IN THE END YOU GIVE UP

This is the final piece on waiting. It is going to be a bit spiritual. I feel it is important that I share this with my fellow Christian brothers and sisters, however, anyone can learn something out of it.

Romans 12:12 - "Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation,be constant in prayer."

Psalm 27:14 - "Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."

I have taken just these two scriptures amongst many. When we are faced with waiting in life and are impatient, a lot happens to us. We start asking questions and questions lead to doubt. And if we often feel entitled and do not understand that world doesn't owe us anything, we tend to think to ourselves "Why Me?". 

Sometimes we pray hard to find answers but when the answers do not come, the "Why Me" becomes "God, Why Me?". We start thinking that God is not fair. We start looking for reasons to justify our views on why God is unfair. And in the end, we end up doubting the existence of God. Many walk away from the church/ places of worship because "God didn't answer their prayer, so why bother..".

I am here to tell you, do not give up. Often times we give up right when the answer is around the corner. See waiting as something that is meant to build you and your character instead of something bad. You can see the glass as half empty or as half full. The choice is yours.

WITH LOVE...

Mbuelo Ramafamba

NEW CHANGES

Greetings to all my readers. I have a small announcement to make. There will be a change to the update schedule. I will no longer be posting on specified days (Mon, Wed & Fri). I will now be posting any day. This is because I have to find time in between my day job to post and having specific days for posting is not really a good idea anymore since I may be swamped with work on some of those days. So I will try to be flexible in order for me to keep delivering content for all my readers.

WITH LOVE...
Mbuelo Ramafamba

TAKE RESPONSIBILTY

I will still be continuing on waiting even today, however, this might be the last post on waiting. It is more focused on the feelings we go through when waiting.

The human mind is not good at handling stressful situations. Desperation can drive each human crazy in the quest to find the root cause or a solution of the current state of affairs. It is also human nature to not want to be wrong. This is very evident when one becomes impatient because things aren't happening the way they thought they would.

The first defense is always to find something or someone to blame. It often becomes a habit wherein one will never want to face anything head on but instead choose to blame everyone around them. This does not help in anyway, besides making the waiting much longer because life works that way; if you do not own up to your mistakes, it will be very hard on you.

At first people may put up to it, but eventually everyone gets tired. In the end, everyone decides they have had enough. It is in that moment where many implode because they are now forced to face everything without anyone around to blame. They had the chance to take responsibility for their actions while people were there to support them, but they chose to instead blame the very same support structure. And when everyone is gone, life starts to be very unpleasant. Life always works like this. It will always force one to face their fault head on at one point. No matter how much you try to run away, you can never run away from it. While you wait, it is best to take responsibility and start fixing yourself because a time will come when you will have to face it all alone.

Stand up, admit your wrong, take responsibility and change your ways. Otherwise life will force you to in a very unpleasant way. You can only point a finger for as long as there's someone or something to point it to. But one day, the finger pointing will be of no use. Take responsibility now.

WITH LOVE...
Mbuelo Ramafamba

YOU ARE NOT OWED

Today's theme is still on waiting. Last time I did write that there was a lot to write about with regards to waiting. And I ended Wednesday's by telling you to be ready. Today I want to venture a bit more into readiness for what you are waiting for.

Life is not a fairy-tale and I believe most, if not all, of you know that. one doesn't just wish things to reality or throw a coin in a wishing well. Life will not always do what you want. And while you are waiting, it will often feel like life is completely against you. But life doesn't do what you wish for it to do. It usually reacts to what you do.

Complaining is the one thing that will make your waiting a bad experience. Unfortunately it is human nature to complain when things aren't happening our way. However, shift your attitude from on of feeling that life might have 'beef' against you, or someone else might and starting understanding +85% of the work is all you. Whether you blame someone or not, it won't change that fact. You have to own the moment and own your attitude.

Do not waste time feeling sorry and worrying about why it is taking so long. Take that time focusing on building yourself and growing as an individual. When the waiting gives you 99 reason why it is "unfair", "you are cursed", or any other reason why you should give up, give yourself 1 reason to hold on and wait patiently. Stick to the one reason. And when the wait is finally over, you will appreciate what you have been waiting for.

Remember, the world owes you nothing. You can cry and blame everyone for all you like, but at the end of the day you will have to face the music alone. At night when you are sleeping, you will wish you could turn back time and go back to that one moment and be patient. Your impatience today will come back to haunt you tomorrow, and it will have you waiting a whole lot longer than you would've waited now.

Learn to wait. The world owes you nothing.

WITH LOVE...
Mbuelo Ramafamba

YOU'VE GOT TO BURN

Today I will be carrying on with the theme on waiting. I feel there's a lot to say about the experience of waiting which I unfortunately cannot fit into one post. So please bare with me.

The one thing that is common in everyone who is waiting is need. We wait because we need something. I am not referring to waiting for a person, though you can wait for a person whom you need.I am referring to waiting for something to happen that you feel will better your life. There's always a burning desire/need that fuels the waiting. Either you are waiting for a job, a start-up funder etc, the reality is there is a need behind all the waiting.

How deep the desire is, will influence the emotions you go through while you wait. If you are in deep need, it will always feel like a lifetime. But one thing you have to understand is that, if you really need something and you value it that much, then you will have to burn for it. There's no other way besides burning. You have to burn and burn you shall.

The mistake many make is decide to try something else and forget about what they have been waiting for, because they can't take the heat of waiting. If it is really worth much for you, you will burn for it. You sit in that furnace and wait patiently. I too have been in situations wherein quitting felt like a better option. It seemed like things were falling apart. But sometimes things have to fall apart for you to appreciate what is to come. If you didn't have to wait and burn, you wouldn't value it.

It doesn't end in waiting though. You have to be a visionary while you wait. Envision the wait coming to an end. What will you need to better take advantage of whatever you are waiting for. In what circumstances must you be in? Just as a fighter trains hard for a big fighter, you too need to ready yourself for what you are waiting for. Otherwise you will squander it. Sometimes it won't arrive until you have prepared yourself enough. You need to need to be prepared for it.

WITH LOVE...
Mbuelo Ramafamba

THE ART OF WAITING

The past couple of months have been a big test for me. I have been tested and pushed to my limits. But most importantly, it was my patience that was being tested in order to make me a better person. And it made me realise one about myself which I have also noted in other people as well. People hate waiting.

When I took time off from writing, I had reached a point wherein I knew I wasn't going to be able to produce anything of value, and also to make all the readers wait. But let's focus on what waiting entails. I used to think waiting simply meant that if for example someone says I will come at 5, I had to sit there till they arrived. I was completely wrong.

Waiting is not about being able to 'wait' till something or someone arrives. The bigger part and lesson to waiting is the battle that starts brewing within. It more about what you do while you wait. Pay attention to what you do when you wait. Often times when we have to wait for prolonged periods, our faith is tested. It is the true test of waiting. Our reaction to the waiting gets worse with time. And often times we give up on the waiting because "we have waited for too long".

What I found was that once you get over all that inner fighting, impatience, grumbling and anger, you start to not be aware much of the fact that you are waiting and focus more on that you are on a journey and each journey has a destination. Once you shift your mindset, you start seeing things from a different and more beautiful angle.

Next time you have to wait for weeks, months or even years, remember that how you react can determine if whatever you are waiting for arrives to find you or arrives to find you gone.

WITH LOVE...
Mbuelo Ramafamba