Note To Self - Give Yourself A Chance

The picture above is powerful and captures the reality for some of us. We stay fixated on what we see and forget that it's the invisible roots that help us stand firmly and withstand life's storms.

So I had a conversation with a dear friend today and he noted on how clever and smart I am. I chuckled and retorted thus ‘everyone keeps telling me I am smart and this is not to put myself down, but I expect results of my supposed smartness’

He responded that even if I believed it or not I am smart and that sometimes results take time – results take time.

This has been ringing in my head and I have had to say it to myself results take time.

I know I am smart but it’s easy to question that sometimes because of my expectations.

I remember all the times I have beaten myself up for not having achieved the goals I set for myself and while it is good sometimes, it usually leaves me feeling dissatisfied.

Dissatisfaction and discontent are powerful tools and catalysts for change and sometimes helps us question the rightness of the path we are on but sometimes we need to remind ourselves that results take time even when we are on the right path.

When a tree is planted it would not bear fruits until the time is right even if you feed it with the best fertilizer. The tree may grow tall in a week but fruits will only come ‘at the right time, in due season’.

After conception a mother has to wait nine (9) months for her baby to be born and if the baby is born before the term is completed it would be termed ‘premature’ and even when the baby is born it will need time to sit, crawl, stand, walk and run because results take time.

So what do you do while you await results?

You keep giving your best, keep at what you do, learn, get better and have faith.

Like God told the Israelites while they were on exile in Babylon, Jeremiah 29: 4 – 7, 10 – 11:

⁴ “So says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the captives whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, ⁵ ‘Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit. ⁶ Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there and do not decrease [in number]. ⁷ Seek peace and well-being for the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf; for in its peace (well-being) you will have peace.’ 

¹⁰ “For thus says the Lord, ‘When seventy years [of exile] have been completed for Babylon, I will visit (inspect) you and keep My good promise to you, to bring you back to this place. ¹¹ For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster to give you a future and a hope."

Success is not always in what we see, the mental battles you win and the courage to face life and not give up is also success.

As Mary Anne Radmacher said “Courage does not always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, 'I will try again tomorrow.”

So give yourself a chance, enjoy the journey, keep trying and remember that everything good will come because results take time.