Prepare For The Next Season

Prepare for the next season

Hello, lovely people

In my last blog, I encouraged you to keep forging ahead and what a blessing the responses have been! So, we know we are not too late and that there’s still more than enough room for all of us to prosper but are we preparing for the season we have been daydreaming about? Should you land that job today, are you ready to perform it to the best of your ability? Should you meet that bae or boo of life, would you be ready to handle that season? Should you be given a 1 million USD to kick-start that business idea, would you be ready to faithfully steward it? So here’s the million-dollar question, ‘I’m I ready to walk in this new season which I’m greatly expecting’?

The irony of our pursuits is that we are in a rush all the time, chasing after God knows what but we rarely have the time to prepare. It looks like preparation is alien to our ‘microwave culture’ and we would rather live for the now than put out any effort for future gains.

Leonardo Da Vinci is arguably one of the gifted artists the world has ever known.  Mona Lisa is an infamous masterpiece which still garners admiration, thanks to Leonardo Da Vinci.  It has been described as ‘ the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world’. It holds the Guinness World Record for the highest known insurance valuation in history at USD 100 million in 1962, which equivalent to $852,139,072.85 as of 2019! You’d think this art of work took Da Vinci some months! It took about four years (1503-1507) to paint, where he later abandoned the work due to unknown reasons. It took him another three years to complete it, making it about seven years in total! Wait, for ‘that’ picture?

We may not know why it took that long but I believe Da Vinci had sleepless nights, erasing the painting countless times, trimming edges and finding the perfect colour contrasts for his project. He was probably concerned with the end product and would not just turn in some shoddy work done. The result is the masterpiece we see today and years after his demise, his legacy lives on.

Sometimes, the dream you have may not require a quick fix. Dreams do not come through by shouting, ‘Open Sesame!’- Remember Ali Baba and the forty thieves? Life isn’t one fairy tale. It is a journey and reaching one’s desired destination has a lot to do with preparation. For Jesus Christ, preparation for the task on Calvary meant spending forty days and nights on the parched desert, fasting with no water or food and communing with the Father uninterrupted. 

The result? ‘And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about Him went out through all the surrounding country. And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all”- Luke 4:14-15. Whether your pursuit is a spiritual one like Jesus or following a passion like Da Vinci or whatever it is, how is your preparation going?

You have probably mapped out your 5-year future plan and that is awesome but you see, the dream will not materialize if you are not taking baby steps towards it. So you want to be the most sought after hairstylist but are you stepping up your growth game? If you were to be given a fully furnished salon, are you ready to man it and make the business thrive?

 Maybe you have been applying for jobs, what have you done so far which will make you different from the rest of the pack? If there are no finances to attend certain workshops or even take up a professional course, are you making use of free courses online where you can develop yourself for the task ahead? Thorough preparation does not happen in the blink of an eye; it will cause you to sacrifice certain pleasures for the future. It may cause you your meagre money among others.

Life is happening and whether we like it or not, we are in the phase of preparation- knowingly or unknowingly. Therefore, it will be prudent on our part to resolve to be ready for the next season we see ourselves entering. Our timeframes aren’t the same but if our aim is to churn out excellence and produce the best results, we should prepare. So here’s to staying hopeful for the next season and taking every step possible to achieving your dreams.

My thoughts are summed up in the following Latin phrase, “Amat Victoria Curam “- Victory loves preparation.