A Bunch of Sour Grapes

Inspiration for young Christian women. Have you ever heard someone use this expression, “It’s just a bunch of sour grapes?” Perhaps you’ve even used it before without knowing what it meant or you may have used the broken English form of it, “Abeg leave am jor, nothing dey there.”

Okay then, let me tell you a little story about a bunch of sour grapes. Mr. Fox was whistling as he walked down the forest path. Then he saw this bunch of grapefruits, completely ripe and looking so juicy. He just had to have them. So, he tried to reach for the grapes but every time he tried to pluck any it seemed to stretch further from his hand. Finally, he gave up and hissed, “They’re probably just a bunch of sour grapes, anyway,” he said and sauntered away with his wounded pride.

We’ve all had one or two experiences with a bunch of sour grapes. At least, I can admit that I’ve abandoned a number of things I just felt weren’t working out and labeled them a bunch of sour grapes. We say it’s good to persist but persistence is too difficult and degrading. Once you try and it doesn’t work out, you just give up and move on to something else.

I can’t think of one invention that didn’t come through persistence. Thomas Edison didn’t discover the light bulb in a day. He tried and failed a good number of times. You didn’t succeed at a job interview and you’ve given up already, saying, “This job thing is just not for me, please. What’s the hype all about?” Maybe they’ve told you that faith works and you can be healed through faith. The day you became really sick, you tried all you were taught on faith for healing and it didn’t seem to work so again you labeled it a bunch of sour grapes.

The woman whose daughter was terminally ill didn’t give up even after Jesus told her that He couldn’t give what was meant for the kids to the dogs. She didn’t take offence rather she found a way to make it work for her by saying that even the crumbs under the table could be given to the dogs and Jesus marveled at her faith.

The truth is that as simple as faith is sometimes you require persistence to really operate in it. Jesus told us that if we have faith as tiny as a mustard seed then we could move mountains with it. If you’ve ever seen a mustard seed then you know that it’s just about the same size as a grain of sand. Can you have faith as small as a grain of sand? Do you know how many things you could have lost in life by giving up instead of holding on in faith?

It really shouldn’t be that difficult for us to have faith. A baby never doubts that his mother will breast feed him when he is hungry. Why then do we find it so hard to believe that our Father will do what he promised to do for us? Didn’t He say that our earthly parents cannot give us snake when we ask for fish neither can they give us stone in place of bread so how much more our heavenly father who loves us dearly.

 

I’m often tempted to call everything that I didn’t get easily a bunch of sour grapes but I’ve learned something better. I’m learning to persist and have faith. After all, I’m a femmetotale. Wouldn’t you try it too?

 

Femmetotale

The more obvious ones

Look around and you’ll see them. They don’t hide in plain view. They have your attention even before you realize that you’re looking. Enter any classroom and you’ll see them. They are the center of everyone’s attention, giving tutorials to their classmates on lectures they received together. When it’s time to choose characters for the school drama they get lead roles. Nobody gets surprised. There’s no contest. Sometimes they move in groups, fulfilling the proverbial saying that birds of the same feathers flock together. Sometimes they walk alone. Enter any establishment and you’ll see them. They are the ones directing their colleagues on what to do. They are in churches too. Check your choirs and you’ll see them leading worship like they’ve sat in the presence of God forever. Go to the modelling industry. They’re the ones that have ‘super’ attached to their names. In the movie industries, they easily get the lead roles. They have been doing it all their lives. There is a mark of special quality in them that is not hidden. It’s not difficult to pick them out in a crowd. They are the more obvious ones.

I’ve noticed that in this world chances are always given to the more obvious ones. It’s just human nature to give opportunities to those that are not hesitant to step up and take centre stage. It didn’t start today. Generations upon generations have always picked out the more obvious ones. Supposing you’re in a managerial position and you need to get a job done. Naturally, you’ll choose the one that volunteers or appears capable of handling such responsibilities. Meanwhile there may just be someone hidden in the background who is more than capable of taking the lead. It’s just human nature.

Even the bible is filled with examples of the more obvious ones. When the Prophet, Samuel went to anoint a king in the house of Jesse, David’s father, he saw so many obvious ones. All David’s brothers were tall, huge and king-like. David’s father did not even remember to call him from the fields. Also, later in his life, when Goliath was threatening their land and David showed up to challenge him, nobody thought he was going to achieve much. Perhaps if it had been one of his brothers in the army the people would have hailed him jubilantly. Many decades after Jesus also faced the same issue. There was just no way the people could accept that he was the Messiah. He wasn’t huge and powerful like Samson. He wasn’t commanding any army like Joshua. He was just a simple man.

We always look out for the more obvious ones. During interviews and recruitments, the one with better qualifications and references always seems like the best choice. When choosing a partner, the one with the better job and better looks always seems like the best choice. Even when choosing friends, nobody goes for the less attractive person. Anybody walking with human feelings and understanding will always go for the more obvious ones. It is only with discernment that you can detect the right one. If you look very well there may be a small David somewhere that is able to achieve much more than you can imagine.

Sometimes you need to pay more attention to the less obvious ones.

Femmetotale.

About girls and their naked hobbies

It just keeps popping out at you everywhere. You don’t even need to be looking. Out in the streets, TV programmes, movies, pictures on the internet, facebook, tumblr, and this must be the worst…twitter. It’s like some naked frenzy has hit us with the rise of social media. There’s no controlling it. In fact, these days, I’m beyond mortified when they pop out at me.

So what am I going on about? Let me put it this way. I like checking out twitter cos of the plenty news flashes and gists I get on twitter. You know these days the fastest way to get info on what’s happening is by checking twitter updates (who knew gossiping could make such a lucrative career?) as often as possible. Like seriously, I once called my sis to ask her what was happening in her area cos I had just head of some fracas going on there. She was pretty surprised and was like, “How come you’ve already heard about something that is just happening now?” Well, I was just a lil bit cocky when I said, “The world is now a global village, you know and I’m very Y2K compliant.”

That day, I was just innocently going through the Avatars of some people on twitter (don’t ask me if I was that bored cos I sincerely was) when I saw something that left me feeling so scandalized. It’s this new found hobby some girls now have. Taking nude pictures of yourself is one but putting them up on the internet…hmm! It’s like there some kind of naked competition going on and someone is like I can be more naked than you on the internet. I mean, I don’t watch porn and I don’t go seeking out porn-like stuff to watch. In fact, porn is even very different because it usually involves people you may never get to meet in your life but to see the naked picture of someone I may know is beyond scandalizing and mentally scarring. Ladies, abeg naa help us! It’s bad enough that many walk the streets half nude but… putting this stuff on the internet with your face completely exposed? Please don’t ask me to elaborate more on what I saw in the picture. Let me just say that you would pass out if you were to see a picture of your daughter looking like that.

Someone said some of those pictures are private pictures that were leaked on the internet by someone who wanted to deal with the girl involved. Some others were taken in the name of having fun and sent to their boyfriends and somehow got leaked and of course there are still some that were taken with the full intent of posting them on the internet for people to see. And I’m like can’t these girls think beyond their youthful days to the times they will be mothers and grand-mothers? What about their immediate future when some of them will be searching for jobs? Do you know that a lot of employers now check out potential employees first on the internet before they recruit?

I was doing some research for my academic work and in the process I read about online profiling. Your profile can be built by someone who has never seen you before just by following your pattern of surfing the net through the use of cookies and your IP address. Everything you do on the internet is recorded somewhere. You may say that why would anybody want to go that far to find out who you are but even your profile on facebook says a lot about who you are. At least I know how many times I’ve checked out potential employees on facebook. The stuff you put up on twitter and other social media also matter.

Someone is thinking, what’s the big deal? You can’t cry over something that is bigger than you. I’m one of those people that may turn a blind eye to some of these things and keep mum but mehn…ah ah e don too much naa.

So, if you’re one of those that have naked hobbies please think of the future especially if you’re still single and unemployed. Abeg find something more worthwhile to do.

Femmetotale.

You can read up more about building a Clean Online Personality for your dream job here.

I’d like to know what you think too. Just leave me your comments in the comment box. ciao!