Tuesday 31 December 2013

NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS: AN INTERNATIONAL RITUAL

We make them at the end of every year and break most of them before the new year runs out. Yep! They are our new year resolutions. Sometimes they consists of things we promise ourselves to achieve, other times, they are things we promise not to repeat again. The basic thing though is we all promise to do better, to strive to be better us.


At the end of the year in Nigeria, churches hold services of prayers, praise and worship. It's called the cross-over service. I don't know if this holds for other parts of the world. Lots of people try their best to attend these services whether they know the relevance of it or not. (I have attended a total of two of these services my entire life). Usually, the whole family, sometimes including the extended family (when we do make the trip to the village), gather together for 11:30 pm and pray till 1 am. Then we take "pepper soup" and go to bed.

Back to the church issue, some attend these services to thank God for the last year and pray for his mercies for the new year. Others attend because their friends and families are attending. The funny group are those who attend so it seems the started off the year on a good note and end up in the emergency with a laceration because they had a fight in a club, barely 2 hours after exiting the church premises.


It's okay to take look back, see what mistakes have been made and see what could be learned from them. They is however no point dwelling on those mistakes because, you'll only end up dragged back down. I just got home from work at 9 pm. That was almost 2 hours ago. While some people where hurrying to church, others wanted to spend time at one hangout joint or another. I get home and the kitchen is very busy. Apparently we have guests coming tomorrow.

Now there are about 6 churches around the location where my house is. (That's the fastest way of making money in the country I guess). So they have already started their vigil and I had to listen to many different songs and preaching at the same time. There also a few hangout places in the vicinity and they were busy blasting away their music. The children in their various homes were busy throwing carbide to indicate their presence. (For the benefits of those who don't know, carbides are miniature cigarette looking strips the contain the chemical "carbide" or some gunpowder that make a terribly loud noise when lit with a match. Other names are bangard or knockout). Interesting isn't it?


While all these commotion is going on, I'm busy writing this blog. So if I make some mistakes, just kindly point them out and they'll be corrected. Like I told you in my Christmas experience, I didn't I was going to escape being on call on new year's day. And so it is, I'm on call tomorrow.

Anyhow I'm just here to say we shouldn't wait till the 31st of every year to make our changes. We can do them anytime within the year. The year doesn't end at the beginning of the year, contrary to our many beliefs. It ends the day we die or a time God almighty decides. A time we do not know. That liver disease may not wait for you to make your resolution to stop drinking alcohol at the end of the year before it knocks on your door.
My new year resolution is the same every year and every month and everyday;

  • To remain eternally thankful.
  • To strive to be better in every way. 
  • To know God, love him and serve him better.
  • To aim always for the best believing with all my heart.

I'm also here to wish you a very HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!.... Have fun and God bless ya!

Cheers.....

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