The World and my Waiting

By Ayomipo Akorede

After service yesterday, which was father's day, my mum called to wish me a good one and then ended with the usual prayers aged parents who are expectant of that one thing say---wife! Lol.

We live in a not just fast but fast-forward world. A world of same-day delivery, instant love on dating apps, trends that rise and fall within few hours, unvoiced but "expected expectations", quick results and overnight success. But life is funny, it doesn’t always obey our deadlines. Sometimes, you apply for the job and wait; you sow in prayer and wait; you put in effort, tears, and time and then you wait some more. Matter-of-factly, it can feel like the world is spinning while you perceptually feel stuck in a spot and it hurts more when others are effortlessly getting what you are waiting for. But what if waiting isn’t wasted time? What if it’s no punishment or neglect but a path?

One thing I have discovered is that there is a hidden grace in waiting, though it rarely feels that way at first. Take Tyler Perry, the billionaire filmmaker, actor, media mogul and the brain behind "Zatima", "All the Queen's Men", etc., everyone is talking about today for instance, his journey was anything but instant. He wrote his first play, "I Know I’ve Been Changed", and put all his savings into it, only for it to flop terribly. For years, he lived in his car, reworking scripts, promoting shows, and enduring countless rejections. Nobody knew his name. But he kept going, he kept waiting. Seven long years passed before the play finally caught fire. And when it did, it launched an empire. His waiting wasn’t wasted — it was where resilience, clarity, and boldness were born. Perry himself often says, “While you’re in the dark, God is planting you. Don’t dig up what He’s growing.” Very deep, hun?

Science agrees with this assertion too. According to research from Stanford University, people who learn to delay gratification often enjoy better emotional control and long-term success. The famous marshmallow experiment they conducted showed that children who could wait for a bigger reward later rather than indulging in instant pleasure fared better academically and socially. Neuroscientists have also discovered that the brain’s reward system is activated not just by receiving something good, but also in anticipating it. In other words, waiting can be deeply stimulating: your brain is actually growing while you’re holding on.

Yet, it’s also true that uncertainty makes waiting hard. You will agree that waiting in suspense, not knowing when or whether something will happen, creates more anxiety than even receiving bad news. Well, we are only humans. Our minds are wired to crave control. That’s why silence, especially from heaven or from life itself, can feel like abandonment. The reality is quite opposite. Many a time, silence is divine strategy God uses to shape hearts (transformation) and deepen trust according to Laing Thompson's "When God Says Wait".

Philosophers have long echoed this idea also. Nietzsche famously wrote, “He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.” Waiting becomes bearable, even powerful, when it’s attached to purpose. Lao Tzu, father of Taoism, says, “Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” Time in nature is never wasted. Even in stillness, seeds germinate, roots deepen, branches stretch toward the sun. Why should our lives be any different? Heidegger, the German philosopher, believed waiting forces us into a raw encounter with time and with our true selves. In waiting, we’re not only longing for the future; we’re confronting who we are now.

African wisdom isn't left out too. Across Nigeria and much of the continent, you’ll hear it said: “Delay is not denial.” Or in pidgin: “Na bend e bend, no be end.” These are not empty phrases; they are survival mantras. Whether it’s a long visa process, a job that never calls back, or a relationship that feels stuck in limbo, African people have learned the power of holding on, of waiting with hope and humor. In Evans Edewor's "God is Not in a Hurry", he reminds us that hustle culture isn’t holy and divine timing often ignores human pressure. He writes with calm, clear conviction that waiting seasons are necessary not because God is cruel, but because He is precise.

Even culturally, waiting is embedded in how we live. Consider the farmer who waits for the yam to grow. He tills the ground, plants the seed, and walks away. He does not sleep beside the soil every night shouting “grow!”. He trusts the process. Life, like farming, requires a kind of sacred surrender. The popular African proverb says, “Even the palm tree takes time to bear fruit, but when it does, the oil blesses everyone.” You may feel buried now, but you’re not forgotten. You’re germinating. You're becoming.

Philosopher and Christian mystic Simone Weil once said, “Waiting patiently in expectation is the foundation of the spiritual life.” And that’s the truth --- not just for the prayer warrior, but for the dreamer, the artist, the brokenhearted, the graduate, the parent, the patient. In "When the Heart Waits", Sue Monk Kidd explores how her personal midlife crisis turned into a spiritual awakening. Through silence, solitude, and honest self-reflection, she discovered that waiting was not passive; it was transformative and a representative of while we wait, we grow. 

Neuroscience shows that mindfulness, journaling, and reflection can reduce the stress of uncertainty through research. It has also proven that mindfulness rewires the brain to better handle delay and stress. So even when we can’t speed up the outcome, we can slow down our anxiety. We can embrace the present moment. We can choose peace over panic. So maybe you're waiting for a partner, or healing, or that one message that changes everything; maybe it feels like you’re standing still while the whole world is dancing past you, please know this: the world isn’t ahead of you. It’s just on a different route. You’re not behind. You’re being refined. Everything you are learning in this silence — the faith, the discipline, the stillness — will speak loudly when the time is right.

So breathe. Be still. Wait well. The world may keep spinning, but your story is unfolding. And even now, in this quiet moment, you are not forgotten; you are being formed. You are becoming!

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