"Bye Bye" Mr. Familiarity!!!


He kept on walking closer and closer to his final destination. There were many hallways in this huge building, and he had to find his way to room 500. He looked at the map again to be sure he was on the right path.

Before he made a left turn into the next hallway, he thought of what happened when he woke up this morning. Nwaneka gave him a huge kiss on his lips and said, “What do you want for breakfast honey? Make a special request.” His wife was a mushy-mushy creature. He was so going to miss her warm hugs and kisses for a long time. This morning she wanted him to make a special request, seeing as she wasn’t going to be with him for a really long time. He had asked her to please make him a large-sized pancake and put a lot of whipped cream at the middle, that was what he wanted and that was the breakfast she loved preparing most too, with a cup of steaming hot chocolate on the side. She obliged and got up to go to the kitchen.

Back to reality. He kept walking forward. He made the left turn and saw some soldiers standing in a long file to the left-hand side of the hallway, with their right hands raised to their temples. He halted and raised his right hand to his forehead too, and then kept walking down the hallway. He was walking towards the United States flag. As he walked towards the end of the hallway, he back-tracked to 6.30am that same morning. Nwaneka was still in the kitchen, and by this time the whiffs and sensations of the aroma was coming upstairs to their bedroom. He decided to sneak up on the twins, Taiwo and Kehinde. It was too early for them to get up because it was Saturday and they had no school. But he went inside their bedroom and gave them a kiss, each on their foreheads. Taiwo opened her eyes and said, “Good morning daddy,” and then closed her eyes again. Kehinde didn’t even budge. She was the more playful one and didn’t sleep for two hours after Taiwo had already gone to bed last night, so he already expected that. He snapped back to reality again, he had reached the end of the hallway and saw the big double-doors. He looked back and smiled. Then he proceeded forward.


As he entered the room, all the people who were sitting down got up to give him a standing ovation. He walked forward and joined the other five astronauts who were standing on the NASA platform. He shook hands with them and stood, with his left hand holding tight to his head gear. They kept on clapping for what may have seemed like a lifetime, until the space ship opened its doors. The six of them stood, waving their hands to the crowd, with silent promises of returning with the joy of accomplishing their task in space. They were traveling to the moon to investigate yet another phenomenon. One of them was going to place the United States flag on the moon when they got there. He blew a kiss to Nwaneka and the twins, as they stood waving to him amongst the crowd of people, and he said his final “bye-bye” to familiarity.


I remember one day in primary school in Port-Harcourt, they had just finished building a brand new library for my school. All the primary 4 kids, like me, rushed into the library during our class break to explore all the new books. My eyes settled on one of the encyclopedias, and it was about Space Exploration. That day, I came back home and informed my father that I was going to become an astronaut, and he threw his head back and laughed so hard. Then later when he was calm, he told me that was an excellent aspiration. Even though, now I know that he would protest a little bit if I said I was going to space for three years. I definitely do not want to be an astronaut right now anyways (lol).
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This story was inspired by the fact that sometimes we get so comfortable in our ‘comfort zones’ that we don’t strike out to explore who we are really meant to become. Your light is for the benefit of the whole world. I light my lamp so you can light yours too. I give, so you can start giving too. I extend my hands, so you can choose to extend yours too. Together, we can break the chains of unfamiliarity and do what we were designed by God to do. You are called for something greater than your little box right now. Have you ever stretched your imagination? Because the bible says that God can go above and beyond all that you can ever ask, think or imagine. Do you even have any imagination about how great you are? Do you think about it sometimes? Do you have secret dreams and visions? Break free! Say "bye bye" to Mr. Familiarity.

Proverbs 28:1 "The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion..."

21 comments:

chichi said...

wow am FIRST ok let me do a small jig...

ok now 2 d post; wow dats deep and so true... we get so comfortable with where we are WHEN THERE IS ACTUALLY MORE!! there is MORE... wow!!

fear does get us 2 hold back; and all God wants us to do is MOVE and keep moving till we get to be who his son died for us to be; till we get to live the life he designed and pre-planned 4 us!!

i love ur conclusion it mde me think and made me realize... 'im something aren't i?*wink*

chichi.

Remi, United Kingdom said...

I love this post, and the fact that I am no 2 lol...
I once told my dad that my ambition was to sit in the office and sign cheques all day, and this being when I was 8 years old! lol..

Well the bible does tell us tha we are the salt of the earth, not one part of the earth or square foot of it, but the whole earth, and for the world experince our saltiness, we must be all that God has ordained us to be.
The bible also says that we should let our light shine, not under a basket, but on a mantle piece where it will guide someone to the kingdom. For out light to shine we must bring forth that very essence of who God has already made us to be, we must go past the gateway of fear, of the unknown, and embrace the reality God has placed in our hearts....
girl.. God bless u real good for this post.

Chris Ogunlowo said...

Very edible post.
I'm lovin' your blog.

Cheers.

Naija Chickito said...

I made a conscious decision that this year, I would not box God in my life. That to me means everything is possible. I will not be limited by my unbelief or shortsightedness. Now the only way for me to do this is get closer to the one with the plan. It hasn't been easy, but it has been so worth it. I believe I can fly....look, I'm indeed flying.

Thank you for this reminder. As always, this is a wonderful piece.

darkelcee said...

This is another wonderful piece.

Thanks for the encouraging words.... to break free and "move on up"

Uzo said...

Oh my, i felt the love in this post...

Jennifer A. said...

Chichi, my imagination ran a little bit wild for a second and I imagined that u were probably standing up and smiling, and shouting with a with a loud voice and saying, "we get so comfortable with where we are WHEN THERE IS ACTUALLY MORE!! there is MORE... wow!!! Yes, u ARE somn! Lol.

Remi...Ha ha ha...so u wanted to be signing cheques all day! Hilarious! "and for the world experince our saltiness, we must be all that God has ordained us to be..." Remi, I couldn't have said that any better. Ooooooohhhh...we really have to learn to define ourselves the way God has already defined us, and not by the world's standards. We are LIGHTS on a hill that cannot be DIMMED.

Honeywell...I hope it ministered to u in a very unique way...:)

Aloofar...thanks dear...

Naija Chickito...u're so on the right track its not even funny! First, to be limited by our "shortsightedness" is like a disease, because then we won't be able to see ourselves the way God has designed us to be. Instead, we'll be seeing our various imperfections and we'll be thinking there's no way out...that there's no way to be a light. But it's not by our power or might...

Darkelcee...u're welcome darling. Yes, maam...break free and move on up!!! *Wink*

Uzo...lolllllllll...I'm so glad u did!!!!! :)

Anonymous said...

May it not be our portion!....it can cause one not to realize their purpose in God or start and fail along the way due to distractions. Bye to familiarity.

♥♫♪nyemoni♫♪♥ said...

Beautiful, inspirational words...harder to do than saying it but I believe that we are called for something greater than we imagined.....You are so on point Jaycee...you have a calling in writing you know?

princesa said...

Inspiring!

Allied said...

i so Like, admire, adore, like, crush on, cherish and relish this post..

I have been thinking about "comfort zones" i dream and and leave it like that - dream

But God has called me to be something greater.. And i pray he elevate me soon.

Jennifer A. said...

Jem...distractions are definitely a sure evil...we actually have to keep our eyes entirely "focused" on the "prize" so as not to get caught up in the world of distractions. I'm imagining a soldier at war, running and running...and then he falls down, a land mine blows...yet he gets up to keep running...to his distant destination. Beautiful point there.

Nyemoni...yes, we're called for something greater than our little boxes (my new mantra). @ the writing remark, lol...my eyes are anxiously waiting and looking upwards to God...to see...the future :)

Princesa...:)

Allied...its amazing how two people can be thinking about the same ideas. Yes, God has called you to be something greater than you are right now...yes darling! YES!

Unknown said...

true talk!!

Anu boy said...

okayyyyyyyyy...

food for thoughts...

this Brother is so full

thanks mehn,
meanwhie wetin de pops?

Simi Speaks said...

umm. u know ur piece spoke directly to me, right? i got teary eyed reading it..

thx for the inspiration,girlie. 'preciate!

Afrobabe said...

wow....as wonderful as all ur inspirational posts...

Jinta said...

bye bye, mr familiarity

Sasuke said...

men pure inspiration babe, pure inspiration!

nice write up feeling it plenty plenty

uNWrItten* said...

wow i really really really really liked this..u have no idea...

thank you!

Jennifer A. said...

Pamela...yep, true. How r u doing dearie?

Anu boy...aww...I hope u're still full from that day, and hope ur cup is running overrrrrrrrr...lol. I just dey like Dele for hia! :) (I'm cool, calm, collected, and excited...at life in general).

Simi dearie...wow, I love when things like what u just said happens. I pray that you will not just show those emotions, but that the testimony of ur life will replay just how much you were impacted by this. Wow! Thank God...

Afrobabe...:) *Hugs*

Jinta...for real! Lol...

Sasuke...plenty, plenty, eh? :)

UnWritten...wow...*smile* (I'm sure the way u feel about this post transcends what I'm thinking in my head). May God make ur life story a "testimony."

Waffarian said...

First of all, I am not sure if this is my first time here, but if it is, then hard to believe! Very good post.

Reminds me of something I read recently.."its better to live your own destiny imperfectly than to live an imitation of somebody else's life with perfection"