One of the most underrated things in this world is working justifiably hard. Because we live in a world where people rarely care about the process but only the result, working hard without a glowing result to match can be frustrating. As in, deep down, you know you are giving a project your best shot, but the result just isn't showing, and you're taking serious heat for it. Don't worry, keep going till it shows.
I started this year with a calm demeanor, without much fanfare and excitement, unlike the previous years. I am experienced enough to know that getting pumped up on hope and expectations can leave one exhausted before getting to the middle of the year. Instead of the regular excitement, I only told myself I'd work hard and let my results do the talking.
By the end of January, a guy shared a testimony that corroborated my resolve for the year. He went to visit a distant relative on his birthday without any expectations. He told us the man got chitty, chatty, and excited. He asked him what he does for a living and promised to help him. By the time the guy was about to leave the relative's house, he got a receipt of the most important equipment he needed for his business, a washing machine.
Of all the things the guy said as he shared the testimony, a particular assertion stuck in my mind. He said before the man promised to help him, he made a statement, which was, "I have watched from afar and see that you are a very hardworking man..." That bit summarized my take for the year which was to keep showing up to do the necessary things without expecting immediate gratification.
Recently I've had a couple of situations where the energy I infused into a particular cause was exactly what I got back. On the negative side of things, the paths where I had sowed laziness I had also reaped terrible returns in spades. That one is always very fast: take some stuff with levity and watch it go to ruins right in front of you with no way to rescue it.
However, the most touching cause I put some effort into recently that yielded some returns in lieu didn't even happen to me directly. As one of the teachers in the Children Evangelical Ministry in my place of worship, one of the things I've done well in recent times is to help mold kids and teenagers in the right way.
Without a doubt, I am not the most religious of guys out there, but teaching these kids goes beyond religious fanatics and fallacy. It's about real-life shit and helping them avoid the missteps we, the teachers, made when we were their age. It's been a big task that involves a lot of self-reflection and sacrifice because he who comes to equity must come with clean hands. I can't be doing shit out there while teaching them something else. They are not blind or dumb. They learn by mirroring us.
So, one of the things I teach them about the children's harvest is service coordination. Recently, one of the teenagers I've taught well was invited to the adult church to coordinate the service. He did it so well that a first-timer was impressed and gave him a scholarship. He will pay his school fees till he finishes secondary school. On the surface, it looks insignificant, but knowing the financial condition of the kid's family, it was a big deal. Just at the point when I started getting tired of teaching kids how to coordinate the service one of them bagged a scholarship. It was a decent reward for a cause I've poured a lot of effort into.
Finally, Newton's Third Law of Motion says, "Action and Reaction are equal but opposite." We all know in real-life situations, this doesn't always happen. Despite that, there is always a chance that when we put decent effort into a cause, a handsome reward awaits. It may not happen at all times, but the few times it happens make it worth the wait. It's always a sweet relief.
