Tag: patience

Moving the Goalposts

By Ife J. Ibitayo

After a year of writing, editing, (attempted) fundraising, and polishing, I’ve completed my first comic book. Some of my friends have asked me how it feels to have finished Let My People Ball #1, but I don’t have much to say. I’m hurriedly preparing for Los Angeles Comic Con next month, still trying to figure out this behemoth called “social media marketing”, and already iterating on Let My People Ball #2.

The Goalposts

If I’m honest with myself, one reason I’ve plowed ahead is that reflection can be painful. Looking back on this past year, seeing all the false starts, mistakes, and sacrifices, I have to ask myself, “Has it been worth it?” And I must answer this question with 20-20 hindsight and 0-0 foresight.

I’ve been watching the hit TV show Suits on Netflix recently, and it’s made me acutely aware of some of the logical fallacies I too easily fall into. One of them is called moving the goalposts “in which evidence presented in response to a specific claim is dismissed and some other (often greater) evidence is demanded.”

In this specific case, the goal is achievement. “You wrote a book? Heh, good for you,” mocks the derisory voice in my head. That milestone is worth celebrating when I’ve sold my thousandth book. Scratch that! We can pop champagne once I’m a New York Times Bestseller.

But the truth is that when we make our achievement contingent on outcomes that are largely out of our control, we deprive ourselves of the joy we need to eventually get there.

The True Story

There is another, more nefarious side to this dogged “achieve-ism”. When we neglect to acknowledge our accomplishments, we are also dismissing what God has accomplished through us. The Apostle Paul said to “Rejoice in the Lord always and give thanks to Him in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:16, 17). But we often make our praise contingent on what God has done for us rather than who He is to us. We withhold our gratitude and thanksgiving because deep down, we must see God’s goodness to believe it. We doubt the story He’s writing in the ink of our sweat and tears truly has a happy ending.

Conclusion

So I say to you, fellow author, land that publishing deal. You, striving athlete, win that championship. Or if you’re Gen Z—like my little brother, “get that bag.” But remember that the most important things in life can’t be mounted on your mantle or summed up in your bank account.

 If you’ve finished composing the greatest sonnet the world will never hear, celebrate! You graduated from college without a job? You still made it! Sometimes we need to validate our hard work first and trust that the glory will follow later. And as we wait, we can rejoice in our God who works together all things for our good and His glory.

“Do no throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.”

(Hebrews 10:35)

The Long Journey

By Ife J. Ibitayo

I still remember a conversation I had with a comic book creator I’ll call Leo. The quality of his detailed frescoes, his sharp dialogue, and his imaginative world building drew me to his booth at Los Angeles Comic Con. And as an aspiring comic book creator myself, I asked him what his experience had been like.

With weariness in his voice, described how tough the journey had been. Looking at the swath of popular indie comic book series he and his team had created over the course of a decade, I’d imagined that he of all people would be happy with the empire his hands had built. But he told me, “Sometimes, when I compare my journey to that of the friends I went to college with, I see their success, their families, and their money, and I wonder if I made the right choice.”

He spread his arms out to encompass his fellow comic book creators and said, “There are many people who come into this space, stick around for a year or two, then fizzle out. But those who’ve stuck around for 3, 5, or even 10 years, they’re the veterans. The only metric that matters here is time.” Yeah, that was not the most encouraging welcome I’ve received!

The Road not Taken

In the past year I’ve entered a new artistic community, founded a company, and created my first comic book. But I also quit my job, moved across the country, and took on student loans. In one of my first classes as an MBA student, I learned about a concept known as economic cost. Economic cost doesn’t just include the cost of choosing a particular choice. It also includes the cost of not choosing the alternative. And my alternative was pretty tempting.

I was an engineer working for a good company with a good salary surrounded by a good community living in a good city. The path forward may not have been easy (engineering rarely is), but it was relatively straightforward. The potential for management in my company, leadership in my church, and stability for my family all lay before me. But I sacrificed that to pursue my God-given dream.

And the key question that presents itself to me nearly every day is: Was it worth it?

A Fork in the Road

Jesus Himself told a story about this dilemma: “‘Which of you, wishing to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost to see if he has the resources to complete it? Otherwise, if he lays the foundation and is unable to finish the work, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, “This man could not finish what he started to build.”’” This very question has consumed my thoughts in recent days: “Will we be able to finish what we started?”

Conclusion

I’ve had to ask myself whether or not we would let this Kickstarter mark the end of our journey or its beginning. We are nearly finished with the first issue in our three-part series. But years lay ahead to finish the other two. The path to completion is muddled and many questions lie ahead. But I’ve counted the cost, and Lord-willing, I want to see this through to the end.

Let My People Ball Kickstarter September 7th
Let My People Ball Kickstarter Progress as of September 7th, 2023.

Our Kickstarter for the first issue of Let My People Ball is live from August 15th, 2023 to September 14th, 2023. If you’re as captured by the vision as we are, you can support us here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/let-my-people-ball-1/the-biballical-chronicles-let-my-people-ball-issue-1

Start the Presses

By Ife J. Ibitayo

If raising money in this day and age is tough, getting attention is excruciating. Having blogged for years to my small but mighty band of subscribers, I’ve been tempted to conclude that I’ve been shouting into the void. Or, as the late great Samuel Coleridge put it, there’s “water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink.”

Start the Articles

The art of getting attention is alchemical in nature, a mixture of science and magic that boggles the brain, frustrates all formulas, and defies duplication. I’ve learned this is the hard way in the comic book space. There are only so many outlets that cover indie comics, and even those that do have only so much reach. The comic-book equivalent of The Rolling Stones and Vogue is hard to identify, and if found, they’re not going to be talking about your indie Kickstarter.

The Pullbox Preview: Let My People Ball Prologue
Our very first press response!
Credit: The Pullbox

Start the Follows

The flip side of this is developing an organic following through the power of social media. I’ve heard so-called marketing gurus recommend, “Find your crowd and craft your message to match that audience.” But that guidance sniffs of the inauthentic. it feels like trying to snap off a piece of your soul and wrap it up in a pretty box so that other people will devour it. And with that kind of dubious outlook on Instagram and TikTok, you could imagine how that journey has gone for me.

But in the midst of this Kickstarter, I’ve had to remind myself why I leapt into the publishing industry in the first place: Because I love telling stories.

Don’t Stop the Stories

I was a Toy Story kid. I played with action figures and wind-up contraptions long after many of my classmates had grown out of them. I had narratives that needed to be expressed via mouthed sound effects and flying plastic playthings.

I scribbled down short stories, mixed together beats, and cobbled up dance videos long before that became vogue because I’ve always enjoyed sharing my creations with the world.

Conclusion

I have not figured out the best way to reach people yet. I might not go viral anytime soon or become the next overnight internet sensation. But I will continue striving to get my work out there. Because as much as I love creating art for myself and art “for art’s sake”, nothing quite compares to making other people feel deeply. And if I can have the privilege of making even one more person feel deeply, I will continue to wrestle with this inscrutable beast called the internet.

Our Kickstarter for the first issue of Let My People Ball is live from August 15th, 2023 to September 14th, 2023 and can be accessed here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/let-my-people-ball-1/the-biballical-chronicles-let-my-people-ball-issue-1

Let My People Ball Kickstarter Progress as of August 24th, 2023.

Upwork Didn’t Work

By Ife J. Ibitayo

“That’s great and all,” he said, waving his hand in the air as if he was dispelling a bad odor. “But I’ve been in the comic book industry a long time, and there are three things people need.”

I was sitting across from a man I’ll call Ahmed who I’d been talking to about my vision of starting a company in the comic book industry. Fingering his palm with each idea he listed, Ahmed said, “One, they access to money because well…” And I nodded along, not needing him to explain why “starving artists” needed more cash.

“Two,” he continued, “they need access to publishers. Three, they need access to one another.” And he went on to describe how easy it was for him as an industry insider to find an illustrator for one of his projects but how difficult it was for everyone else. And something of that last idea remained with me as I struggled to find an illustrator for my own comic book project.

Working through Upwork

February had already rolled around, and I was beginning to grow discouraged. But I created an Upwork account, published a job post, and waited for the applications to start flowing in.

Within a few weeks, I’d received a number of proposals, and most of them were underwhelming. I ran into the same issues I’d encountered on Instagram, illustrators without the right style, the right experience, or the right attention to detail (you’d be amazed how many applicants apply to jobs without reading the job description!).

But there were two promising leads. The first was from a man I’ll call James. Talking to him felt like interacting with an alternate reality version of myself. He was a fellow engineer who’d quit his job to pursue his dream of telling “meaning-filled” stories. We even graduated from the same university within a couple years of each other!

The first sample I ever received for Let My People Ball.
Source: Ife J. Ibitayo.

Our chemistry was palpable, and the process of obtaining a sample page from him was seamless. But when I saw the final result, I was underwhelmed. The page was beautifully colored, but it just did not fit my vision for my comic book. So with much regret, I asked if I could reach out to him as a potential colorist and kept on searching.

The second artist, who I’ll call Alejandro, was the opposite. The quality of his drawings were unmistakable, but his sample page was simply confusing. I held up my script, compared it to his drawing, and struggled to reconcile the two. So, with great disappointment, I let him go as well.

Let My People Ball Sample 2
The second sample I received for Let My People Ball. Even today, I can’t quite make sense of everything going on in each of these scenes. Source: Ife J. Ibitayo.

Conclusion

So after burning a month of time and a molehill of cash, Upwork hadn’t worked for me. And I was beginning to doubt whether or not I’d be able to make this comic book vision of mine into a reality any time soon.

An Eternity on Instagram

By Ife J. Ibitayo

Tobi had promised me it’d be easy. Log on to Instagram. Spend a few hours scrolling through posts until you find a handful of illustrators you like. Fire off some DMs. And when one finally responds, you have yourself a comic book artist. But the reality was not nearly as seamless as he made it sound.

The hours crawled by as I tried every hashtag I could muster to find the right artist to partner with. #christiancomicbookartist #christianillustration #historicalgraphicnovels #helpme

If it wasn’t one problem, it would be another. They wouldn’t possess the right style. Or they wouldn’t accept commissions. Or they had experience with every medium under the sun except comic books. And if ever the stars aligned so that all of these previous boxes were actually checked off, they’d ghost me like the Phantom of the Opera.

Instagram Comic Artist Scrolling Session
A typical afternoon Instagram scrolling session.
Source: Instagram; Credit: Ife J. Ibitayo

The Coup de Grace for Instagram

I remember one particularly discouraging interaction I had with a fellow I’ll call Matthew. On one of my seemingly endless Instagram scrolling sessions, I stumbled across his artwork, and I instantly felt a connection. He’d drawn a scene of David transitioning from meager shepherd boy to powerful warrior king. It was vibrant and colorful comic book style with clear Christian undertones. Then I clicked on to his Instagram page and found an up-to-date website with contact information. And when I filled out the form, he responded within twenty-four hours.

I felt like I had just won the lottery! We set up a phone call and bonded over a shared vision. Then I sent him a non-disclosure agreement and payment terms, excited to embark on a new journey together in 2023. But he vanished like smoke. Weeks passed, and my emails remained unanswered. It was like calling out into the void. I was back to square one.

Conclusion

Entering the new year empty handed, I knew I’d have to change tactics. Social media wasn’t the answer for me, but I was praying something else would be.

While attending LA Comic Con the previous month, I’d spent a few minutes chatting with an amazing independent comic book creator. He was a writer, like me, without an ounce of drawing capability in his body. And he practically gushed over his experience forming a team of artists to work with using an online freelance marketplace called Upwork. So I decided that that would be my next pit stop.

My first, but definitely not my last, trip to LA Comic Con.

I’m Not a New Yorker

By Ife J. Ibitayo

I just returned from a trip to New York City—the home of Miles Morales, the Cookie Monster, and some other, less important people. New York is a complicated city. I’d listen to the siren song of an undiscovered musician as I descended into a subway station. Then I’d choke on the rancid stench of piss as I ascended out of it. Someone once said that those who visit New York will either see “all that glimmers or all its garbage,” and I definitely experienced both ends of the bargain.

But I was most bewildered by the people. New Yorkers are a race in and of themselves. They are brash, confident, hip, and strange. From the men sporting sunglasses on the already cloudy days or the women wearing spaghetti straps and minis in the middle of the rain, I knew I stuck out with my millennial skinny jeans and pullover sweater.

Am I Hustling Enough?

I quickly learned that to be in New York is to be in a hurry. New Yorkers will push past you, scream at you, and literally climb over you to get to their destination on time. Some have defined the New York Second—the time between a light turning green and the taxi behind you honking—as “the shortest time in the multiverse.” And I became well acquainted with this phenomenon as blaring horns harassed me as I lay awake in my hotel room.

 But my lying awake didn’t start here in New York. Ever since this year began, my schedule has taken a dramatic turn. Social outings, hangouts, and Sabbaths all took a backseat to studying, working, and hustling. Some of it seemed necessary at the time. A perfect storm of schoolwork and life circumstances coincided to squeeze the space out of my schedule. But it was only revealing a much deeper issue lurking in my heart.

I remember one late Thursday afternoon when I foolishly scrolled through my email right before taking a much-needed nap. When I discovered yet another rejected application, I lay restlessly in my bed for a few minutes before having to get back up. I didn’t want to return to the grind; I needed to. Because in the absence of external validation to confirm the value of my hard work, I needed the hard work itself to substitute in. I needed the bleary-eyed late nights and the bone-weary exhaustion and the harried, frenetic pace of my every day to distract my worried heart.

Am I Enough?

Too stressed out to sleep and too distracted to work, I went outside for a walk. On that strangely wet and cloudy Los Angeles day, I wondered to myself: Why am I doing all this? Do I hustle because I fear falling behind? Or do I fear not measuring up? Am I enough? And fighting my way through the crowded streets of New York City a few months later, these questions resurfaced all over again.

Conclusion

But there was one beautiful respite that redeemed my Big Apple breakdown. Standing on the top floor of a skyscraper, staring out on the harbor, I enjoyed a rare moment of stillness. A ferry carved a lazy arc through the water as the sun just began to peak out of the clouds. As its warm glow dispelled the gloom from that afternoon’s heavy rain, I knew in my heart that I’m not built to be a New Yorker.

I cannot hustle my way to happiness. I have to religiously carve out time for God, friends, and for myself. And even if the building I’m constructing grows at a slower pace than others’ high-rises, at least I’ll be laying down a sturdy foundation that just might survive the ups and downs—the earthquakes—I know I’ll experience out here in Los Angeles.

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.”
(Matthew 7:24-25)

Make Time

By Ife J. Ibitayo

Last week a good friend of mine dropped by my apartment on his way to the airport. I hadn’t seen him in years, and the joy of reconnecting, even just for a few minutes, flooded my heart with joy. But I almost didn’t make time to see him. I’d gone to bed late and woken up early, and my day was already jampacked with a laundry list of activities—including literal laundry. Did it really make sense to carve out precious time to see him? Couldn’t we just catch up over the phone? That mindset has dominated my thought process this new year. 2023 will be the year I launch my company, finish my novel, and ace my MBA classes. So what if a couple minor things slip like friendship and laughter?

Make Time for Friendship

But the Word says, “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor” (Ecclesiastes 4:9). Common business school wisdom teaches you that “it’s lonely at the top.” If you want to reach the top of your company, the summit of your industry, or the pinnacle of your personal success ladder, you’ll have to sacrifice people along the way. But if we leave in our a wake a graveyard of malnourished relationships, we’ll come to appreciate just how hollow “victory” can really feel.

Make Time for Enjoyment

Many people I know believe that enjoyment is a luxury that must be deferred. They’ll work hard now as an overworked cog in the corporate machine then play hard as an early retiree. But the Bible contains a parable that speaks directly to this sentiment: “There is one alone, without companion: He has neither son nor brother. Yet there is no end to all his labors, nor is his eye satisfied with riches. But he never asks, ‘For whom do I toil and deprive myself of good?’ This also is vanity and a grave misfortune” (Ecclesiastes 4:8).

My life has a way of filling itself up. Bouncing from one cycle of business to another can be all to easy in our fast-paced, work-glorifying culture. If we don’t take time to enjoy now before the “days of trouble come” (Ecclesiastes 12:1), we may let the sweetest seasons of our life pass us by.

Conclusion

Years come and resolutions go. We may not accomplish all we set out to in this shiny new year of 2023. But if we make time for our loved ones and share a couple laughs along the way, we may have just stumbled upon what we should have resolved to do anyway.

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”

(Ecclesiastes 3:1)

Counting My Blessings in Ethiopia

By Ife J. Ibitayo

Losing all my luggage on the way to a destination wedding in Africa is not how I imagined kicking off 2023. A siren blared in the back of my skull when a gate agent forced me to check my carryon bag: full of the clothes I needed to fulfill my role as a groomsman. Twenty-four hours later, I landed in Ethiopia, exhausted and bleary-eyed. And my nightmare became my waking reality as I found out I wouldn’t receive my luggage until the day after my friend’s wedding. My mom rang me shortly after, and I barely managed to croak, “I lost everything.”

Counting on Little

As I settled into bed after having brushed my teeth with the last vestiges of the mini-toothbrush set Qatar Airways had provided, I was plagued by how much I’d lost. I didn’t know how I’d make it through tomorrow let alone the wedding coming up that weekend. But as hours stretched into days, I marveled at how little I actually needed. Deodorant is helpful, as are spare underwear, socks, and t-shirts, but life has a way of going on even when you lose the many “essentials” you’ve grown accustomed to.

 In the book of Philippians, apostle Paul says, “I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything (Philippians 4:11-12).” The word translated “learned” in this passage is manthano. As opposed to learning from head knowledge, manthano is learning from experience. Of course, the comparison is a little disingenuous when I was staying in a 4-star hotel while Paul was subsisting in a Roman dungeon. But as cruel a mistress as fate can be when traveling internationally, in God’s hands, it can be transformed into an invaluable instructor in finding joy apart from material circumstances.

Counting on My Friends

Further, I was blown-away by the kindness of my friends and their family members as we made the best of my difficult circumstances. From cogent advice to help shopping, my Ethiopian friends enabled me to tread water for the days that I was without pretty much everything.

After I thanked the groom’s sister for all her assistance in mashing together a Frankenstein composite of replacement clothes for the wedding, she replied with a laugh, “Nobody could have done this alone.”

In a similar vein, wise King Solomon once said, “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10). If I learned one crucial lesson from this trip, it’s never travel alone! Yet I believe this teaching extends far beyond physical journeys. We were meant to journey through all of life together.

In accordance with this truth, Apostle Paul instructed 1st century Christians, “I don’t mean your giving should make life easy for others and hard for yourselves. I only mean that there should be some equality. Right now you have plenty and can help those who are in need. Later, they will have plenty and can share with you when you need it” (2 Corinthians 8:13-14). So in this situation, others were able to meet my need because I was traveling in community. And likewise in the future, when others’ needs arise, I will be able to pay it forward to them as well.

Counting on My God

Lastly, I was sustained by God’s Word. The morning after I lost my belongings, the verse of the day was Matthew 6:34: “‘Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own’”, which is an especially apt verse when you are lying awake in a jetlagged stupor attempting to figure out where you went wrong.

Earlier in the same passage, Jesus says, ‘“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes” (Matthew 6:25)? This verse shaped my experience here in Ethiopia. I was honestly tempted to drink a cocktail of self-pity and wallow in my sorrows, but this verse reminded me that there is more in life than food, drink, and even clothing.

Conclusion

As I wrap up this article the morning before I board my flight back to the United States, I am grateful. I am grateful for the laughter and jubilation as we celebrated my good friend’s wedding to his soulmate. I am grateful for the provision of God above and the kindness of loved ones all around me as I navigated this dizzying new adventure. And I am even grateful that I lost my luggage in the first place because now I appreciate how much God has given me in a fresh, new way.

“And my God will supply all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”

(Philippians 4:19)

Life is Too Short to Live Too Fast

By Ife J. Ibitayo

Life in any big city, from Los Angeles to New York City, will tend to be fast paced. There is so much to do and too much to be done. But the push to live faster will manifest in a distinct way for each of us.

The Hustle Mentality

The first manifestation is the hustle mentality: “I live to work.” I struggle with this mindset the most. And seeing the dozens of phone lines that exist for Workaholics Anonymous, I know I’m not alone.

I hustle because time always feels like it’s of the essence. Lazy Saturdays are wasted Saturdays. What am I doing with my life if I’m not striving toward my God-given dreams? If I’m not working on them, who is?

The Hustle Cure

When God places a vision on your heart, He is the one who is ultimately responsible for them, not you. And accepting this reality is the first step toward healing from the hustle mentality.

However, this is an especially bitter pill for me to swallow. As a child of immigrants, I was taught that hard work was the solution to every problem. Your grades are low? Work harder. Your quarterly performance reviews are bad? Work harder. You’re 30 and you’re not married yet? Work harder.

But God Himself sternly rebukes this mindset. “‘If you repented and patiently waited for Me, you would be delivered; if you calmly trusted in Me you would find strength, but you are unwilling’” (Isaiah 30:16). Waiting on God and resting in His promises are key to overcoming the need to hustle.

The Hangover Mentality

At the other extreme is the hangover mentality: “I live to party.” At business school, you might imagine how common this mindset is. Party, crash, repeat, and the cycle continues until the funds run dry or the consequences come calling.

At the heart of this mindset lies a fear of the future. With greater responsibility and less freedom lying ahead, when else will we get a chance to kickback like we’re doing now?

The Hangover Cure

Ironically, the cure to this problem is actually the same as the cure to the hustle mindset: waiting on God and resting in His promises. Overindulgence arises from a scarcity mindset. “If I don’t indulge now, I may never again have the chance to.” And there is some truth in that. There are very few forty-years-old I know who spend their Saturday nights at epic ragers. And even fewer geriatrics who can bust a move at the club. But there is life after youth. Older age brings joys that younger years cannot: legacy, perspective, and family. If we pace ourselves now and plan our futures well, we can make the most of our current enjoyment and still be around to reminisce about it later.

Conclusion

In the book of Ecclesiastes, the wise King Solomon says, “It is good to grasp the one and not let the other slip from your hand. For he who fears God will avoid all extremes” (Ecclesiastes 7:18). As human beings, we tend to the extreme. Our compass will direct us to work too hard or play too hard because we’re trying to live life too fast. But we need to know when to slow down, so that we can make the most of our short lives here on earth.

“‘Stop striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted on the earth.'”

(Psalm 46:10)

In Pursuit of Decency

By Ife J. Ibitayo

Last week, I played my first pickup game of five-on-five basketball in three years! I made a third of our team’s points on roughly 50% field goal percentage with a handful of assists to boot. But I was also a defensive sieve and poor rebounder. So overall my performance was decent. But my path to decency was a long one.

Back in high school, I remember one day when I was shooting free throws through everything except the hoop. The assistant head coach walked up to me and said, “You can quit right now and come back for track season.” But I didn’t quit that day; I kept on clanking.

Now the value of practice doesn’t just apply to hobbies like basketball; it applies to everything in life. 1 Timothy 4:11 says, “Physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” So, if there is anything that we should want to train in, it should be loving God and loving others better. We all recognize this truth deep inside our bones. We want to be a more thoughtful friend or a more sympathetic spouse, but we don’t know where to start.

Start Small

But starting itself is often the most important task to reaching our destination. The Chinese Proverb “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” isn’t just a pithy statement, it is an undeniable fact. A fraying marriage won’t be mended over night. But one of the first patches can be saying “I love you” before you go to bed each evening. Your teenager won’t magically open up to you if you take five extra minutes to listen to them when you pick them up from school. But you’ll be astounded at what amazing bounds can arise from such seemingly small baby steps.

Don’t Give Up

But in a similar vein, if you don’t see the progress you’re hoping for yet, don’t give up. Because we live in an instant culture, we often want instant results. But one day (or even a month) of good practice often won’t be enough to reverse the course of years of bad habits That is why the apostle James mentioned how the farmer has to wait for both the autumn and the spring rain before the land yields its harvest (James 5:7). Similarly, we have to wait for God to water the seed we’ve planted and give it time to germinate before we receive the harvest we’re hoping for in our lives.

Conclusion

Lastly, forgive yourself when you misstep. We all know the saying, “No one’s perfect.” Yet sometimes we live as if we expect ourselves to be! If you continue to step forward, week by week, month by month, year by year, I’m positive that you too will achieve decency in the areas of life you’re pursuing. And with the help of God, you might just reach excellence.

“All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize.”

(1 Corinthians 9:25)