the exercise myself. Other times, I simply just feel the check in me immediately and I rearrange or ask different buddies for their opinions and then I easily see a ‘Repeat’ suggestion which I follow.

• Stop
• Listen
• Sieve
• Work
• Intentionally become the New You.

Sometimes, people don’t change. So, you work on you!

@imaniking

© 2017. Frances Kelvin Otung. All rights reserved.

 

#MotivationalMonday – Excuses

Excuses according to my Pastor, “are the tools of the incompetent, monuments of nothingness, those who use them are not wise.” The question that begs for answer is, why do people enjoy giving excuses?
Agreed, there are valid reasons why people do not keep their promises to perform or deliver; these sets of people we can overlook. However, there are those that DELIGHT in giving excuses. As a matter of fact, they have readymade answers waiting for every question or enquiry. For me, I view them as a form of escape. It says ‘I can’t think through beyond what I’ve done, there’s no other way round this! This alone portrays you as ‘unserious’, ‘unreliable’, ‘undependable’ and all the other negative ‘uns’.

There are always options, search them out and if it will help, utilize them.

Escaping from Excuses:

1) View the task before you as a personal challenge you MUST succeed in

2) Look for fun ways to achieve your goal so it doesn’t weary or bore you out.

3) Ask someone else for their assistance, they might just know how to make it work.

Having done all, realize that there are some situations you can’t do anything about and just let it be. That way you roll with a conqueror’s mentality and not a defeatist cloak. This is my opinion, what do you think about excuses?

@imaniking

© 2017. Frances Kelvin Otung. All rights reserved.

#WQWWC – Unity

It seems that the Universe always connives (positively) to celebrate with me personally. What better time to talk about Unity than now?

Two days ago we had the movie premiere for 93 Days at The Rock Cathedral. A gripping story of sacrifice, fight and victory against the spread of Ebola in Nigeria and it was tagged #Collaboration.

This week’s #WQWWC is on Unity and so I will try to capture the collaborative efforts in my poem. Let me know what you think about it.

©2016. Frances Kelvin Otung. All rights reserved

 

#FreedomFriday – Happy Innocence Day

When I was a child, Innocence used to live in my community

Yes, they were bullies, but also mothers that stood up to resist

And fathers that sent you back to school to return with a trophy

There were mothers who could leave their children for the market

And return to meet them alive and in one piece.

Fathers who taught boys how to be men and not celebrate the beast in them

Fathers who knew to be proud of their legacy, wealthy or not!

Back then, it felt good to be a child, as my short baby dress wasn’t an invitation

But a girl beautifully dressed with ribbons and matching socks…

Trusting fingers clinging to out-stretched adult hands

Giggling as my feet left the ground; above an uncle’s shoulder…

When Innocence was a child like me!

Now Innocence is grown in more ways than she should

The quick movement of retreating eyes tell sordid tales

Of several forms of abuse, unspoken and unreached hurts

Innocence wears a gown not her size, trying desperately to hide

Yet searching ‘Hawks’ snatch her fresh before Momma turns to defend

Making a woman of her, laden with a child. Yet, she herself is one!

I don’t know if Innocence will return…

But I seek all who will her cause defend and Hawks prevent

Will you join me? So we truly have a Happy Children’s day.

*Both male and female gender suffer different forms of abuse and need to be cared for, defended, loved and made to enjoy their innocence. Let’s be the voice of the new-born,  3-month baby who can’t form words yet or the one whose truth is disbelieved.

**We still have parents that believe in family values and uphold them at every given opportunity.

©2016. Frances Kelvin Otung. All rights reserved