Hocus-Pocus!…and it’s all peaches…

December 11, 2015 jacquelineobyikocha30 Comments

Without much ado, if I had one shot as a Super Power to change the law of Nature, I have no need to set my eye’s too far.

I will weave my spell that all mankind will have innate and undeniable abilities to love selflessly, without prejudice.

Wouldn’t that be out-rightly peachy?

If we take our minds off for a moment and think of everything that plagues mankind and where it emanates from, we would find that the deep roots of all problems simply generates from lack or insufficient love.

Insufficient love for God gives birth to disobedience, lack of trust, dishonesty, wickedness and a long list of negativity.

Our inner spirit’s are forever in a state of turmoil due to this disobedience and consequently gives birth to its own fruits; from self fulfilling hatred that is cascaded down to others – because, one cannot give that which they lack – to avarice and greed, envy, corruption, moral decrepitude and an endless list of vices.

Indeed where there is no love, there in lies a multitude of sins.

So, it’s got to be love all the way, if I had my way to some hocus-pocus.

When we love we respect. When we love we are patient and kind. When we love we care. When we love we are understanding. When we love we are generous with our laughter, our light, our riches and ourselves. When we love we are not proud. When we love there is absence of greed and self-seeking. When we love we are free.

The Daily Post If I ruled the World.

You’ve been given the superpower to change one law of nature. How do you use it?

”There are three things that last; Faith, Hope and Love but the greatest of all these is Love.” 1 Cor – 13:13

Creative Writing · Hope · Life · Poetry/Poems · Social Issues · Writing · Writing 101

May I Share With You?…

December 11, 2015 jacquelineobyikocha41 Comments

LIVING FREE…

May I live
Unafraid to breathe
Free from a choke-hold
That becomes a stronghold
May I live
Unafraid to live
Clinging to my expectations
With feral desperation

SHARING FREELY…

May I share space
Unafraid of being encased
Free from condemnation of race
That becomes a strong base
Purple, White, Olive, Black and every hue within
May I share space
Knowing that we are first a human race
…And all blood are red in this place.

BELIEVE FREELY…

May I speak of belief
Unafraid and in relief
Free from contentious eyes of disbelief
That becomes thresholds of grief
May I wear my mask of belief
Understanding that to achieve
Peace would be a welcome reprieve
…Which we must seek to retrieve.

LOVING FREELY…

May I love you
Unafraid to be bound to you
Free from censors of broken whispers
That becomes harbingers of cold shivers
May I love freely my love
Unafraid to expose my naked bust
Knowing that in you lies my trust
Encased in the warm embrace of your love.

Writing 101, Day 5 Freedom

Devotions · Family · Gratitude · Hope · Life · Quotes For You

It’s Never Too Little…

December 9, 2015December 10, 2015 jacquelineobyikocha18 Comments

My heart is glad for the pretty things that surround me in this environment. The flowers are blooming all over the place and the birds are flocking all around.

For the simple things of life, like a warm bowl of chilli and vegetable soup brewed in my kitchen, for the crispy cool Sahara air; even though we are all sneezing and coughing, I give thanks.

Above all things today, I am so grateful that we were able to find Prednisolone at 3am this morning, when my young boy woke up with sudden bad allergic reaction and a swollen face.

We used all the normal stuff for him, but to no avail.

He is allergic to certain environmental factors and it occurs more with weather changes like Summer with all the pollen or the dusty Winter air in this climes.

I did not want to use EpiPen which I keep for only extreme reactions.

Mercifully, the allergic reaction has been arrested and we have every cause to smile.

For what are you thankful today? ”Remember that feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” – William Arthur Ward.

Would you like to join Colline’s gratitude challenge? Just click on the link and join the party.

Hope · Love · Photographs · Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday…Enjoy!

December 9, 2015 jacquelineobyikocha10 Comments

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O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree…

Creative Writing · Hope · Inspiration - Motivation · Life · Musings · Photographs · Poetry/Poems · Weave that Dream · Writing

As Magic Abounds…

December 7, 2015December 7, 2015 jacquelineobyikocha20 Comments

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The air is so crispy
The birds are quite chirpy
The magic of nature abounds
As I imbibe all the sounds

My quick strides grow shorter
My eyesight gets sharper
My senses soak in deeper
Pictures become magically wider

The lady and her dog walk past
Bow-Wow says hello
The labourer offers a fleeting smile
And he works pretty fast

So much floral blooms
And golden, droopy trees loom
Scented float of planted perfume
There is simply no room for gloom

More barking dogs
The tinkle of calm waters
The men play a hand of golf
And a bird catches a grub

A deep sense of satisfaction
Of peace I sense within
As the Sun peeks to say hello
I am happy to embrace me

My passion has called
Now, no longer ignored
I hear the reverberations
Of the magic hidden within.

Writing 101 – Day 1: Magic

Hope · Quotes For You · The Daily Post · Travel

Travel Itch…

December 3, 2015December 3, 2015 jacquelineobyikocha36 Comments

Having been fortunate to have wandered a bit around the globe, both as a footloose and single chic and presently as a married lady with a husband who also has a nomadic spirit; as a matter of fact, his loose feet are far worse than mine, I must say without any hesitation that traveling is an education in itself.

It is a worthwhile venture, though it can be expensive to do so.

Something that I realized is that some of the things which we spend money on, and which we forget as soon as that expense has been made, can be given up and the money set aside for a bit of exploring.

These days I noticed that I am keen to go discovering, but for shorter periods at a time. The hassles involved in migrating are no mean feat and I speak from vast experience.

Maybe my nesting senses are kicking in as I grow older and with the children growing older as well, it gets a bit disruptive to up and go because it entails a whole lot of changes, from accommodation, to mobility to new school, to a new culture etc.

It surprises me at times, at how my children have blended into the various societies that they have had to live in and how they make friends so quickly, that most times before I can say hello, I am having friends mothers call my phone to invite them for one do or the other. We are rolling stones but we tend to gather a lot of moss as we go along 🙂

I believe that the opportunity of having lived in very diverse environments definitely gives one a broader sense of understanding, exposure, knowledge, adaptability and so much more.

That said, there are some places that have been on my mind to visit for a good vacation time and I hope that in the near future, I will be able to scratch these travel itches.

I would love to visit so many places and see so many things but if I were to start right now, these would be my first five:

The Fiji Islands
New Zealand
Prague
Morocco
Scandinavia – Sweden, Finland, Norway

Visiting a lot of the ancient and World Heritage places all over, like the Great Barrier Reef, The Wall of China, Machu Picchu etc. would just be awesome.

Time will tell how these things go.

“Traveling leaves you speechless, then it turns you into a storyteller.” Ibn Batutta

”I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list.” Susan Sontag

”Once a year, go some place that you have never been before.” Dalai Lama

The Daily Post prompt The Wanderer

Tell us about the top five places you’ve always wanted to visit.

A link to my neighbours/Community · Hope · Inspiration - Motivation · Life · Quotes For You · Success · Weave that Dream

The Rolling Train Of Thoughts…

December 2, 2015 jacquelineobyikocha2 Comments

It is very easy to sit down and dreamily wish for the niceties that life has to offer, but the bare truth is that those niceties come at a certain price. That price entails working smart and being less slothful.

Achieving most of our life’s goals emanates from our minds, which now transforms itself into the required energy.

So in essence, how we treat this powerhouse (our minds) that controls virtually everything that we are or we aspire to become really matters.

We have to choose daily, the seeds that we plant in our minds very wisely.

A weevil eaten seed is already faulty and is likely not to germinate into anything, much less giving any yield.

Our actions or in-actions emanates from our thoughts or lack of thoughts.

When we change our thinking, we change our lives.

If our thoughts are not working for us, it is time to switch into a better route of thinking.

As my people will ask with a proverb, “If you are building a house and a nail breaks, do you stop building or do you change the nail?”

As we plant the seeds of our thoughts wisely, may we hold onto belief, hope and grace to bring about increase and a bountiful yield.

This is applicable to everyone, irrespective of our religious or non-religious incline.

Thank you Vincent Wambua for inviting me to partake in the 3 quote challenge. Let me extend the invitation to other inspiring bloggers in the house.

Here are the rules:

Post 3 quotes on 3 consecutive days
Thank the person who nominated you
Nominate 5 new bloggers each single day of the challenge.

Family · Hope · Life · Quotes For You · Success · The Daily Post · Writing

When I Was Just A Little Girl…personal

December 1, 2015 jacquelineobyikocha38 Comments

I have to hum this song of Doris Day in my head while at it:

When I was just a little girl
I asked my mother what will I be
Will I be pretty will I be rich
Here’s what she said to me

Que Sera Sera
Whatever will be will be
The future’s not ours to see
Que Sera Sera
What will be will be

When I grew up and fell in love
I asked my sweetheart what lies ahead
Will we have rainbows day after day
Here’s what my sweetheart said

Que Sera Sera
Whatever will be will be
The future’s not ours to see
Que Sera Sera
What will be will be

Now I have children of my own
They ask their mother what will I be
Will I be handsome will I be rich
I tell them tenderly

Que Sera Sera
Whatever will be will be
The future’s not ours to see
Que Sera Sera
What will be will be
Que Sera Sera

Doris Day Que sera sera

Like most young children, I had as many aspirations as my diapers were changed, ranging from being a newscaster, an actress, a mother, a singer, a nurse, a pilot, a lawyer, a writer, a fashion designer….just about everything that you could think of in the book.

I don’t recall wanting to be a police officer, because the Nigerian police of my growing up years were not particularly inspiring.

We hardly knew what fire service men looked like, because if someone’s house unfortunately caught fire, they would attempt to quench the thirst of the licking hot flames with buckets of water while watching their properties turn to cinders, so I had no aspirations in that direction.

I fancied being a doctor at some point, because of the films that I watched, where they looked so capable and nice in their scrubs.

I dabbled a bit here and there in living my childhood dreams.

A bit of novice modelling and amateur acting, debating and writing for young magazines.

I learnt how to sew and realized that I would rather draw the designs than sew the clothes.

I studied law but I am not a practicing lawyer.

I went into international relations/French language and spent over a dozen years working with Multinational and Diplomatic corps.

After my children arrived, I waded into entrepreneurial ventures and found it to my liking – I love being the boss of me and having time for my young family.

In all my multi desires, the strongest desire which has not fallen by the wayside over time, but has only grown stronger has been my writing aspirations.

This is the flame that I want to keep stoking so that it can burn as high as possible and I think that my cumulative, diverse experiences brings a lot to bear into my writing.

I feel as if my writing is an embodiment of all my past aspirations and even those that are still at incubating stage such as some of my interests in Life coaching and Entrepreneurship. We shall see how it goes.

Now, I find several me’s embedded inside one me: Me (myself), me the wife, me the mother, me the child of my parents, me the writer, me the friend, me the life student and many more me’s to discover.

Life is a consistent transition and as I roll with the constant fluidity of life, part of the affirmations I make to myself are that:

I will live and not die wishing that I had lived better. I will live to declare the goods works of the Lord in the land of the living. I will live moment by moment, loving my life as it is and loving those around me. I will not live in fear of daring to succeed but will dare to succeed and fail forward.

The Daily Post Ballerian-Fireman-Astronaut-Movie-Star

When you were 10, what did you want to be when you grew up? What are you now? Are the two connected?

Image credit: Pinterest

Devotions · Family · Hope · Musings · Personal story · The Daily Post

Was I Truly Guilty Or Is It My Mind?…

December 1, 2015 jacquelineobyikocha18 Comments

There are moments in life that I look back on and wished that it could have turned out differently and this is one of those guilty moments: a letter to the young man that died.

However, with the realization that the past is where it belongs, one can only strive to a brighter present.

I have managed to get above and beyond these feelings by first and foremost, conscientiously working hard at forgiving myself for something that was beyond of my control.

At times, no amount of penance can get rid of the burden of sadness that weighs down on my mind when I ponder on some of the guilt-ridden episodes in my life but the amazing thing is that I have found that the more I reach up and look up to the sky, the less burdened I become.

Through Grace and Mercy which are not of my own will, but by succumbing to faith, hope, prayers, I can actually say, that I have the peace of The Lord which surpasses even my own understanding and that the haunting has ceased.

”My Grace is sufficient for you; for my Power is made perfect in weakness: 2 Cor: 12:9.”

The Daily Post prompt The Guilt That Haunts Me.

Share a time when you were overcome with guilt. What were the circumstances? How did you overcome you guilt?

Devotions · Hope · Life · Poetry/Poems

Barbara

November 30, 2015November 30, 2015 jacquelineobyikocha15 Comments

The pain stung her flesh,

But couldn’t pierce her soul!

Ha! She laughed in it’s face.

Her defiant laughter, a taunt in pains face.

Fiercely she fought,

Giving it her all,

Victorious she won,

Depriving pain, the gain of it all,

Though this flesh is gone for good,

She has exchanged it for a better one,

Her spirit lives on,

Her laughter shall echo in the winds,

Her unfading presence,

A cloak of comfort,

To those she left behind.

In memory of Barbara Beacham

inlinkz

As most of you know by now, Barbara Beacham, the lovely host of “Monday’s Finish the Story” flash fiction challenge, passed away from cancer, on Sunday, November 22.

Because she was a beacon for many of us, several people have asked that a flash fiction challenge be done in her honor and in her memory. This is a ‘special’ challenge and does not replace the normal weekly challenge which will be posted as normal.

Thank you Priceless Joy for presenting this humbling idea. May she rest well.

Image credit: Pixabay