Tag: love

LOVE

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This four letter word has more definitions than the one’s each of us have ever heard or imagined. Its definition varies from person to person, and for that reason I want to be very cautious with my definition.

I do not know how to break it softly to you, but the truth they say is bitter…..so this is it…  from my observation of my immediate environment, this word “LOVE” has done more HARM than good.

“HARM?!!!” Yes harm, it may sound surprising but that is the bitter and unfortunate truth. This is so because most of us (youths) and adults likewise have mistaken, misplaced and replaced the true meaning of this word LOVE.

1 Cor. 13:4-7 lists or enumerates the qualities of love. From this passage we are made to understand that LOVE is; PATIENT, KIND, JUST, TRUTHFUL, FAITHFUL, HOPEFUL, ENDURES, FORGIVES and permit me to add that LOVE TRUSTS.

Now we have all seen the qualities of love and are beginning to get a picture of the meaning of this word. But I must say that the qualities of this word cannot and will never be truly defined without GOD. For the Bible states it clearly that “God is love” [1 Jhn 4 :16], hence without God there is no love. John 3:16-17 tells us all that we need to know about LOVE.

What is more than that? OR do I say “What sacrifice is greater than that?” My answer, which I believe should be same with some, if not all of us, is NONE, Jhn 15:13 says it all “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends”  [NLT].

All the qualities of love from 1 Cor. 13:4-7 are encompassed in the story of the Son of God “JESUS” He himself is LOVE personified……want to learn how to love?, study JESUS….learn from the master, learn from LOVE.

On a final note, I will like to chip in a friend’s definition of love; he said “love is the surrendering of our priviledge and preferences”.

ARE YOU WILLING TO SURRENDER?

a light in dark times

LOVE L.E.D

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LED-artwork

It’s a lonely empty world out there!

Sure it makes no sense to your ears

‘cos statistics hold sufficient claim to a certain 7 billion souls walking the globe

Yet like my creator all I see is a big void

An empty nothingness, wish I could call forth the brightness like He did but I’m no Edison

No! I simply do not have that capacity, I am an inductor

You see the very same curse that robs this world of its fullness

is what right now invades my consciousness

I am living proof to the thick darkness that lurks in obvious sight

permit me to call this day-night. Continue reading →

SEVEN BILLION BUBBLES

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bubbles

So we’re all caught up in our individual spaces, in our personal places, thoughts, dreams, aims, strategies, and views of life. Personal opinions about how to be, to do, and to live, what it means to strive, to overcome, and indeed, our individual answers to what the ‘good life’ means. And if we’re inspired enough, we go for it. For most of us humans, this defines the essence of the cycle of our existence. Otherwise, we’re all simply about living to ‘try to live’, that is, just keeping alive for the sake of it. This alternative is absurd, and downright depressing if we look at things this way.

You, my friend, are also in your own little space, your little BUBBLE. A world, maybe real, maybe make-believe, in which you live…as the center of your own existence. Your perception is the prevailing view, and you see the whole world through your own eyes. Normal, isn’t it?

And yes, its the most convenient way to live as a human being on planet earth.

Lets say something or someone comes in to burst your BUBBLE. Your little hallowed chamber, your way of looking at things, at people, at life. You are no longer the one who draws the lines, dictates the pace, defines objects, understands phenomena, evaluates people, or worst of all lives life as a whole. Everything you see and say and do is ordered and supervised by some external agent. Surely, you won’t take it! You would fight to maintain your space, your world, your BUBBLE. Its your life! No one has the right to tell you how to live it, what the bubble should look like, or whether it should even exist.

Even if its a bubble of fantasies, of fakes and self-gratifying but silly and even dangerously toxic matter.

Even if your bubble is a mass of mess, of hidden struggles and pain and despair. Even if the ‘intrusion’ is a loving surgeon’s incision, a friend’s concerned inquiry, or a glass of liquor spilling and splashing on your floor or God stretching out His merciful hands to help you, to heal your wounds. Even if.

If your bubble stifles and suffocates you, strangulates and snuffs the life out of your lungs and sags your spirit, maybe its time to let it be burst. And no one does the job better than the boss with the divine pin. You may loose all that ‘privacy’ but you’ll gain something priceless. You’ll gain an endless life, joyful and unfettered.

Think about all the bubbles in the world, and how easier things could be if we all were huddled and safely bouncing about in one massive bubble. God’s bubble. Which isn’t really a bubble anyway. Its boundless…love.

WHY CAN’T TRUTH SET OUR HEARTS ON FIRE?

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iStock_000017285103XSmall.jpg
WHAT’S THE POINT OF BEING A CHRISTIAN, IF IT LEAVES US NO BETTER THAN ANY OTHER PERSON ON THIS PLANET OF OURS?

I think that this is the big question that must bug us, if we’re really serious about our lives, and the whole point of being ‘saved by God’ and ‘transformed by him’. If we are unable to look ourselves in the mirror and tell ourselves the truth about ourselves, it may just be the case that we’re just playing with our lives and our lives matter too much for us to simply spend it on a merry-go-round circus, deceiving ourselves till we’ve kicked the bucket.

The essence of this piece is to shout out the words of truth as loud as I can, because truth is all that our life is worth. I really mean this. Continue reading →

SUBTLE

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She began speeding down the road
A million miles per hour
Blindfolded
A smile pasted on her face
Oblivious she was headed in the wrong direction.

Just imagine her short-lived disdain when the obstacle suddenly cut short her fairy tale ride and the last sound she ever heard was her cry…

She had her hands on the controls
Everything seemed right
So she figured,
She could afford to shut her eyes and enjoy the ride.
A ride, everyone had stamped as alright
Besides everybody was doing it now
…so why contrive?
What worked for them should definitely work in my different way for me
So freeway or highway she was definitely bound to end up this way anyway.

You can imagine the way that smile immediately turned upside down

No! literally it turned upside down
Because her head on collision with deception and betrayal
Hurt and disappointment
Crashed into the ill placed curb of destruction
Carefully camouflaged by a black and white track called lust
Which was so strong that she tumbled over and over again
Until she hit the ground hard enough to shake of thoughts of survival
Simply because she refused to read the red tall sign that cautioned quietly; STOP

So there she lay, on a bloodied road named Guilt
Dying a death another already did
Trying to pay for a life already paid for
She was what you may call Lost…

If she however would only open her eyes
Unlike Judas she may not fail so woefully at the sight of a possibility: A NEW LIFE
How she doesn’t have to hang from a rope
Because He already hung from a tree…
Endured a Calvary of sorrows
In exchange for her joy
You see, she will no longer be Lost
…or even worse condemned.
 
Because…
Where the sting of death ended was far from where the mark of Christ started
In fact it was non negotiable!
When Him who is Life held the keys to her eternal hell
He chose to set her free.

She must realize…
That like a corpse laid dead for four days
A word spoken from the very lips of creation was able to re-jerk a pulse so cold and far spent
Regenerate a heart so used and wasted
Turn a pot of clay into a vessel of Gold…        
She must choose to realize
That she has only arrived at the CROSSroads
…where Grace and mercy meet.

But first she must open her eyes…

MY JESUS

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Jesus

Art by Akiane Kramarik

Trying to describe my Jesus is like an attempt to go bonkers
Cos no bunker could ever hope to contain Him
His glory is ever lasting, totally outstanding
You can’t wish to keep Him in a box
He’s a beast
I mean a Lion
I mean a Lamb
The Lion and the Lamb
A description so contradictory and yet so
accurate
For in Him is Love and Mercy
Where I live, move and have my being
Full of a fiery passion as He chased out the
merchants from me
With immense confidence as He commanded the
storm to cease.

My Jesus is big! Even I can’t quantify Him
Is it His goodness or protection? No one can
defy Him
Just make an attempt and try Him
Don’t put Him to test though, the devil couldn’t
fail Him
Let me tell you something about my Jesus then
The Lion
The Lamb
The Lion and the Lamb
The lover and the fighter
The beast and the tamer
The Judge and the advocate
My very own big brother
Not just watching through lenses
He sees my heart and can finish all my
sentences

He is Jesus
The Lion and the Lamb
The mighty man in battle, His alias
same as prince of peace, Son of God, the
Messiah
The word spoken in days of old
The material form of the spoken word
The justification of all of mankinds existence
My Lord and Saviour
He personally died for me
And of course you too can make this claim
You just gotta believe
I mean really believe
Put your heart, mind body and soul into it
Accept Him so that finally,
Your Spirit will live

Onubogu Somtochukwu

The Queen

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It’s past 3am in the morning
Coffee’s mouldy
Food is cold
His queen sits on the couch waiting.
Worried sick all morning.
Her knight in shining armour is yet to return.
Where could he be?
What could he be doing?
This time of the night or is it day.
The thoughts in her mind refusing to stay at bay.
Her train of thought is broken just like the silence.
She hears keys jangling somewhere in the darkness.
Relief and anger, joy and bitterness; flood her all at once, in that very instant.
She stands to her feet, prepared for his entrance.
He walks through the door, face riddled with exhaustion.
She begins to question, with fear in her voice
“Where have you been?!”, her voice all torn up.
He stands all the while staring, waiting for her to stop, the shudder in his chest with every word that dropped.
She stops to swallow and he sees his chance.
He pulls her close and hugs her tight.
He closes his eyes and hugs her tighter, the thoughts on his mind brought so much laughter.
The walk down the aisle.
The courtship that lasted for more than a while.
The oath of chastity they both took.
The moment he tapped her shoulder, and she turned to look.
The prayer he made before he could ask her.
The thanksgiving he gave when he finally married her.
And he also remembers…
The sigh of relief as he left that hotel.
The memories of last night he didn’t want to tell.
The wrong group of friends.
The wrong boys and girls.
The wrong kind of drinks.
The clock seemed to not tick.
Next thing he knew, he was with a strange woman.
About to maybe fornicate, sin that very moment.
But he called to remembrance…
In a microsecond, he saw the sacrifice of Jesus.
Cos he saw the wine and it cut like a knife.
“What am I doing?!” as he staggered to the door.
He ran out the door and next to his car
He thought of his ribs and remembered one more.
The love of his life, his one and only wife.
“I thank you O God for saving my life?”.
He ran to his house and opened the door.
His queen in sight, all teary and hurt.
He held her so tight and wouldn’t let her go.
He had touched the fire and was able to go.
His queen looked at him with love in her eyes.
She asked him again, “what happened last night?”.
He held her and smiled.
“God saved me last night”.
He wiped the tear in eyes and told her the truth.
She listened and heard and knew it was true.
He begged her forgiveness,”I wouldn’t do it again”.
But it was too late, her mind was made up.
Whatever he had done, she had already forgiven.
When he unlocked the door and confessed his dealings.

Just like my Jesus did.
He was willing to listen
As I begged on my knees, to cleanse me of all my sinning.

-Onubogu Somto

#I DARE YOU TO FINISH THIS# “A TRUE LOVE STORY”

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More than any other girl I have ever laid my eyes on, there was something so different about this particular one.
The attraction was so much but I assure you it was not the beauty. This one felt like it reflected from my inside, a split image of what my missing rib would feel like, so all defenses were gone; I got close and we started spending time, with time I got so used to her and then gave all my heart-in, perhaps my first mistake because that was where my hurting began and it was more than I could take.
I came to visit her on one occasion and discovered she had something I clearly recognized belonged to a one time friend of mine, in her bedroom. The fact that she not only denied but also blamed me for no good reasons when I tried to confront her seemed less disheartening to the choice she made when she told me she just chose him against me.
See that is just the beginning of my story, but I loved this girl so much at the time that all she did really hurt, but I could neither get close nor let go, so I just watched from a distance hoping the dude would slip up and then I could show her just how much a mistake she had been making. Years passed and I still tried baking cakes to remember our anniversaries and on one of those days, I cried so much I almost drowned in my own tears so I promised myself never to hurt that much again.
Being the smartest guy alive, I started on a perfect plan to win her back.
The more apart we were though, the stronger her bond with the other guy who was so shameless and annoying, he treated her like filth and not like the queen she was but always had a way to lure her on with lies, well I was always sincere, poor me. See I am not taking this personal but I know him well enough; he is just doing this to get to me and it is working. He was my friend and he knows how much I love and cherish her.
Hold on, if at this point you have not realized that she is to blame or you are insisting that I have not suffered enough, you should go back and read between the lines, I have had to narrate this story of heart break and this girl still complains that I do not understand her decisions, well I guess I am that dumb.
Do not judge me, but I got close to a friend of hers who I told to help in a way, return her friend’s heart back to me. Do not guess, she also went dark side and her own story even seemed worse than that my friend who snatched the only person I would ever love from me. This girl actually went ahead to connive with my friend to keep the love of my life bound in that stupid relationship.
I soon realized that it seemed somewhat of a thousand years in my eyes as I watched the days go by so I made a decision to go all in, if I would fight, cheat or even die in the process I was going to get her back.
You want to know if it went right. #coughs# okay I would explain and then leave you to decide if it worked or not.
We actually got engaged, stay with me, got married and I thought that was it, I won in the end. Then something came up, I had to leave her to go abroad, build a house and then I can come and get her so she would come join me. Before you say I left too soon and judge me, I actually left her with all she would ever need, and thank God for communication, we found a way to always stay in contact. I just wanted to take her to a place where I would have her all to myself.
Now the heart break, so great it grates my whole being when I think about it. Call me obsessed but I also left cameras in all places to know how she is doing, so no hurt can come to her…. But the things I see, the things I see flows from diverse ill habits and adultery from one day to another, do you want to guess who she was sleeping around with?
Well she is not always the worst kind of girl anyways from my own observations, I have seen her get really determined to keep herself in our relationship, but then it is either her friend comes in again or she just slides back to her former lover forgetting she was married.
I desire all of her, please do not judge her because you do not have the right, I am the one she has been hurting, my father even got to know about all I have been going through, I am done with my preparations but I do not know how I can bring her to my father now that he is not pleased with her ways, I know He would ask me how we were doing and I never lie.
I would go soon and I hope she would even be faithful when I arrive, this story would not be well told even if it was sang by two people in a duet, so I write to you from outside earth, I know my girl is not wicked, I love her, I just wish she would stop feeling insecure and remain with me, realize I am coming back, that is all I want, to have her all to myself. My own missing rib, my own image, but now I see her through broken mirrors, it hurts, and it hurts badly, with tears in my eyes, blood on my palms, forgiveness in my heart…. Since you have so much neglected my voice, now I have decided to write to you instead….. I am just an oracle and the narrator is my master, so this is most likely what His relationship story with you would be, if Christ was a poet.
By Njoku Uchechi