What are you waiting for?

What are you waiting for?

I must admit that off late I feel numb and not the least bit inspired to do anything. Weeks are filled with days that are meaningless; and time passes by, too fast and too slow, all at once. During such times it is so easy to just give into an existential mindset. Maybe we are all here with no great purpose, just mediocre people doing mediocre things to make the best of the days given to us.

Think about it…. while at school, the public exams seemed like the ultimate goal in life. Once that is done, you enter college and begin to realize that life is not about exams and books, maybe life is about doing something extraordinary. You try your hands at a million things to find out what you are made of. But by the time you are done experimenting, you have more regrets than experience to carry forward. Some leave college with arrears, some with broken hearts, and then the big, bad world awaits, where you are to make your living. Some think that jobs are meant to pay the bills and nothing more; there is no such thing as passion when it comes to profession. And some think if you settle for any odd job you will never have the drive to find your calling, so they spend months and years finding a job that satisfies their passion. But once you get through these difficulties, you are met with a rude shock that all your achievements and awards add up to nothing if you are not successful in finding a life partner. Suddenly, the good grades, the well-paying job, the vehicle you bought with your savings, all of these successes are belittled because you don’t have someone to call your own and celebrate with. And if you manage to find someone, you are expected to reproduce nothing short of superheroes for kids who can talk, sing, dance, study like no other kid even before they join school.  Then you watch them go through life’s ordeals and wish they don’t make the same mistakes as you did.

At every stage in life, there is a prize to win, but once you reach it, it just doesn’t seem enough. When will we ever be satisfied? If you never feel satisfied with your achievements and only want more, what’s the point of it all?  

The prophet Isaiah from the Bible writes, “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

Life is a wait, where some walk and some run. But ultimately all of us are waiting whether we realize it or not. Humans are created not for money, professional success, or anything else this world has to offer. We are created for God’s glory. We will stop waiting and be completely satisfied only when we find purpose in God.

It might be difficult to reconcile to this profound truth when we swim through the mundane. But if we stop looking for motivation and satisfaction in the wrong places, our existential mindset will be replaced with a purpose-driven hopeful one. One that reminds us not to seek purpose and meaning in the struggles, relationships, and fleeting achievements of life. True motivation is simply to remember that life on earth is a waiting period, a time to be spent in helping others while we wait with hope for what is to come.