Do I have to Wait?

In the coming couple of weeks I will be writing a Series on Getting Started in Life and for this reason, I will appreciate to see you approach this series with an open mind and a reflective disposition.

Waiting is one of the misconstrued, misunderstood and misrepresented concept in our life, for the very reason that it has been taken for its literal meaning alone. This literal sense or meaning has been under emphasized over the years, and today, we are in a cross road. It is required of us to demystify some of these vaguely represented ideas as we see them appear in the ancient writings.

I will focus my attention on mainly What It Means To Wait Before You Start. Understand that this discussion will not be very exhaustive, but concise enough to give clarity.

It has been said that, "they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint" and also, Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until that he have mercy upon us."

What waiting is not?

·        It is not the state of inactivity

·        It is not the state of idleness.

·        It is not staying without knowing what to do.

·        It is not a time of not knowing what to do.

·        It is not a period of relaxation

What does it mean to wait?

·        Do nothing expecting something to happen

·        Stop so somebody can catch up

·        Be hoping for something

·        Be delayed or ignored for now

·        Be ready or available

·        Be a waiter

Let us also consider some facts about waiting.

• Waiting is a period of time to engage with your primary assignment on earth.
• Waiting is a time to discover your gifts, talents, exploring of your potential, horning and developing new skills.
• Waiting is a period of patience and focus to growth and personal development.

In Christianity, you will often hear this, “I am waiting on the Lord” and this discussion will be based on unravelling this idea of waiting.

The Elements of Waiting

Waiting has two elements that justify the disposition:

Quietness and Confidence.

Quietness means standing still to listen to instruction from your boss, superior, parents or your creator, and for the most part, it is listening to take instructions paying attention to the important information.

You show or allow others to have Confidence in you when you are: 1. obedient to what you were instructed to do. 2. by taking actions based on what instructions you were given. 3. provide a feed back to the sender on what has been instructed. 4. provide the results expected of you and 5. your openness to receive further instructions.

Perspectives for the Waiter

·        You are a servant and ready to serve.

·        Someone needs your service.

·        Your attitude will jeopardize the progress of the business.

·        The satisfaction of the customers depends on you.

Two things we must wait upon

·        Wait on your God.

·       Wait on your service – wait to be equipped to be able to serve others effectively and efficiently.

What should happen when waiting?

Education: Get education in the direction of your pursuits. The education could be: Informal or Formal.

Relationship: Allow yourself the privilege of making friends by developing a network and identifying your collaborators.

A waiter must of necessity:

• Be trained to serve: you have been equipped to serve others through the things you are taught in school, church, and other social gathering that inculcates values and skills. You receive this training in two folds: 1. For the Christian, a relationship and obedience to the Holy Spirit and 2. To the non Christian, a relationship with one people.
• Always be identified with what you are good at doing and developing values that differentiate you from others. If you are a leader, let diligence and love be the markers that can easily be used to identify you.
• Provide answers to questions in the hearts of men. You have to be always armed with answers to questions. This is what it means to be proactive. Allow yourself the privilege of being an answer to someone's question because you have been wired to do so.
• Desire the satisfaction of your customers. Your customers are those individual who always call you and ask for a favor, those individuals who leverage on what you are capable of doing. In this sense your desire must be to satisfy these individuals to whom God has wired you to reach out to. Your approach must succor them at every level of your relationship with them.
• Bring gain and value to your organization. The organization of life is the Kingdom of God. Your efforts must be to the degree that others always make reference to what you have done for them. Your life will have to bring gain and value to the Kingdom in the eyes of others.

As you are waiting, that is, going through some training and hoping to get started someday, it is important for you to understand that waiting is not a passive reflex but an active one. Do the best you can to be relevant in whatever you know to do and make that difference!