I woke up and a memory from years ago assailed my mind.  It was a conversation about spiritual sicknesses and how they are like boils and cancers.     An elder from my former church who held me in high esteem and whom I respected a great deal phoned me up after she heard I had a child outside wedlock   I recall that sunny day vividly as I stood at the balcony of our Banana Island offices overlooking the car park of the Telco where I worked   When the issue of my burden of shame and feeling like a failure

"How were you invited to the party and your brother was not?" I prodded as we cycled around the Park. "I don't know" "But aren't you all in the same class?" I tentatively asked during this mother-and-son bonding session. Drawing water out of this well when he does not want to talk is an art I am still learning "Yes. But *Sean* and *Prince* are in different groups so they do not talk to each other" Sean is his friend-brother while Prince is the birthday

"Do not tell me.  I don't want to hear it again".  I groaned as anger-spiced tears sprang.  By now, I had uncurled from the Baby pose to a Plank position on my Prayer Mat.  The words rankled as I read them "for I know the plans I have for you, plans for welfare and not for evil. To give you a future and a hope.  Then you will call on me and..."  "But when will you do it?   I have been banging on your door for how long now over this simple thing yet you.....". I pounded the floor in frustration with fists thereby

The Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi celebrates the transience and imperfection of life.It sees beauty where we see ugliness. Detour where we see a cul-de-sac. And from it derives the concept of Kintsukuroi - A word which urges us to accept failings and extend grace to ourselves and others.Kintsukuroi profoundly challenges our grasp of aesthetics. In a world where damaged and ageing are shamed, kintsugi takes broken pottery and instead of tossing them away like rubbish, restructures them with gold. That simple process ushers in a new life while still celebrating the old.   In a recent post,