LET’S BARE IT ALL: Favour or not favour?

You’re approaching the chamber of ‘bare it all’. So take off your ‘judgemental glasses’ and ‘sanctimonious thinking faculty’. But please leave on your ‘able wrists/hands’ and ‘willing-mind-to-contribute’.

Any time I flash back to the memories of my primary/elementary school days, there are so many memories that I know will never take a step out of my hippocampus [part of the brain responsible for memory retention]. Amongst other memories, is the one I totally loved [I will tell you why I loved it].

When I was in Primary five, and my brother was in Primary three, we were ‘fortunate’ to have the experience of being dropped off at school by our mum in the morning and in the afternoon, we went home on our own [not sure if parents still allow their children return on their own ‘now’]. Here is what I [We, my brother as well] loved about returning in the afternoons. Even though, we were given transport fare for two, we always found a way to reap from where we didn’t sow. LOL. At times, before we boarded the bus, we would realise there was only one seat available, so I would ask my brother to sit on my lap for the time being till we get to the bus stop, where we would get another bus or get home depending on if it was our first journey or second. 

So, such situations resulted in us having extra cash that would not have been in our possession if we had both sat down in the bus. [you see why I loved that-extra cash for sweets and all the ‘forbidden’ that we wouldn’t have purchased if everything went as was expected]


But here is one interesting thing. There were times [a lot] when we [me and my brother] sat down respectively [he was not sitting on my lap], and the bus conductor would not take transport fare from us. Like I had stretched my hand one day purposely to be sure I was not invisible and the conductor said ‘ah don’t worry school girl’. This happened so many times. 

Growing up, I just felt it was an act of ‘pity’, ‘compassion’, ‘benevolence’,  divine ‘FAVOUR’. [God knew my brother and I needed sweets and Ice cream]


Here is the crux of this post- Fast forward to few years later, I was in UK. There were times when I got on the bus and the driver on his own volition, would give me a young person’s bus ticket [under 19] without me uttering a word. I guess the braids/my natural hair should be what I stick to. Because, times when this has happened, I was either on braids or my natural hair [see what weave-ons made me miss]. I would accept the fare [young person’s] and quietly enjoy my journey [not quietly though, my conscience pricked me]. Also, most times when this has happened, I was ‘holding my cash so tight’ [very rich student]. Oh! let’s not forget. I called it ‘FAVOUR’. It has to be. Of course, God knows the state of my bank account.

However, there was this one time where I corrected the driver and told him that I was not in the ‘young person’ category and paid the full fare.

Here is my question- the times where I accepted the ‘young person’ fare, will you call that divine ‘FAVOUR’? Have you ever been in a situation like this? How did you handle it? 

I’ve just narrated just one example, but there are different examples, like going to a supermarket where you’re supposed to pay for the carrier bags and you’re given for free or some item you bought was given to you freely [not by the owner of the shop; just the sales assistant]. Do you call that divine ‘FAVOUR’?

I know it is very easy for us to bend the word of God for times when it best suits us or interpret things ‘divinely’. So what’s your take? Bare it all and share!

Please feel free to add bible stories and verses, if you so desire.

Oh! and may God bless those bus conductors, they sure gave me a memorable experience during my childhood.

Chinomnso Precious


Photo Credit: Google

18 thoughts on “LET’S BARE IT ALL: Favour or not favour?

  1. Anonymous says:

    Hahaha, I can't stop laughing. Trust me when I say, I can relate. However if you were in a position to make corrections as your rightly did eventually, you should. I have boarded buses quite a few times when the conductor skipped asking for my money. Sometimes, after getting to my destination & actually paying, he (conductor) would give me the look of 'you see opportunity, you no grab am' or not even give me the look but tell me. Irrespective of how annoying those times were, I just had to keep paying for my bus fare. Other times, the conductor would be really grateful or tell me to keep the money. I can't say for sure I would have done same when I was much younger.

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  2. Anonymous says:

    Heehehe, is my first comment! For me, as a child, its how the society is, such deeds done to little children are seen as good deeds. Obviously the child does not earn yet, so instead of collect the money let's let it go. So it was, but nowadays, its rare! I remember doing the same, but not once do I remember returning the money to my mum! I guess those sweets were really sweet! When you were much older, you knew right from wrong, and you understoos you were being miss judged! In a way, could be favour in respect to situations, n other times that your conscience pricked you, that you knowing I can pay for this the right way because I have the means! Its a gift to be seen younger than you are, and certain things happen to you because of that! Or it could also be that the vendor in his mind says see this fine girl, I would like to have her number! *Smiling* Lovely thoughts Princess!

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  3. Yaaaaay!! Welcome to 'Precious Thoughts'. Please keep commenting….Hahahaha @'Or it could also be that the vendor in his mind says see this fine girl, I would like to have her number!'….If that's what he was thinking I guess if he approached me, I would have said: 'Brother, the Lord used you. Don't take the glory and stop the blessing coming'. LOL. Hopefully, I won't have to pay the full fare after that statement…Thank you for commenting!

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  4. Anonymous says:

    This is Okechukwu Prince, believe me when i say i can relate to this. But there is a difference between divine favour, and mischeif by feigned ignorance. The thing about a man's conscience is that it is built on knowledge, what it has not come to know as wrong is deemed acceptable. Hence when you are undercharged unknowingly by those rendering the service we term it as 'favour'. that could work for someone who is unaware that the proper thing to do is to return it and seek assurances that u were undercharged on purpose.. If it is divine favour then it will still work in your favour. There is a thin line between morality and spirituality. We attain spirituality when we let the holyghost determine the true implications of our actions and inactions.

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  5. Okay! So I laughed hard when I saw; 'this is Okechukwu Prince'. Yes, everyone he is my brother, we enjoyed those sweets then. Loool. I love you Prince.
    I couldn't agree more, a man's conscience is built on knowledge. Thanks for this comment, it struck a chord.

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  7. Dammy says:

    This is A.D.E, I fought hard to prevent myself from contributing…but I guess have no choice since I’m being “compelled” by the Holy Spirit.

    …It is not what I think, but what He says, according to his words, and according to a personal experience/examples, which I will cite.

    When you were small, the ‘rights’ to correct you and put you in the right path, is given to your parents, that is why ‘good’ parenting is very important and it is the reason why the bible says you should honour them, because they were the ones responsible for your “good” and “bad” when you were small, they are to lead you in the “good” path, so that you can live long on earth [Exodus 20 vs 12].

    When you grow up, this is what happens: the bible says “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good…” [Micah 6 vs 8]. That verse is not for the kids, it is for adults.

    Whenever you get a “favour”, you can call it “divine”, when ‘no’ earthly/spiritual/physical entities whatsoever – (either your conscience, someone who saw you, holy spirit etc.),- convicts you that you were wrong, and there was no resultant “loss” or “sorrow” suffered by ANYONE involved.

    An example was a time I had a marathon fasting and when it was time for me to break I had no money, yet I wanted to break my fast with a “delicacy”. Then I heard a voice, clean and clear, “Go outside, climb a short fence beside your house, there’s a small bush there.”
    I obeyed, and guess what I saw there? lots of snails, and vegetables (water-leaf), …In short, I had a guilt-free vegetable soup, garnished with expensive snails.

    That, is a “divine” favour. It doesn’t result in someone else’s “loss” or “sorrow”. Read what the bible says in [Proverbs 10 vs 22]…the sorrow mentioned there doesn’t only mean “sorrow” for you, it also means sorrow for ANYONE involved whatsoever. So the expanded meaning of that verse is that “The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and addeth no sorrow with it, [either to YOU or WHOEVER is involved].

    On the other hand, when you get a favour, it is classified as “NOT” divine, when the result of your own “Gain” results in a “Loss” or “Sorrow” in someone else’s life,
    either financially, physically, or spiritually; and at that time you had a deep conviction in your spirit that it is wrong. In fact, if you have the holy spirit, it will ALWAYS tell you instantly that you were wrong.

    A very good, recent example was when someone transferred over #100 pounds into my UK account by mistake, and even though the person had lost hope completely regarding getting it back, I still looked for every means possible to return the money to the owner; because that is “NOT” a divine favour, it results to a “financial loss” on their part, which is a “Sorrow”. It means I was made richer, but sorrow was added to someone else.

    When a bus conductor forgets to collect money, it is NOT a divine favour; In fact, if you inform the bus conductor about it and he still tells you to go, it becomes
    “Grace” NOT “favour” because when an “Offence” is converted to “Favour” it changes to “Grace” – [Romans 5 vs 20 & 21].
    “Grace” because it would have been a sin, but you were forgiven based on your “honesty” or your act of “righteousness”.

    -Whew!…and guess what I just heard as I am typing this?
    Fake “divine” favours, is one of the strongest form of deception that the devil uses these days to steal/prevent the children of God to get their blessings, because the
    devil doesn’t “fight” the children of God, he “deceives” them. Just the way he has been doing since the time of Adam, he didn’t fight Adam, he deceived him. This is the greatest form of report that the devil brings to God these days as an excuse.

    May God bless us all, and keep showing us the deepest revelations of the bible, so that we can understand its “hidden secrets” in Jesus Name. Amen

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