We live in a world of instant these days – instant noodles, instant coffee, instant money, instant photo, all are part of the world of now & now. It won’t be so far fetch that Instagram got its name from the word “instant.” We want what we want now, instantly. We are no longer required to wait. The world is looking at how to reduce the waiting time to service, waiting time to access resources. Banks are putting different features to ensure the waiting line is no longer there, so we have Automated Teller Machine (ATM), online banking, mobile banking, etc. The food industry too are not left behind; we have “Drive-Thru” services, online ordering, and Express delivery services.
However, as much as we enjoy the instantaneous offerings, its impart is gradually slipping into our expectation of life. We want instant results in life, hoping that life’s processes too will be shortened. We want to go to the gym and expect to see the result within the shortest time frame. We start a business today, and we want the same businesses to be among the top 10 as quick as possible. We expect result in our daily lives like instant coffee or noodles, and when these results don’t show up as we want, we get discouraged, depressed, and might give up too soon, dropping the process altogether.
We often forget there are laws governing different processes of life. One of such law is recorded in Genesis 8:22 “while the earth remains, seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.” As long as life is, it will always be time and season for everything under heaven. There will be seed-time and harvest time, thus in between the seed and harvest, there will be time, and this time varies for different things, purpose, seasons, and people. The time in between seed and harvest for maize is different from that of Mango and from that of Cocoa. The seed-time-harvest for giving birth to children for the human is different for elephants or dogs. We must, therefore, then respect this time if we want excellent and proper results.
We need to understand the law governing processes as a part of the universe, so we can work out our right result and adjust our expectations. The result of using the gym will not start showing on the first day. Sometimes, the way up might first be down before turning up, and it might take a long time before the first sign of any tangible result might show. Mark 4:27-28 says Night and day, while he’s asleep or awake, the seed sprouts and grows, but he does not understand how it happens. The earth produces the crops on its own. First, a leaf blade pushes through, then the heads of wheat are formed, and finally, the grain ripens. The first thing that shows was not the ripening grains; it was a leaf blade and then heads of wheat before it. Likewise, the weight will not roll off the body just by one time visit to the gym; neither will a baby become an adult as soon as he is born.
Thus, as 2019 comes to an end, don’t be depressed or get discouraged over what has not worked yet. Don’t get upset or fret over the expectations that are yet to manifest. It will all come out nice; it only requires staying power, the consistency of staying on, and not giving up to reap the benefits we crave for.
Keeping on keeping on and keep winning!
