We all have dreams—things we want to accomplish that would possibly outlive us. We spend hours on edge thinking about these desires, and the things that could happen when our dreams finally come to fruition. In dreamland, everything seems perfect and falls into place swiftly, without any opposition. It’s your world and you can create it to be perfect right? With a perfect timeline for when everything is going to happen.
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News flash—real life doesn’t always happen that way. Life is full of twists and turns; which will quickly knock you back into reality. The truth is we spend so much time, basking in the euphoria of what could be, rather than developing ourselves to become ready for the opportunities we so desire. When opportunity meets preparation (or the other way around) there is no telling what can happen.
Imagine you have always dreamt of becoming a Hollywood screenwriter, and you spend time fantasizing about that one moment when your story or idea would be picked up and make it to the silver screen. That is a great dream to have; but if time isn’t spent working on the art of storytelling when that opportunity comes, you would either miss out on it completely or blow it.
Okay, some might wonder; I have been at this my dream for years and I still never blow, I am on the brink of giving up, when would my time come?
Another thing I have come to accept in this life is timing and seasons! Everyone has a set time and season that has been designated for things to unfold in their lives. We do ourselves a great disservice if we envy other people’s times (and seasons) because that rubs us of the energy that we can put into developing our crafts even more.
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Let me use myself as an example. I have been blogging/writing for about two and a half years now. I’ve gotten a fair amount of traction. I am not as widely known as the bigger platforms we have out there (especially here in Nigeria) like—BellaNaija and the Linda Ikeji Blog. It wouldn’t make any sense for me to compare my journey to the big platforms because they have been at the game for over 10 years.
When they began, I was still in school crying about the woes of Chemical Engineering. In fact, I did not even dream of becoming a writer, (I wanted to marry a rich man who will save me from all the craziness in life) but somewhere along the line that changed.
Now I have to wait for the appropriate time when God is going to elevate my platform for the entire world to see and that can happen in a twinkle of an eye. In the meantime, I have to stay prepared by honing my writing skills and keep talking about meaningful things, because when the time finally presents itself, if I don’t have much depth to carry the weight, then I would be like the foolish man the Bible talks about who built his house on sand, that the storms quickly destroyed.
Let’s talk about people in the bible who were prepared for their opportunities
Joseph: I love me some Joseph because we are so much alike. We are dreamers with enormous dreams that excite us so much that we don’t even know how to go about them. Joseph had dreams of greatness and probably felt it was going to be a straight line to get there. But that wasn’t his reality. He experienced a lot of twists and turns until it was time for him to be elevated.
Now in those 13 years (according to theologians), Joseph prepared for his big break. He built his character and was a man people could trust.
When it was time for the King to appoint someone who was full of wisdom to take on the position as prime minister, he said—“Since God has revealed the meaning of the dreams to you, clearly no one else is as intelligent or wise as you are. You will be in charge of my court, and all my people will take orders from you. Only I, sitting on my throne, will have a rank higher than yours.” (Genesis 41)
Imagine the Queen of England saying this to you, a young woman, who has nothing. You literally were thrown in prison in her nation for a crime you did not commit. But years and years of preparation and cultivating a relationship with God landed you with the opportunity! That was how crazy of a story Joseph’s case was! But he was prepared.
Character number two—David! This was a guy after God’s own heart, but that didn’t deter him from his own up and down journey. If there was anyone who had experienced a bunch of twists and turns in their life it was David. He also had a set of brothers who didn’t believe in him, they mocked the job that he did which was to tend his father’s sheep.
What they didn’t know was that in those moments of shepherding (if that’s a word), David was busy fighting off bears and lions. He also developed an intimate relationship with God, that some of the Psalms we read today were written in those times.
If David was whining saying—all these songs and short posts I am writing, who is ever going to sing or read them? This is surely a waste of time! Or I am sick of dealing with these sheep. Each day I go home smelling of crap, he would have missed out on the most crucial point in his life.
When Goliath started taunting the Israelites and there was no one who could defeat him, guess who did eventually? David! Because he had prepared all those years by fighting off bears and lions, caring for his father’s sheep like his life depended on them. Also, guess who became King after? David! God knew that if he could care for sheep, that He (God) could trust him to care for His people Israel.
At the right time, these two young men became leaders and they were well-prepared for the jobs. Any opportunity that falls on your lap without you being prepared will turn out to be a pain in the behind. So during those years of “drought” of doing the mundane things that make you feel like no one is seeing how awesome you are or what good of a job that you do, that is God’s way of protecting you from what could potentially be your demise and also preparing you for the things which eyes haven’t seen. We just have to trust Him enough with the process.
There is no one who enjoys my posts as much as I do. I go back to read them and I’m like wow, girl! did you write this? There are times when I publish a post and only a hand full of people read it, in those moments I say to myself—enjoy this time period when no one knows who you are or the impact of what you are doing because when that time comes, you will long for moments like this.
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All of this is just to say that you have to stay prepared; that big break, that opportunity, that dream job, might just be right around the corner. You will wake up one day and everything would change! But before you go ahead and scream Amen!! Or Yasssss!! Are you prepared for the opportunities you desire?!
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