the following editorial is my adaptation of an email from a brilliant writer/friend of mine to the north, saara. she cited a source of ‘thought for your week: timing is everything!’ by jill devine.
have you applied yourself in both thought and action with the best intentions in life, only to be frustrated with the results?
perhaps a book, melody, or film lifted your inspiration or motivated you in some way to pursue a dream; some goal that you’d never imagined, or maybe one left wayside for something more readily attainable. popular phrases such as ‘build it and they will come’, ‘you get what you pay for’, ‘give a little to get a little’, etc. help reinforce the notion that if you try, you will achieve. so what of the disappointment when having tried, our just rewards don’t follow? are you an exception to the proverbs, or is it something else?
part of the problem lies in human nature, the other for incomplete instructions. it is unmistakably human to seek the most instant gratification in any endeavour; but the truth is that not every reward is available at the flick of a switch, and that’s where the proverbs are incomplete–they don’t speak of the waiting period required for things to reach fruition, at least they don’t speak it in the same breath (think: ‘anything good is worth waiting for’). most ancient religious texts describe everything as having an order and a season.
for example, imagine a farmer swapping the seasons in which he sows and harvests his crops; he will likely find himself amid failure, at least in terms of his expectation to reap a viable product. he would do well to pay more attention to the calendar. or imagine the workflow of a baker. he can mix a cake batter all he likes, and even place it in the oven, but unless he endures a bit of waiting while it rises, he’ll have little more than a tin of goo to serve or sell.
unfortunately, we operate with the best of intentions and grand expectations, and feel defeat when at the end of the rainbow is more rainbow. If the results speak contrary to your expectations, double-check the season–you might just be early. don’t mistake ‘delay’ for ‘denial’ by life. timing is crucial, and patience is a vital ingredient when planning for success. the road to each reward is a variable distance, and your mileage may vary.