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What a year it has been for the majority of Nigerians. They have had to contend with subsidy removal, the US dollar slamming the naira on the canvas and stomping on it like the wrestlers in the popular World Wrestling Federation bouts shown on TV, and of course, the price of goods bursting through the roof.
Through it all, Nigerians, ever so resilient, have weathered the storm. Bear in mind that they did not receive “prayer points” (with apologies to you know who) in their email boxes.
Notwithstanding all the troubles came from left and right, the average Nigerian is determined participate with joy in the annual celebration that marks the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, Saviour of the whole world. And then march into the New Year with great hope for a better year filled with new directions and new possibilities.
For most children, the Yuletide is simply that time of the year when Mommy and Daddy buy special Christmas clothes and new shoes for them. The chicken, salad, ice cream and other delicacies eaten at Christmas taste better and different from the other times of the year.
With just eight days left to D-Day the shopping plazas and markets are seething with human traffic as mothers move from shop to shop with children in tow, trying out new readymade clothes and shoes. Many other mothers have been busy filling their freezers with dressed chicken and other choice meat products, to make the Christmas a memorable experience despite the hardship in the land. They are so determined not to allow the economic difficulties take away their joy.
But wait for one second: what could possibly be a better way to mark the Yuletide than for one to make peace with God through Jesus Christ, receive the gift of salvation and hope of eternal life? Tell me, what can be more memorable than that? The experience of the spiritual rebirth will flood back each year when the Yuletide season arrives, making the person’s annual Christmas celebration even sweeter. The experience would be a treasured Christmas gift.
In this season are hundreds of thousands and even millions of people who have various health challenges that have left them traumatised and agonizing. Who is in such a condition that would be happy? Consider the story of a Reverend Sister who came all the way from Canada, with faith and earnest hope of being healed during the “Odieshi” special prayer programme of Zion Prayer Movement Outreach, Okota, Lagos.
Her testimony: “‘My name is Rev. Sister Juliana Eligwe, I came from Manitoba in Canada with a wheelchair and my cane. I am a native of Uzuakoli in Abia State. Three years ago, I had an accident that affected my legs.To come on this trip, I was carried in a wheelchair into the plane, and used my walking stick to support myself all through the flight until I landed at Port Harcourt International Airport, in Rivers State.
When I got here, during the prayer, I was singing and asking God to heal me. I said that for three years, I had been walking with a mobility aid. I said that this would be the last time I would use any type of assistance to support myself and walk around.
“In the course of my treatment, the Canadian doctor said I needed to do a knee replacement surgery, which I rejected and told him that I believe in the God of Zion. I said I will go to the Odieshi prayer programme and come back without any aid. I can testify that it has just happened right here.”
Pronto, Reverend Eligwe took some celebratory dance steps and shouted, “It has happened, God has given me a Christmas gift.”
Most people think spousal differences are huge. But some quarrels between siblings can also cause deep rifts, resulting in deep-seated hurts, resentment and bitterness. A family very well known to me had similar issue, which led to a fundamental problem. Francis and Franklin happened to be twins and had a younger brother called Christian. The twins had formed the conviction that Christian often showed them disrespect while he felt that his older brothers did not show him affection as was expected of them. “For instance,” Christian whined, “they don’t allow me wear their clothes and shoes like some of my mates wear the clothes of their older brothers.”
Enmity crept in between the brothers. Their aged mother tried to reconcile the siblings without success. The twins later travelled to the United States for greener pasture. After Christian lost his job with an airline where he was a ticketing officer, he was able to get visa and also relocated to the US. The animosity between the twins and Christian continued for eight years in the US to the point that all their kinsmen in America had to summon a general meeting of all sons and daughters of the community in the US, to look into the case that for long defied the entreaties of their mother.
During the meeting, one of the older women said to them: “We want you to make peace with each other. If you will embrace between yourselves it will make us proud if you and it be the best Christmas gift for as members of your extended family and kinsmen.” What she said struck the right chord in the mind of the estranged brothers and they made up. The resolution of the rift between the brothers laid the foundation for a memorable Christmas celebration by the brothers and their families.
In another instance, two families (Okoroigwe and the Agunwa), from the same kindred in a community in Owerri East have also been in an age-long land tussle. On account of the bad blood between the two families, they could never agree or cooperate on any issue. The rift between the families had lingered for about 50 years. The two families had produced two generations of maturing grandchildren and grandchildren dispersed overseas, who did not know they were from the same kindred. Then, Jerry and Mariah met as young Christians in a fellowship in Canada. Both came back home only to discover they were cousins forbidden to marry each other. Mariah happened to be the niece of Jerry’s father. She was taken away at infancy by the mother, when her marriage to the brother of Jerry’s father hit the rocks. It took the intervention of a young well-focused Agunwa during one of the Christmas periods, who began to query the inheritors of the rift of their aged parents about what their families had gained over the years from it. Using the case of Jerry and Mariah as an example, he enlightened the families on the dangers that lay ahead for them if peace was not brokered immediately to save the younger generation. It was such a harsh realization that made the two families embrace peace and open a WhatsApp group according to their lineage and began posting pictures and contact details. Since the return of peace and true kinship, the elders of the families now enjoin all to return home during the Christmas celebration in commemoration of their unity and peace.
Dear Nigerians, there are many Christmas gifts that one can receive from God but then we need to open our hearts, do introspection and drop some things that do not give God glory. Christmas gifts come with forgiveness which exists in patience and kindness. The season is about having a forgiving heart and living with a forgiving nature. These are the greatest gifts of Christmas. After hurting our friends, relatives, colleagues and associates in the course of the year with cruel remarks, the Yuletide period offers us the best time to forgive and make peace. Doing this is the greatest and best Christmas gift to give. Don’t forget Jesus Christ, the reason for the season, came to earth forgive and redeem mankind from eternal condemnation in Hell. Find your way or reason to make this Christmas a memorable experience.
