#009. 2024: 5 Scribbles, 7 Notes.

Sometimes you become the paper, and allow life to scribble on you.

This is the second piece I'll be writing you this year. It may be the roundup.

Two letters in a year! Well, it's all good. Sometimes you turn to palm tree and dance to the music of storm.

That is, you become the paper, and allow life to scribble on you. Every tree that wants to always be the writer, and drags with the wind, end up as tissues of dust.

In other words, some experiences would challenge you, be vulnerable where vulnerability saves. I explained what took me away in the previous letter, and sought your thoughts.

So now, what are some lessons learnt this year?

Every event tangles into one lesson to teach us resilience.

2024 taught us the patience to sit and sort beans, then wait for it to boil. To keep doing your do's and wait, until the reward comes.

I.

The 04:00am Chef

A Sunday that will be merry is known right from Saturday. Such is how January was festooned with the story of how grace can extend its warm hand and pick one from the grass.

Sometimes, appreciating the person in your life only shows how valuable you too are. That's the story of Mummy Zee, Debbie, the woman who wakes up every 4am to cook for her husband:

Staying true to this sacrifice brought her a comfort, so much that she no longer has to wake that early to cook. All the material and monetary gift she received were worth almost forty million naira altogether.

In a twinkle of an eye, her X account went from 1k followers to 100k followers. Damn!

Debbie was not the first lady to declare her commitment and sacrifice to her relationship. A number of others have also woken up earlier to cook for their family. Grace only found mummy Zee, and I celebrate her. In fact, I tap from her grace.

Friends, she's still receiving gifts till date 😁

Rice and chicken has followed this. With some moneys.

See, when God is done, it is done.

II.

Posterity

Not quite longer than that, a BBC documentary of Synagogue church went viral. Some allegations against Prophet T.B Joshua and his ministry:

Here:

x.com/BBCAfrica/status/1744170823227674943?t=uNOjIcWzLpJ_BkoiaO5V-w&s=19

I wasn't shocked by the revelation. And just like the new leadership of Synagogue church said in their reply to the BBC documentary, "it wasn't the first time." But I, was like, "Finally!"

I have lost a very dear friend to the kind of practice and sceneries alleged to be perpetrated in Synagogue. My friend is still alive, but his mind and soul is in the hand of a supposed Muslim cleric, who held him in spiritual bondage.

See, there's nothing you wan tell me, when Kolawole Olawuyi marks you dark, then that's likely what you are. And God knows best.

III.

Jappa & Japada

The thing we say about grace. About fate. About alignment of one's star with an environment.

Many people have jappa and found fortune. For some, the rush with which they jappa is the same they used to japada— this happened a lot this year.

See, in your runnings, be it out or back in, don't run alone. When you run alone, it is called race. But when you run with God, it is called Grace.

We all are just living: we don't know what was written for us. We don't know the kind of prayers our fathers had told God upon us. Many of us do not know that we have only become our father's answered prayers. Our own prayers? They may just manifest in the in-betweenities.

Eheen! Wait! Why fathers' prayers? What about mothers'?

Brethren! It is mother's curse that strikes. And father's prayers are answered. Get prayers from your father. Do everything that makes this happen. And mother, ensure she doesn't curse. Make her happy. Her bliss is more powerful than prayers.

Back to the heading. In summary, look before taking leaps.

IV.

#NoGreeForAnybody

This was the slogan of 2024. Don't let the spirit leave you. Do your things your way, in your own pace. Don't be intimidated. Don't just lose track. I recommend getting the following books:

"The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck" by Mark Manson

"Everything is Fucked Up" by Mark Manson

"Unfuck Yourself" by Gary John Bishop

In these books, you'll learn the subtle way of not "gree-ing for anybody."

V.

Some Notes

These 7 notes are a scribble of their own. A product of my reflections through events and experiences across the year. Join me in this meditation!!!

Tonight, like many unusual nights, I sat me down like a toddler learning the texture of fabrics with his tongue. I clawed my tummy, maybe my intestines will summon the liver and lungs for a discourse. The heart is no longer the warm home for the spirit. The soul walks on its slippery floor. A fall is imminent. But the cloud of shame only gathers for the ubaid, it will [and has] never rain. I take heed. I, take heed. —ASWAGAAWY

Everything you fear actually fears you. Yes, the fire, too, does. It fears your affordability of water. But you, poor you. You underestimate the river of litanies that spring from your chest; Mahwuzatayn. Kursiyyu. The goodwill of your father. Merge them and you'll form an Atlantic of terror. You open your eyes after hours of sleep, and still go out in search of wonders. Man, you are a piece of miracle. But you don't know. You do not know the hundreds of eyes opened beneath the shroud. —ASWAGAAWY

You found healing, not because of the drops of antidote, but because you knew you were ill. Knowledge cures half of our ailments. Action does the rest. ilm without amal is a disaster. a decadence. but action without knowledge does more tumult. Friend, what do you know? Then, act! —ASWAGAAWY

In a world punctured by war, invasion, pogroms, and repression, love stands as solace. Love is the father in the aftermath of an earthquake, saying the words of faith to his son held down beneath the debris of a mansion. Love is the girl crying bitterly for missing a day without worship, after spending the whole day under rubble. It is a tenant welcoming his landlord into his makeshift tent after the landlord's house was reduced to dust. —ASWAGAAWY

Haven't you heard about Majnun and Layla? To truly love is to allow yourself to be hypnotized by the wand of euphoria. In the mystery of Rumi and Shams Tebriz, we learn from Shams that “If we are the same person before and after we loved, that means we haven't loved enough.” —ASWAGAAWY

I know litanies that open doors. I know chants that bang windows. I know utterances that reverberates like doorbells. I mutter them because a bell's cadence travels farther and deeper than knocks. I move from eavesdropping wits to analyzing them. —ASWAGAAWY

When the elephant was ruling, the lion was humbling down, busy sharpening his leading skills. Leadership isn't by height. Look at where a cat sits, perfection scents therein. It exudes the glory of the place a ladder is placed. The last thread sometimes holds longer than the full thread. —ASWAGAAWY (the toothpick that walks like a man)

So far so good, and so beautifully put, the year was awesome. Taught us lessons, back to back. Prepared us for the future.

What did 2024 teach you?

What are your takeaways from the year?

Share your thought in the comment.