Professional enrichment: What happens between seed and harvest?

-As long as the earth remains, seed-time and harvest would not cease-Genesis 8: 22

I  grew up a quiet and very introspective child. It must have been because my parents always pounded it in my ear to think! Maybe because they felt my wonderful and active older brother did not give thought to some of his actions, so they had to inject it into me that I had to THINK! And think was what I did for most of my childhood. Another aspect of my personality however, was impatience. I was a very impatient child. To the saying; a patient Dog gets the fattest bone, I always responded: After all the sharp Dogs have gotten the juiciest one's! I did not want to be slow abeg, I wanted to always get ahead.

Fast forward many years later, my Son David is one boisterous child! I am glad he is smart and loves his school books, but he can be so impatient. I wanted to loose my temper at his impatience the other day, but I held myself back when I remembered my own childhood impatience.

David looking quiet, I wish!

The interesting thing is that I carried this impatience to my corporate life. I considered my self a fast learner, so I did not understand why I had to stay on one level for too long. I silently disdained people who had been doing the same job for donkey years! I couldn't understand how they could have been that patient and enduring of what I considered boring routine. The good thing about my impatience, was that I learnt fast and rose fast in my career. The negative thing is that I made some rash, hurried decisions and was unnecessarily competitive. I think I missed some amazing life learning experiences in my race to get up the ladder fast....

When I became a christian, I always used to hear the preaching of seed and harvest, as nice as it sounded, I just didn't get it! Why should I spend five years in school sowing the seed of knowledge acquisition only to spend two years at home trying to get a job? Or 3 years on the same level when I eventually get the job? Or why did I dedicate two years of my life trying to get an MBA and learn how to run a business only to finally start the business and still be struggling? What up with this seed and harvest principle sef?

One day I heard a Pastor say that between seed and harvest, was the 'time' it took for what we had sowed to germinate and grow, and I got that, but why did it take so long? Or why did it never seem to happen before people gave up on their seeds and moved on? Why do we have to even wait? why don't we just pour fertilize on the seed or use some laser growth instrument(whatever that is) that would make the seed grow fast and become a fruit? This thinking seeped into my sub-conscious so much that I began to take matters into my own hands aka 'make it happen for me'

It seemed to be working! I learnt how to find 'legal' shortcuts, how to work smart(I am not saying that's bad) and how to negotiate my way through things. Negotiation in it's self is not a bad thing, as long as we know how to draw the line between negotiation and manipulation.... So I promptly threw away the gospel of seed time and harvest, there is always away if you look for it I told myself. However, it all began to unravel; artificially formed relationships with no foundation, projects started on bravado, with no depth of understanding, growth in career and business with no substance. It didn't unravel at once, it was a gradual process, every stage with it's own painful experience.

Then I took a back sit and spent months examining what went wrong, I found out that no matter how smart you are, you can't circumvent the process of Life. If you manage to dodge a few times, it would wait for you in front, where you least expect it. So what happens between seed and harvest?

1. Growth in learning: If you go through the process correctly, not only would you learn what to do, you would understand why you do it. You would become a true expert at it and you would be able to do it without a 'manual'. This applies in your career or business pursuit.

2. Stability and depth: You would not only learn how to do it, you would do the same thing or similar things so many times, that you would be confident and comfortable about doing it and then you would be ready to build on what you have learnt.

3. Decision making: I was taught to think on my feet when I was in business school, and I pride myself about mastering this skill. I am hardly ever caught unaware without having something to say, but I have learn't that it is okay to take your time to make decisions. To examine all sides of the coin, to seek wise counsel and to wait for the right timing before you move. Which brings me to the fourth thing:

4. Timing: There is a time for every things says the wise king Solomon. As much as you can make it happen if you try, there is nothing as beautiful and flawless as when it happens at the right time. You might be in so much of a hurry for things to work out that you miss the beauty of the process, the knowledge of patience that comes only with learning to wait, the magnificence of the outcome when time and chance finally happens!

Maturity, experience and the wisdom of God is teaching me how to pace my self more and enjoy my moments in this journey of building a business and a life. I am no longer in a hurry! He makes all things beautiful in its time. Now I finally understand the principle of seed and harvest and I am learning; the journey doesn't have to be so painful, if we walk in tandem with God's timing.

Have your learnt to wait? Are you waiting for something? How are you waiting? Please share your experience in the comment box below. I would really love to hear from you.

Be Empowered,

Tale.