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Waiting period or wasting period?
The period of waiting is a period of building capacity!

Waiting period or wasting period?

‘Wait’ , though four words, could be the longest period in anyone’s life. It can lead to untold frustration and jittery, especially when one has a deadline. When one is told to wait until it is their turn, a lot of questions run through one’s mind. What if it never gets to their turn? What if that opportunity may no longer be useful when it is finally their turn?

Waiting period

In life, everybody will taste a waiting period at a point in their lives. This is why it may be too early to judge some people. You may have only found them at the waiting phase of their lives. If, for instance, you find a traveller waiting at a bus stop, it may not necessarily be their destination.

A young entrepreneur who is struggling to make ends meet today may only be in their waiting period. Their breakthrough may only be a few years away if they consistently keep at what they are doing. Never write them off as poor. When you meet a helpless young woman, she may be in her waiting phase. She may actually be your helper in some years to come. Don’t be quick to take advantage of her. 

Waiting is tough. It will not only test your endurance but your values too. Life’s waiting period will give you a thousand and one reasons to give up. It, however, takes the mentally focused to make it to the finishing line.

As a matter of fact, the period of waiting could be one of the most anxious moments of a person’s life. Imagine a pregnant woman waiting for her day of delivery after a decade of childlessness. Imagine a young Joseph waiting for the manifestation of his dreams after spending years in Potiphar’s home, and subsequently in prison.

Though the waiting period may take a while, it becomes rewarding to those who take advantage of it. However, what do you do while waiting? Does a pregnant woman sit idle while waiting for the delivery of their baby? If you are praying for a job or new job, do you wallow in the pool of idleness?

It is interesting to note how the womb of a woman prepares itself every month while waiting to receive a sperm to fertilise the woman’s egg. The thickened wall of the womb breaks down in the absence of fertilisation and that becomes menstruation.

Similarly in life, the waiting period is a period of expectation and whenever there is expectation, there must be preparation.

While waiting for big doors to open, prepare yourself. If you are waiting for the rains, use the waiting period to sow. If you are waiting for an opportunity, prepare for it. Until you are prepared for a door, don’t even pray for it to be opened unto you. Waiting time is not wasting time.

While waiting on God’s time, don’t waste your own time. While waiting, keep working. While keeping your hopes high in expectation, don’t sit idle.

Many are in their waiting period of life today. They are badly expecting a miracle. Unfortunately, they are wasting this waiting time. They are praying for some doors to be opened yet don’t even have the capacity to enter those doors. 

If you want to build a city, you need to first build your capacity. In this life, you can’t give what you don’t have. This is the essence of building your capacity.

Your capacity is like a foundation. Every dream of yours will sit on it. The period of waiting is a period of building capacity!

Imagine David taking on Goliath without any skill of war. That would have been his last day on earth. Fortunately, before the giant stood a young man who had used his waiting period in the bush to build himself up.

He had successfully slayed bears and lions, and that was enough surety that he could take on a warrior who had been fighting since the days of his youth.

Though insignificant as compared to the laurels of Goliath, David was a man of experience.  Low experience is better than no experience. People will trust those with little experience more than others without any form of experience.

 Even though the young shepherd had not been given any opportunity yet, he used the few opportunities life handed over to him to build his capacity.

You will freak out if you got to know your surgeon had no experience. Everybody will think twice about boarding a flight whose pilot has no experience. The time for waiting is the time to build some experience, at least. After all, each day is an opportunity to gain a little experience. Even if you fail, that is an experience. It is better to try and fail than fail to try.

A bachelor or spinster should make use of their waiting period. If you are praying for the fruit of the womb, make use of the waiting period instead of drowning yourself in self pity.

While waiting, add value to yourself. Increase your chances of solving more problems. Life’s doors should open to a ‘better’ you. Learn a new skill. Polish the old ones. Refine your knowledge. Be ahead of your contemporaries if you can. Keep updating yourself on new trends in your industry. The day you stop learning is the day you will begin to expire. The old you cannot solve today’s problems. The period of waiting is the period of learning.

If you are not yet where you desire to be, you are in your waiting phase. Whoever is striving to be the best of themselves is still in their waiting period. When the door we have been yearning for finally opens, may we be capable enough to walk majestically through it. When it has all been said and done, may we not waste our waiting period.

 Kobina Ansah is a Ghanaian playwright and Chief Scribe of Scribe Communications (www.scribecommltd.com), an Accra-based writing firm. Order for copies of his animation book, Animuonyam The Bully Stopper, via 0243752793.

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