One of the most discouraging and spirit-weakening experiences in the lives of humans is a waiting period. Waiting to satisfy a hunger, quench a thirst and have a promise fulfilled is not always pleasant. The season can be painful and stressful. You may have worked on a job for years and yet the due promotion is not coming. You may have wasted so much money trying to relocate from your present abode and travel abroad and yet the visa isn’t coming. You may have been married for a long time and the baby is not coming. Maybe you are a young woman, and you have been expecting to start your own family but no man is asking for your hands in marriage. You are gifted in your craft but it seems that the gift is not making a way for you. You have the business acumen and are very savvy about buying and selling but have no funds to start. You are a preacher who carries the anointing but there is no prominent platform for you to be heard. You may have also invested all your life in politics and government business but you are still pouring water on the hands of those who should be lifting up your hands. These are tough situations to be in. All human wisdom is summed up in one word—WAIT! If only you can wait.
During every waiting period, a man’s dreams and aspirations appear to be on hold. My friends, a waiting time can be a wailing time when you cry inside but no tears are falling from your face. It could be a wavering time when you are no longer sure if the dream is worth keeping alive. It is also a whining time when you complain about everything and everyone around you as if they are the ones responsible for your trials. But if you don’t stop fighting and don’t quit believing in yourself, that waiting time can become a winning time. As a young man, I was very impatient. But over time and as I grew up, I learned to wait for my time. One of the things that have helped me over the years is that I don’t run somebody else’s race, and I don’t compete with men to hit success. Successes and accomplishments of men around me are never a yardstick to measure what I must have. If my friends hit it fast and quickly in life (and I have a handful of them); I rejoice with them while I pray and wait for my time that I’m sure will come. I have friends who came to America from Lagos with their legal papers. But for me; it took a harrowing, and an emotionally-torturous seven-and-a-half years before my hands touched, and my eyes beheld what I needed to work legally in a foreign land. I know pastors who were able to purchase buildings for their ministries within a year they started; but for me, God did not make it happen until I had to wait for ten years. I have loved-ones who got married and had babies in their 20s; but for me I had to wait until I was 39.
God visited Isaac with babies at 60 years old; but he did not visit his father Abraham until he was 100. Nobody can hurry GOD to be ready. He makes things beautiful when He is ready. Apples and oranges aren’t the same; why do you have to compare your growth and increase with somebody else’s? It’s always a wise move to wait for your time and your turn. Your time and turn will come! You are not the Creator of times and seasons. The Maker of heaven and earth is. He is the Father and Creator of time. He makes all things glowingly beautiful by His fighting fingers in His own set time. All human wisdom is summed up in one word-WAIT! If only you can wait.
When I hear stories about young people all around the world who make certain dirty moves to become rich in gold and silver, my heart breaks. When I read stories of Nigerian young men and women pushing and striving to hit the big league and goldmine in the oil-field of plenteous mammon as quickly as possible, I just wish they knew better. They don’t know that much money sought in dirty fashions brings you much mourning. Laughter is always a calming complement after a gruelling experience of life. Before laughter comes as a prize, a price must be paid to access it. Pain is the price you pay for the prize of pleasure that comes in the aftermath. All human wisdom is summed up in one word-wait! If only you can wait.
Corn is usually harvested in fifty-eight to one hundred days. The Mango tree does not yield its fruits until between three and five years. The Olive Tree does not live to produce until between five and eight years. And when it grows, it towers tall to be fifty-feet in height and a spread of thirty-feet. Its life expectancy is five-hundred years, and the trees are very tenacious, easily sprouting back even when chopped to the ground. Teaching a child to wait is just as important as the training in manners and morals that he receives at his mother’s knee and from his father’s loving hands.
I conclude with this story an adorable baby Esther who just turned one-year-old last December. Medical scientists tell us that kids are able to start walking from around nine months after they are born. It was the expectation of all of us that it would happen for Esther too. Esther’s mum fidgeted a bit when Esther did not take the first step at nine, ten, eleven months. Like every loving mother, she wanted it to happen before her precious daughter celebrated her first birthday. But Esther only crawled around holding on to chairs and desks and staring at her older siblings as they ran around having fun.
One day a few weeks ago; with unsteady gaits, a stumble here-and- there, and fear of falling written all over her innocent and beautiful face, Esther got up and walked! And she kept walking! And now she has mastered the art of walking as perfect as it can be for kids her tender age. Now the wait is over! That is the power of waiting, my friends. I do not know when things will work for you; but I know they will at the appointed time. The job will come. The business will not only get started; it will boom and prosper. The babies will come into your loving hands and lay in your caring crib. Your story will change for good and forever. All human wisdom is summed up in one word-wait! If only you can wait!
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