The wait by

 

Hey you, wait! Let me give you a story about waiting.

A friend of mine went for an interview in the city of Lagos some years ago. The interview was scheduled for 8:00am on a Monday. She was out of her house before 6:00am in order to get to the venue before the scheduled time. Luckily for her, the traffic she predicted to be a reason for delay was not as bad as she predicted so she got to the venue before 7:00am. To her surprise, she met quite a number of people who came for the same reason. She called me and said, “Babe, people dey para o”, expressing how surprised she was to have met a number of people waiting to gain entrance.

According to her, the gate was opened by 8:00am prompt and by the time they were told to come in, the number of people had increased. That threw her off balance in a way. She was almost going to give up on the interview before it started. I disagreed with her and encouraged her to wait. A lady who she called ‘cute’ and suspected to be the HR of the company welcomed everyone that came for the interview and told them the arrival was for 8:00am but the interview was to start by 9:00am. It was during the lady’s speech that she knew that people that came after 8:00am were told to go back. If not for that, they would have been more than the initial number of people that discouraged her. Everyone settled down and waited for the interview to start by 9:00am.

Not to make this too long, my phone rang during my brunch break at work, I quickly answered the call hoping to hear that she was done but then she said the opposite of what I wanted to hear,” Babe, you cannot believe we have not started”. I had to check my time again to be sure I did not assume we were on brunch break. I was right the time was 11:55am, brunch break in my office is usually 11:45am to 12:00pm. Then I replied, “You have not started abi e never reach your turn?” She replied that they have not called any one in to be interviewed. She then said that about 9 people had left and she might soon take her leave too if no one comes out to address them or call them in. I asked if she had anything to do at home, she said just few things but it can wait, so I told her not to leave and made her see the bright side of people leaving; there will be few people to compete with.

Two hours later, I called her back and the situation was still the same except for the fact that there were only 7 people left. Others left expressing their dissatisfaction and then she expressed that the delay is dissatisfactory for her but the fact that they had reduced in number made her glad. She was confident that she would get the job this time around.

Her call came in around 7:13pm and I was like, “Tell me you have been interviewed and you got in already”. She giggled and replied with, ”Let me wow you small”. She was there till 6:00pm, yeah, you read right, 6:00 freaking pm. Now here is it, she had given up on the job, regarded the day useless and the cash spent down there, a waste. She had just zeroed the whole day in her mind. She was done waiting for the interview and the only thing that kept her in the vicinity was traffic. She didn’t want to do another long waiting in traffic, so she decided to chill a little for the traffic to reduce and she would move. By this time, workers in the office had left but the cute lady that came to address them has not. She and the remaining two people, whom she convinced to just chill for the traffic to reduce as they snacked on gala together, were of the opinion that she must have passed another entrance because the whole place was too quiet. They assumed that the only reason the entrance was not locked was because of what was written on it which indicated that they open at 8:00am and close at 6:00pm. The security guard was already walking around like he was doing his final check before he looked up. She suggested to the two other people with her that they should move to the small eatery adjacent the office once the security told them to leave. They did not oblige because they were already having an interesting conversation and they were not ready to drop the topic. While all these were happening, she did not bother to call me back because she felt I would concur with her decision to leave, after all, it was closing hour and no interview can be conducted again.

To her surprise, while they were laughing and snacking, the cute lady came out, collected their documents, checked and the told the three of them to follow her. They were shocked and without a single word followed her in. The lady took them to the CEO’s office where they met four other people, they were told to sit and as soon as they were seated on the chair, they heard sounds of hands jamming together. They did not understand what was happening. Perhaps the other two people did, I don’t know, but my own friend was as confused and clueless as Mr. Bean.

The lady introduced the four people to them; one of them was the CEO. When she was done, she asked them to introduce themselves. They did and that was all. The CEO congratulated them and told them that their waiting was the interview and the next stage was training. The HR explained that what they needed them for can be done by anyone but patience is the criteria required because their daily tasks would require waiting patiently and the company cannot afford to employ someone who would hurriedly jump to conclusion; these have cost them lots of money in the past.

They were given a day break and were told to move to a location where they would be camped for 3months for training. There was no discussion on salary but they were told that what they would go home at the end of the three months. According to my friend, her three months training allowance is someone else’s annual remuneration.

My babe got a satisfactory job just by waiting.

I took the pleasure of sharing this story because I want you to see the good in waiting.  I know this generation is often called the indomie generation; a generation that would rather have it fast than wait till the appointed time. It has to be fast and furious.

There is nothing bad in waiting. Yes! It might be tiring and you might even be mocked but there is always a reward better than all that you have admired, at the end of that tunnel called waiting. A wise man called Job once said, “All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change comes”

What do you think would have been the lot of the man by the pool of Bethsaida if he had left the pool because someone always got into it before he could even try to jump each time the angel visited to steer the pool? He kept waiting and one day, he met the healer himself, he didn't have to wait anymore. He must have been really tired of waiting that when the healer asked what he wanted, he expressed how broken hearted he was for waiting. Little did he know that the healer was set to make him free from his affliction. He could have walked away or given up but he was determined to get his healing and since no one knew the hour the angel would come visiting to steer the pool, he decided to wait so that he would be a partaker of that miracle. He had lots of excuse, not to stay, he had tried over and over again but the fact that he had no one to push him into the pool once steered by the angel made him to be at a great disadvantage. Still, he did not give up.  He did not let his situation or circumstance stop him from hoping and waiting. Gosh! I personally find that story challenging because we all know that the Angel of the Lord only came once in a year to steer that pool and once you missed jumping in first, there is no hope for you again till the following year. And this man was so hopeful that he would stay despite the fact that he knew it was over for that year. Common, tell me why you cannot wait. Bring your excuse and let's put it side by side with this man’s excuse.

Wait! Have you ever wondered why it takes so long for some trees to bear fruits faster than others? Palm tree is one of those trees that takes longer to bear fruit, it takes 4-6years to start enjoying what the palm tree has to offer but one amazing thing about this tree is that everything it produces is useful. There is nothing to cast away; everything serves one purpose or the other and no matter how heavy the storm is, it cannot bring down the palm tree because what palm tree does while other trees are bearing fruit the very first year they were planted, was to bear root downwards. The palm tree does not just announce its presence in the soil, it does deep down to make its presence known. If trees were men, I’m sure other trees bearing fruit would have made jest of the palm tree while they were growing and bearing fruit, just like people might be mocking you right now. Cheer up! Just like the other trees must have been ignorant that the palm tree was taking root downward so that it can gain enough strength to withstand the natural disaster before bearing fruit upwards, your mockers are also ignorant that your waiting is granting you depth, experience and building you characters that will make you face and win challenges that can throw anyone at the top off-guard and get kicked out.

In case all I have said since still has not convinced you that your waiting is not a bad thing, if all my stories did not move you, will uncle Joseph’s story make you embrace that truth? He did nothing wrong but he went through those rough sessions just to liberate people. Joseph was sent ahead to wait for his people, he was sent ahead to make the difficult time easy for them. His process of waiting was not easy but his waiting made life so easy for thousands of souls, just like the palm tree would serve everyone.

Do you still need me to tell you about the one man we clam his blessing, the genesis of the people called Israelites; Abraham? He also waited so long before he had the promised child. In fact, his wife gave him a shortcut by offering him her maid to bear him child. The maid did, but without saying much, we all know what that shortcut is causing the whole world at the moment and we also know what the seed of waiting has offered the world, after centuries has passed.

The reward of waiting does not just affect you, it can go as far as becoming a legacy that would last till the end of time, so why not just enjoy the process and just do the waiting.

Oh! All hail king David, but do you know how long it took this favorite character of mine to become the king that he was anointed to be. Yes! I agree that there might have been a self-inflected factor that made it that long, just like you are saying to yourself that your own story is different. You brought the waiting upon yourself, if you had not done A or B or, if you had done A or B, it might have been another story. Yes! You might be right.

It was indeed not God’s intention to keep the Israelites waiting in the wilderness for 40 years. Their insensitivity and lack of faith brought that upon them, still, God turned it around. He made their waiting count. They possessed that which God had promised their forefathers and the amazing part is that the gift of the Lord is without repentance. When you are given, it is you and your generation forever – no one can take it away if you don’t give it up.

So, stop! Stop the blame game already and gain strength from the process. Nothing can stop you from becoming what you want to become as long as it’s the will of God for you. Don’t stop acting, do not stop confessing, keep doing what you know how to do best. You will see that it will all come together at the appointed time, generations to come will benefit from it and they will bless you for waiting.

Morgan Freeman breakout year happened when he was 52; he had been in Hollywood since age 9.  Harland David Sanders started Kentucky Fried chicken at age 65. His secret chicken recipe was rejected 1009 times before a restaurant accepted it. Abraham Lincoln, Oprah. Mary Kay etc. all had their waiting seasons but we all celebrate their greatness. 

Tell me what your excuse is again!