Of Calabashes and Dead Dogs : Q1 Reflections

 

Happy new month my dear blog fam.

It's 2:25am as I type and I've just submitted a particular presentation that is due in three hours from now. Even though I'm getting better with finishing tasks early and not waiting till last minute, I'm still beating myself for waiting till now to strike this off my to-do list, especially because I had ample time to submit way before now instead of depriving myself sleep at this time. 😀 But it's a good thing as I get to share my promised March gist and also carry you along in my First Quarter reflections. The first time I openly did this (the reflections) was last year on my YouTube Channel.

Watch here

But before I get into the reflections, I have plenty gist to share with you. I'll make it snappy, so let's go.

Gist 1: One of the interesting things that happened in March was coming home to see pandemonium in front of my neighbour's house. She was wailing (not crying o); screaming and there was a small crowd in front of her house, with some other people inside. 

I've never been inside my neighbour's house and I wasn't about to go find out what the cause of the pandemonium was because she has three huge dogs (I fear and don't like dogs). But apparently, one of the dogs (the newest of them) had bitten her and I don't know what led to what, but the dog died. I heard other neighbours trying to either get the dog off her to take her to the hospital or get her to leave the dead dog and let it rest in peace. 

How do I know this? Before I eventually opened my gate to carry my daughter and our school runs load in, I saw two other  neighbours carry the dead dog out and this my neighbour that owns the dog ran after them and was crying profusely that they shouldn't take the dog away.

Guys, e shock me. It was the first time I would witness someone mourning a dog live and direct. The wailing continued for hours and even Hubs that was not around concluded that it must have been because the dog died, when I gisted him (meanwhile, he also got back to still find the crowd in front of the house; this was about 4 hours after I had arrived and witnessed the drama).

So a quick one for my animal lovers and pet owners: Have you ever lost a pet before? How did it feel? (If this triggers painful memories, I sincerely apologise for that. You don't have to respond. I'm just very curious as to the depth of the relationship between pet owners and their pets and what the loss of a pet could mean/do to a person).

And to the rest of us, how does one commiserate with someone that has lost a pet (I barely know what to say when someone dies, so I'm usually very quiet till months after (sometimes))?
Has anyone close to you ever lost a pet? 

Please share with me so I can be a better neighbour or friend to anyone with a pet (I'm not praying anyone around me loses their pet o; not even my neighbour. I don't wish that type of wailing on anyone.)

Gist 2: Nigeria is preparing for her major elections next year and crazy things have been happening. From the rise in kidnappings to kidnapped victims found with missing body parts to ritual killings and the disturbing calabashes filled with sacrifices for the gods or whoever they're meant for littering the roads. There's a crossroad I have to drive through every day and in the past few weeks, there has been one calabash or the other filled with things like bean cake (akara) smeared with palm oil; or big chunks of yam and palm oil; solid pap and so on and I'm like eh God, what is this?🙆

Usually, some people push the sacrifices off the crossroad because it's always such a disturbing sight, and cars end up driving on the spilled food of the gods and I'm always worried for the "sacrifice-rs", because what does this mean for all their effort of midnight cooking and walking probably naked or clothed in white cotton fabric to drop these sacrifices bayi? Is the sacrifice still valid or has the sacrifice lost its potency? 😂

I managed to take a picture while driving out 2 days ago. Ignore the dirt everywhere biko.

Anyway, be careful out there people. Cover yourself in the blood of Jesus and remember we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers. Election year in Nigeria means so many things, but I pray you and all members of your family do not fall prey to any of the plans of the wicked.

Still on elections, if you're yet to get your PVC, please do so by registering here.

Gist 3: Facebook reminded me of something interesting that I would like to share here (and my reflections have started. Let's call this Reflection #1).

I'm a very creative person and I've always had a flair for designs. Back in secondary school, I was the designated paper designer for those that had pen pals in my class.😀 I used to decorate the paper for their letter writing with different things: from colourful stylish hearts to flowers and petals. I learnt how to draw people sitting right in front of me in primary school. I wasn't good at drawing from my imagination but if an object or a person was in front of me, I would draw it to perfection. So you can imagine what my biology diagrams looked like and how I became an unpaid artist for some of my classmates. 😂

In 2015, I went for my Masters and joined Redeemed Christian Fellowship on Campus and we were struggling to get people to attend fellowship. So I offered to design simple but eye-catching posters people could share on their Blackberry display picture at the time to encourage attendance. I had no clue how to go about it but I remember exploring Photogrid (the picture collage app) to create my first set of designs, until a friend told me about Canva.

The design Facebook reminded me of.

I started exploring Canva fully in 2016 when I volunteered to be designing posters for my Faculty and like they say, the rest is history. I now design and create content for four different brands and I have been opportune to design flyers for church events and concerts.

 

So when Facebook reminded me of the design I made in 2018, I was really proud of how far I've come.

I've since learnt how to use other tools (like Figma and Photoshop (I'm still learning this one, it's so hard 😓) and other aspects of design (Product design to be precise) but Canva and Graphics design will forever have my heart.

This blog post is getting longer than I planned. I'm sorry  but please stick with me as I list out my 1st Quarter Reflections in bullet form (I may or may not do another post to expound on each point. So stick with me).

Reflection #2: I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength [Philippians 4:13] has been my reality. I've had to juggle more new things this year and my conclusion is this: There's so much more on our inside. We sometimes don't know the extent to which God has endowed us with gifts and talents until we begin to dig deep.

Reflection #3: Peace is a weapon. I'll talk about this in another post (as the Lord permits me) but seriously guard your peace like you would your eyes from anything that wants to make you blind. I've done that this first quarter and I'm better and fresher for it (have you noticed me glowing in all my pictures? That's the secret o 😃).

Reflection #4: God is interested in having a relationship with you but you must be as interested in that relationship for it to work (same as with any other human relationship). I've prioritised (still doing this) my relationship with God over anything this first quarter and I guess that explains reflections 2 and 3.

Reflection #5: God takes care of His own. This one enh, let me just come back to talk about it in another post. This is my testimony and I'm forever in awe of God.

How was your first quarter? Did you smash your goals? Did anything interesting happen that you would like to share with me? Feel free to do so in the comments. I'll love to read from you.

If you didn't smash your goals (I didn't smash all my goals too), please don't be hard on yourself. You've got another day, another month and several months to come to achieve your goals. 

You're here and that's all that matters. Celebrate your small wins and work towards achieving your set goals. I'm rooting for you.😉

Whew! I'm done typing.

If you read till this point, you're a star. Thank you so much.🙌

Till the next post, it's bye for now.💛