Oh Mehn - That's not for me!

Some two or three weeks ago, my daughter came back from school and started saying "Oh mehn" as a response to everything that displeased her. At first, it was very funny to hear her say "oh mehn" and it made me laugh so much every time she said it. I think what was even more interesting and funny about the use of the slang was how accurately she used it. Something drops on the floor, she says oh mehn; you change the TV station from her cartoon to something else, she says oh mehn; she hits her leg, her toy or pencil falls, she makes an error with whatever she's writing (think of all possible scenarios you can use 'oh mehn'), and her response to any of those scenarios would be oh mehn. I should add that she had a way she said it - she would drag the words and her countenance would change to show how displeased she was about the situation.

Her dad and I were curious about where she heard it from and how she knew when to use it. We kept asking "where did you hear this?" and she kept giving us different names of her classmates. After the third day of baby D singing oh mehn into our ears, we started getting irritated. Hubs was the first to react. He would cut in anytime she said it and tell her firmly not to use the phrase and she would obey for a few minutes before slipping back into what now seemed like a bad habit. Even though I was also irritated (because of how she was overusing the slang- you know how babies can be when they learn a new word or song 😀), I played the good cop by correcting her more gently every time Hubs scolded her. I would ask her nicely to stop every time we're together- at bath time, while we're eating, at any given opportunity when I sense another oh mehn on the way.

By the end of that week, I caught my daughter trying to control her use of the slang on multiple occasions. Sometimes, she would have started the process but once our eyes meet, she would quickly change the mehn to "no", and then say "oh no".😀 The first time I noticed, I let out a little laugh and carried her to celebrate her effort. She laughed with me and I could tell she was proud of herself. Since then, the use of oh mehn has drastically reduced, and I guess I was waiting for her to finally stop before posting this (I'm joking 😃).

Early last week, I was reflecting on the entire situation and how far she had come from using the slang to almost forgetting about it. I was also opportune to go into her class at pickup time and finally meet the boy that says oh mehn, and of course, where she picked the slang from. I didn't do anything drastic, just in case you're wondering 😀. And that's because there is nothing wrong with the slang or the phrase "oh mehn." Absolutely nothing.

While reflecting, my mind went to I Corinthians 6:12 and 10:23 that basically say the same thing:

"All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify." - [10:23, NKJV]

“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything." - [6:12, NIV]

In both instances, Apostle Paul was admonishing the Corinthians not to misuse their liberty in Christ to engage in sins (in chapter 6, he was addressing specific sins, more particularly sexual immorality), nor to be inconsiderate of others (vs 24 of chapter 10 talks about seeking the good of others).

So how does this connect with baby D's oh mehn story?

The use of the slang itself is not wrong but something about it didn't sit right with Hubs and I, and honestly, I can't even tell you what it is. After ruminating over the incidence and the scriptures above for a while, plus the series of messages I listened to between that period and now, I realised that sometimes we're called to a different assignment and experience with God that requires letting go of things that may not be harmful in themselves but are not beneficial for our journey and those connected to us. Call it having a value system of some sort; family values; standards; guiding principles, whatever, we just didn't think it was okay for our 3-year old to be saying oh mehn, and we didn't just sit and watch her keep saying it while we murmured about it beneath our breaths. We helped her to stop.

I'm reminded of Samson and John the Baptist who both had specific rules and regulations guiding their lives - what to eat, how to look, what to do, etc. - because of their assignment. Not because most of the rules they had to follow were sinful or harmful in themselves, but they'd been called to a different path and could therefore not act like everyone else.

And that's my message today. It also doubles as my reflection for the month of February and a food for thought for you.

What is that thing you've been called to do that requires you letting go of seemingly unharmful things; things that would even boost your business for example but God is asking you to not do it the same way everyone does?

I'll use myself as an example.

Sometime last year, God specifically asked me to stop using trending audio (the secular ones to be more specific) for my videos on Instagram. 🙆🏽‍♀️ Shocking, right?

For one, I don't listen to secular music of any sort, whether it's vulgar or not, I just don't. What I listen to (especially music) plays a big part in how I think, behave and act/react. Music is a big part of my life and songs stick with me longer than videos. So I'm very careful about what I listen to.

For the longest time, I struggled with seemingly harmless secular music (especially all those West life songs - that's my limit when it comes to secular songs. I don't do any form of gragra, vulgar music 😅) but trending audio for Instagram reels didn't seem harmful to me. "It's just soundtracks which people have edited for the purpose of pointing and dancing and listing out whatever tips you have to share", I retorted in this conversation with God. But I knew better than to continue using them, even though I have a ton of trending, catchy audio to use for reels. If you follow me on Instagram (whether on my blog IG page or business IG page), you might have noticed that I've stuck to gospel songs as soundtracks for anything since this year started. Who says we can't use gospel songs as soundtracks on Instagram anyway? (I digress. 😀) 

Will the songs affect my faith? Absolutely not. (Let me give an example, so you can understand the type of songs I'm even talking about. It's not all those zazu type, it's songs like "can we skip to the good part?" 😀)

Do the songs contain vulgar words? No.

But I'm on this level in my walk with God that whatever He asks me to drop, I drop. No questions asked (to be honest, I still ask questions sometimes sha 🤣). But apart from this spiritual angle I'm bringing into this, I want to urge everyone reading this to develop a value system for yourself so that you won't be controlled by all things, whether harmful or not (meditate the scripture focus for today as highlighted above).

Not everything should go for you. And it doesn't have to be a major sin for you to say no, I don't do this, this doesn't work for me, this doesn't align with my goals/vision/mission, etc.

And if you struggling with developing a value system for yourself or letting go of things/habits God is asking you to drop (not because they're harmful in themselves), I'll encourage you to pray for grace and to completely trust that God knows what He's doing and why He's asking you to let go. Just trust and obey and grace will be made available to you to completely let go of those things.

Above all, be considerate (and respectful) of people around you instead of being judgmental about the core principles and values that they uphold. Don't be that person that responds with "na wa o, your own is too much; why are you acting so holier than thou?" when someone let's you in on what they consider as their principle(s). I won't go into details on this, as I want to assume we all understand what I mean.

That's where I'll draw the curtains today.

I hope this has blessed you in some way.

Till the next post,

Keep shining.

💛 x 💡