I have been asked several times if I am working and my answer is always ‘technically yes, but not getting paid yet’. The next comment is usually, ‘how can you say you have a job if you are not getting paid’? I have been getting annoyed recently with people saying they want to do something, but not doing it because they will not get paid. My question is why? Why not try?
I was doing dishes when all these thoughts came to me followed by the ‘all who feel and nuh get no bat,’ song. When I was young, growing up in Jamaica during recess at school we would play ‘bat and ball.’ One team would field and the other would bat, similar to baseball in North America. Because time is a limited commodity, there is always some who would field and not get to bat. This is an issue because the batting for all of us was the fun part of the game; we accepted that some had to field but we did not like it. So it would hurt real bad when those who got to bat would sing and jeer the fielders who never got a chance with the line, ‘all who feel and nuh get no bat go hide themselves ina toilet…
I feel like many of us are living this syndrome. We are afraid we will play the game, put the work in and not get paid the rewards. The problem is we are living an unfulfilled life. We are unhappy the way we are and until we decide to field, we will not get to the fun part. An acquaintance of mine started her own company. She did not get a penny for the first two years, but when she got paid she was able to put down a sizeable deposit on a house and move out of her parent’s basement with her husband and children.
Many of us prefer to pretend to be happy than take a chance. I know each person’s circumstances are different but I have heard stories of several ‘chance takers’ that make my life seem like a cake walk. I will say up front, IT WILL BE HARD! It will be excruciatingly hard and you may need to try more than once to make it work but it is possible and the rewards will be out of this world!
Let’s stop asking God to take away the hardship and praise him for rewarding you after you have taken the risk. When I am tempted to give up, and this happens a lot, I picture the end result, and this usually lifts my spirit.
