Ember is not an assassin, Death is


Dad came back home with a bag of goodies in his hands and his usual smile on his mouth.

"I've got news"  he said

Ears leaned in, expecting some general news. Dad sat down, silent, still wearing his sanguine, always optimistic smile.

"Talk na" said my now anxious ma.

He looked at ma intently before spewing in her face like vomit

'Papa Ella is dead! Papa Ella is dead! Papa Ella is dead!'

My eyes and mouth widened as my brain froze. Ma didn't know when she sent what she had in her hand flying across the room.

Even my sister had now heard and burst out of her room, with hands on head or something like that. I can't quite remember but one of those body gestures that suggests grievance, I was too frozen to notice.

Daddy Ella, (I never knew his name) our very nice, peaceful and helpful former neighbour had died in a stroke leaving his young wife and two girls under 8 years old behind.

I let the news sink in and there was just this one thought blaring in my head.
WE ARE IN THE 'EMBER' MONTHS!!

It took a while before I snapped out of it, but I did.

Let's talk about the 'EMBER' months for a while shall we?

No I am not going to talk about how The Romans/Catholic Church came up with this calendar that we know today. This is not some history paper

But I can't help but wonder why the last 4 months have 'BER' attached to them. (They ran out of names?)

I do wander Why human beings especially Nigerians just noticed that people die.

Like somewhere in the realms, on death's calendar, EMBER months are declared 'People hunting season' (like what did Death kill before?) and our minds have been conditioned to expect death to attempt on us at least once.

It's been like that for donkey years,

Go any where in Lagos, some shop or home is playing the ever green year ending song 'Odun lo so pin o, Baba mimo' (The year is coming to an end, Holy Father)

Our churches heavily offer prayer points that shield them from the 'BERlistic' missiles of death.

(The grim reaper drops his trademark scythe for the BERlistic missile because there will be more casualties)

Psalm 91 is now the trending scripture

One 'goal' that subconsciously registers our mind. 'I must make it to next year'

I'm not against prayerbut I'm against the fear that is being sold in this period of the year.  We should all pray and PRAY EVERYDAY, WITHOUT SEASON not only reatively when situations seems ominous.

Besides praying in fear only amounts to wasting of time.

'For without faith, it is IMPOSSIBLE to please God' Hebrews 11:6 

We should not be like Job who offered up prayers and sacrifices for protection but later on said
'...the very thing I feared the most has come upon me' Job 3:25
Live your life void of fear. We don't own our lives anyway. We may live now, survive till next week, month or next year but can you guarantee the next five years or ten? Do you have the survival map? I guess not. That's why it's important to have a relationship with the Lord Jesus and have an anchor for your soul so that WHEN eternity comes beckoning (because we would all leave this world someday), you'd know where you'd be spending it.
No fear abeg. Work, pursue your dreams and goals for the year. Live wise, die ready. There is a harvest coming.

I'll end this post with a little rant by my friend Temi Enemigin that inspired this piece.


" So if you don't add 'EMBER' months' and make a fuss about it, folks won't realize that we are in the last quarter of the year.
Who is ember month sef? Haff it baff? Haff it wear Christmas dress?
Please September is still fresh and full of possibilities. Allow us to enjoy it. EMBER is not an assassin, Death is. And it kills folks from January to December."

Thanks for reading. Have a great week.
As ironic as it sounds, I pray God will see us through the rest of the year. Amen. 😁

Temi Emeginin blogs at elyonsparadise.com. Do check it out. She's a mind blowing writer.

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