Apna Time Aayega

The car mechanic, rickshaw puller, auto-rickshaw driver, cab driver, chai-wala, shop-keeper, and the stylist. And every other profession. They all wear it. All over India. They have the same message on their t-shirt. And they walk around as if they believe the message.

The message is Apna Time Aayega.

It is the new anthem song for all those who dream of making it big in life.

The song resonates with the majority of the 1.4 billion people Indians- especially a ‘hoping’ generation desperately holding on to an insatiable hope that ‘ONE DAY MY TIME WILL COME’.

It gives the essential glimmer of hope that regardless of how horrible my circumstances are, ONE DAY, my time will come. I will make it big. I will be famous. I will be unstoppable. I will be everything that I dreamed of becoming.

But I have been battling with an intriguing concern: what if, my time never comes?

Or, what if my goal in life is not supposed to be making it big?

Or, what if my time comes not in the pattern I expected?

Strange questions for many of us.

But our Indian education system, and our parenting patterns all seeks to put pressure on performance – Study hard, son, so that ONE DAY YOUR TIME WILL COME. (With a sub-conscious whisper- when your time comes, son, my time will come too!)

But, what does it mean when someone says MY TIME WILL COME. How will you know when your time has come?

⁃ Is it getting a passport and visa and landing in the United States of America?

⁃ Is it getting a salary that you always dreamed about ?

⁃ Is it when your name gets printed in the newspaper or your social media pages has 1 million followers?

⁃ Is it when you get married to the girl of your dreams?

⁃ Is it having enough power and influence to rule your world?

⁃ Is it have a title or degree before your name or after your name?(wherever you prefer!)

Unfortunately, if that is what it looks like, when your ‘time does come’ and you get what you wanted, there is often an unfortunate anti-climax. Many people I personally know or I heard about, have been extremely disappointed or broken at the pinnacle of their dream. Or the day after the dream they are suddenly dream-less.

Ask Michael Phelps. The most decorated Olympian in history with 28 medals has been honest about the journey of what happens when your ‘time does come’.

Michael Phelps makes this honest confession, “You work as hard as you can, and put every ounce of energy you possibly have into trying to represent your country and potentially win a gold medal … and then the next day you’re done. That’s it. So you can get lost.”

The desperation of making it big or the over-emphasis on dreaming of ‘that day’ can cause us to build dangerous unnecessary castles in the air. Castles that distract us from fulfilling our calling today.

One of my favourite books in the Bible, is Ecclesiastes, which elaborates the pursuit of a man who had experienced the gamut of the pinnacle of success and making it big in life. He admits: ‘It was all meaningless’

What if, we don’t spend our lives pursuing the day when ‘my time will come’ ?

What if, we commit today in all that we are becoming and what we are doing: we live to pursue greater goals than waiting for ‘my time to come’?

What if, we set these basic goals for our daily life?

Firstly, we choose to be FAITHFUL in what we are doing today. We don’t aim to be faithful when we become famous one day. We are faithful and true now in our private lifestyle and public actions.

One of the Greek’s Olympic games was a race in which the contestants carried torches and the winner was the one that finished with his torch still lit. Your focus is not to be number One, your focus is to be faithful in everything you do.

Secondly, we are consistently developing healthy HABITS that shapes our today and prepares us for tomorrow. Regardless of what we become tomorrow, we are nurturing today the physical, social, spiritual and mental faculties. We are totally immersed in growing today as a person and discovering the depth of all that God wants us to be. We don’t waste our energies on been distracted for the vain possibilities of tomorrow.

Thirdly, we add VALUE to people around us. Sometimes, we wait till we have a post or position or title or degree to make a difference in our world. Position rarely changes the world, but passion always does. We don’t need a financial backing or power or degree to add value to the world around us. We need a heart to see the hurting world around you. Bob Pierce, the founder of World Vision, prayed this prayer: “Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God” . But he whispered that prayer long before he had global influence or strategic impact.

One person who has changed me is Jesus Christ. Not just as a historical figure in history, but as my Lord, Saviour and faithful friend. I am constantly reading and rediscovering what it means to be like Jesus.

Jesus lived on planet earth for thirty-three short years. From the time he was born he knew ‘My time will come’.

But he knew it quite differently. In fact, in his final week on planet earth, he knew the time had come for him to leave the world and go to His Father.

The time to give up any selfish fascination for his life on earth and to be captivated with God’s design for his life.

Lord, not my life, but your will be done.

Jesus, God’s son, on the cross.

Apna Time Aayega. My time will come. My time has actually come.

In my death, I will give the world new life.

Honestly, your time will come. My time will come.

But not necessarily in the pathway we design for ourselves. But when we commit ourselves to God’s design.

At His pace. In His steps.

Don’t run ahead of Him. Don’t walk too slow.

Walk with Him.