A PATTERN THAT LIFE SEEMS TO FOLLOW...

Disclaimer: This does not in any way nullify God's creativity and greatness. He's made sure that everyone of us has a unique story.

What I'm about to enlighten is what I've come to see, especially from the people that are around me. I just finished reading an autobiography by Maya Angelou called The heart of a woman. I won't go into detail about it but I was struck by a certain occurrence she highlighted in her book. Around 1960 when Dr Martin Luther King was released out of prison, he wanted to raise money for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), for the rights of the Southerners. Maya took on the burden of raising those funds. She and her friend went ahead and planned what was called a cabaret of Freedom, after much stress and creative block, it came to be. In short, the play included actors, musicians and anyone in the arts who had a passion for emancipation and well, an empty pocket. The show became a success, due to a couple of favours here and there. A few months later she was called in to SCLC offices, which were led and dominated by white men. Maya was offered a job to be the coordinator of SCLC because they've seen how she's "a trustworthy person, reliable, and someone who knows how to get along with people".

 Well, the pattern I'm getting to is very apparent from this story. Maya did her best with the little that she had, and in turn was given a bigger, much paying role. (She was doing charity work, so she did everything for free). She put in all the hours, hard work and passion required to ensure that the play was a success and the bottom-line to get Mr King Money was achieved. Those that began with the little they had have always been rewarded with bigger tasks. The bible would agree with me on this one. The scripture that comes to mind is Luke 16:10 "The one who's faithful in little, will be faithful in much". It seems as if we ought to have some sort of rehearsal, wherein our eyes we don't see it as that. The beauty about doing "what your hands find to do" and doing it well is that you develop some sort of experience and tenacity. Some of the people that we're always celebrating have similar stories of how they started small; from steaming the clothes, to making them, to once a runner on a set, now they're making films. I know them, I’ve seen them.

This pattern that life follows makes me wonder...am I missing out on an opportunity to own a shop by refusing to clean it? Am I too cool to volunteer to answer calls and reply to emails, where I could be an executive someday? Malcolm Gladwell, in his book, Outliers, has a chapter called "The 10 000 hour-rule” and it basically claims that for a person to be an expert in something, they need to be at it for 10 000 hours and more. Could it be that the opportunities clothed in waste and mess are our 10 000 hours to perfection and expertise? Could it be that we're not simply leaving the war, but we're just joining another battle?

Isn't it the audacity of a dream though, that it really doesn't matter where you start because you always have the end in mind...

Like I said, God is not limited to one line of working. The pattern could be your answer or you could be the one whom God starts a new thing with. Either way, do not miss your hour because it’s presented in minutes and seconds.