Welcome to 2024. You might have achieved all your goals and more for 2023. Maybe you met it half way. It could also be that the hope for the realisation of your goals for 2023 was deferred. Own the moment, every season is for a reason. There are several reasons your goals might not have been achieved or delayed. Maybe you had some disappointments. Or perhaps you experienced scarcity of resources, but what if I tell you that abundance does not equate the fulfillment of purpose? If you have ever experienced scarcity, you would readily wish it away. I also would but there are more lessons to learn in scarcity than when there is more than enough of anything. Optimise your moment of lack so you don’t miss it when there is abundance.

The sun rises and sets just like every other day but the feeling is different. The moon glows to herald the twilight as typical of the day but the atmosphere is different. The stars glitter to attract the beauty of the skies but the excitement is different. It’s a season of love, a season of giving, a season of sharing. It is more than religion, it transcends faith. The season is not conscious of race, it is not colour sensitive, neither does it respect geographical boundaries.

It was a moment of sweet nostalgia for me yesterday as I was The Guest of Honour at the enrollment and rededication service of the 14th Company of the Boys’ & Girls’ Brigade of Nigeria in my home church, St Philip’s Anglican Church, Aramoko Ekiti. Seeing the young boys and girls being enrolled to the Company drew tears of joy from me as I recalled how earnestly I desired to be a member of the 14th Company of The Boys’ Brigade of Nigeria many years back. The experience was particularly humbling and exciting for me as I inspected the parade as The Guest of Honour when I remembered that as a growing child, I was a member of this particular Company, a moment I cherished as a young boy programmed for Christ.

I am delighted to introduce my new book, Feathers of Hope. Feathers of Hope is a perfect gift of hope you can give yourself or anyone you love and care about who places a high premium on self-development and relationship building. It is a practical guide to self-discovery and rediscovery. This handbook is particularly unique as it provides you with an inspirational message for each of the 365 days that make a year. Culled from my daily teachings, this book will help you navigate life’s challenges and strengthen your relationship with people towards achieving lasting success.

When reality dawns, the thing you never imagined could happen becomes a topical issue. That is a good time to appreciate the omnipresence of the Almighty as the only all-knowing God. The news was shocking but it is real, after all, that Pastor Taiwo has transited. His good life was long enough. Some people come into your life and become simply irresistible. Such was the story of Pastor Taiwo in my life. I came to Fountain of Life Church as a wedding guest in 1999. My wife (then my fiancée) invited me to her friend’s elder sister’s wedding. I had my local church at the time. It only took Pastor Taiwo to give the message to the newly wedded couple and I surrendered to his spiritual mentorship without any prompt. After the message, I looked at my wife and she looked at me. The message was clear. We have found our local church.

If men were God, the speedy effect of apology would have been magical but because man is not God, it is not easy for him to forgive as quickly as God does. God is quick to forgive the biggest sin but not same with man. Sometimes, apology travels slowly. One of the most insensitive things I’ve seen people do is to berate someone who has been offended for not forgiving quickly. Sometimes, we say the person should forgive and forget. After all, apology has been tendered. How easy is it to forget? I often wonder. Depending on the magnitude of hurt, some wounds take time to heal, even when apology has been tendered. To be conscious of this is to be slow to say or do things that inflict wounds on others when it is within our control.

Fathers are meant to love, yet they are meant to be strong but according to Izogie, “love makes you weak”. In other words, to love and be strong is tough. It sounds more like a paradox but before you hasten to critique the contradiction, let me tell you who Izogie is. This is so that your judgement may be balanced. The Woman King is an African movie, rich in culture, perfectly scripted, excellently delivered. It is the story of the liberation of Dahomey people from the Oyo Empire by the women warriors, the Agojies. Jimmy Odukoya played one of the lead roles as Oba Ade, leading the Oyo Empire warriors. I must say his delivery was top notch. Nanisca was a woman warrior, a war general. She was assisted by Igozie to command the palace guards. You are probably wondering the correlation between The Woman King and fatherhood. Just a moment.

To students of history, June 12 represents many things in the annals of Nigeria’s history. Call it the good, the bad and the ugly, but reminiscing this journey, one can now say, and safely too, that with June 12, 1993, Nigeria failed forward. Oftentimes, it sounds right to forget the past and move forward, particularly when it is bad or ugly, but that relates more to the ideal. In reality, it is difficult to move forward without a good sense of history.

If I say you are selfish, you are likely to react to my harsh words but if I say an average human being is selfish, you are more likely to give me an ear to know what I want to say next. Sometimes, you see yourself doing what you accuse the other person of either doing or not doing right and you turn round justifying it because it is you and not the other person. I recall 2012 when former President Goodluck Jonathan attempted to remove fuel subsidy. The opposition plus the civil society was unanimous in grinding the economy to a halt until he capitulated and we returned to status quo.