Milestones Stages Pace
Milestones of life are demonstrated in our physicaland Spiritual beings. Reflecting on life, from toddler to teenager and toadulthood – each stage has its own differentchallenges. Some may even say it is an endurancerace from adolescence to womanhood, to successfulcareer or business woman and jumping overthousands of hurdles and obstacles to finally reachset goals. Each milestone comes with a qualifying stage ofgrowth. A 6month-old baby is unable to overcome achallenge of running and winning a 400m race. It issimply not the stage for such a milestone for a baby.Certain muscles need to grow and develop beforeone can run a 400m race – this comes with age andnumerous crucial development stages. For a baby,itu2019s a time to learn to walk, for a teenager run, and foran adult itu2019s important to grow wings and fly. One canlink this to Scripture where God promises that we willnot be tempted beyond our abilities (Cor 10:13).
An Endurance Race
Reaching milestones comes with experiencing andsome growing pains which are not felt only physicallybut also Spiritually. There are stages where we thinklife is unfair, u2018why did it happen to me?u2019 We even goas far asking: why did God allow it to happen? These growing pains impact us differently. Smallertrials like failing a maths test, or the silver medal onemay fret about seems to be more acceptable to facethan, for example, the pain of abuse that scars theSoul and may cripple Spiritual growth. Such is usexperiencing trials and tribulations as expressed inthe Bible and not the exciting milestones we sonaturally anticipate. It is in the trial and tribulationsthat our endurance is tested to the extreme and werealise the strength and Grace of God that sustainsus.
I recently had an awakening in my journey as abusinesswoman that in running the race, weneed to keep our own individual pace! The secretis to keep going and never stop u2013 unless Godsays so. Just like Dory, the blue fish in the Nemoanimation movie – keep swimming, keepswimming. Donu2019t get discouraged when otherssprint pass you to success, growth or wealth.u201cJust keep your paceu201d, is the voice I kept hearing.A sprinter canu2019t run long distance. For longdistance, endurance is required to reach the nextmilestone, the finish line. It is the same for usbusinesswomen.
Milestones are reached through Sacrifice
Admirable are those businesses that exist forover 50 or 100 years. William Colgate foundedColgate toothpaste in 1806. His inventionbecame popular years after his sacrifices. Whatwas different with him was his giving strategy. Inthe beginning he gave most of his product forfree for people to try. He didnu2019t make any moneyfor many years. Today his Colgate toothpaste isworth billions. Continued on pageu00a0
