The Tailored Life Sample

The Waiting Room

One of the hardest periods in a Tailored Life is after you have convinced yourself that this is actually possible, and things have started moving and coming together and then all of a sudden you feel stuck. You will go through many different seasons. The Tailored Life is not a sprint, it's a marathon, so pace yourself.

The season that your thoughts are most vulnerable is what I like to call the waiting room. A waiting room is a building, or more commonly a part of a building or a room, where people sit or stand until the event or appointment which they are waiting for begins. I wish to use it in more of a philosophical context, thus I define the waiting room as a moment or period in life right before a monumental shift occurs. It is a place of preparation, but is also usually marked by separation and discomfort. The waiting room is an awkward place.

For you, the waiting room is the intersection between Chronos and Kairostime. The waiting room is a place of promise, waiting on the timing of God to enact the promise.

Kairos (καιρός) is an ancient Greek word meaning the right or opportune moment (the 'supreme moment'). The ancient Greeks had two words for time: Greek: χρόνος (chronos) and kairos. While the former refers to chronological or sequential time, the latter signifies a period or season, a moment of indeterminate time in which an event of significance happens.

Kairos used 86 times in the New Testament refers to an opportune time, a "moment" or a "season" such as "harvest time." Chronos was used 54 times and refers to a specific amount of time, such as a day or an hour (e.g. Acts 13:18 and 27:9).
You are entering a Kairos moment of your life. But what are you supposed to do while you wait?

Now, I know it seems silly on the surface to say that you are simply supposed to wait while you're waiting. But say it again slowly and think about what I'm suggesting. You have to wait, while you wait. But not wait as in being patient, though patience is important. I'm implying you have to wait in the context of serving, wait how a waiter at a restaurant waits on tables. So to be clear, I am saying you have to serve while you're waiting.

In Isaiah, the 40th chapter, it says "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength." Waiting here means to "hope" in God, not just to sit around like we are at a bus stop. This kind of waiting involves meditating on His character and His promises, praying, and seeking to glorify Him. The word “renew” means “to exchange,” as taking off old clothes and putting on new.

We exchange our weakness for His power. So it is imperative that in seeking to have Tailored Thoughts, we understand what it means to wait. The enemy's job is to discourage us and make us think that God is not concerned about what we are going through or about what is happening to us. But the Bible promises if we wait, serve God in our thoughts and actions, then He will renew our strength with His strength.

At the time that I wrote Tailored Dreams, I wasn't using the language "Waiting Room." I described this season in a chapter I called "Traffic Jam." I want to leave you with three things to do when you are in a Traffic Jam or Waiting Room season.

1. Overcome other people's opinion of your dream

Think about it: Before Joseph even arrived, they saw him coming and got angry. "The dreamer cometh," they said with scorn. They didn't believe his dream. It upset them. The reality is that people are not really mad at you for dreaming. They aren't mad at your dream. They are mad at your audacity to actually believe your dream can become reality. How dare you think that God has enough power to give you vision and provision. That's their opinion and they are entitled to it, but you are not to let their opinion impact your faith in what God has already said about you.

2. Learn to replace your fear with faith

Dreaming is scary business. It's literally peeping into the possibility and seeing it as probability. It's believing your life can one day be different, deeper, and vastly more abundant than it is now. But what if you're wrong? What if it doesn't work out? Won't people laugh at you? Won't you look stupid? That's fear. "What if's" can either be fear or reason. The way to tell the difference is if the "what if's" are challenging you to quit or challenging you to audit or evaluate your approach. There is nothing wrong with logic and reasoning helping you to make better decisions; however, quitting is the assassination of your dreams. Don't allow your position to dictate your perception--instead, use your perception to define your position.

3. Practice crowd control

Learning to filter both the compliments and condemnation from those in your life is critical. That's why I speak of practicing "crowd control." The crowd has nothing to do with you achieving your crown. Giving too much attention to the praise people give you is just as hazardous as giving into fear. Be careful not to believe your own hype. God exalts the humble, not the proud. Your dream coming true isn't about you getting the credit; it's about giving God the glory.

Prayer Starter: Father, today we ask that you continue to Tailor our thoughts. We ask that you teach us how to wait, how to serve you with our thoughts, and how to overcome other people's opinions of our dreams, and to replace fear with faith, and to practice crowd control. We thank you in advance for helping to Tailor our thoughts to help push our Tailored Dreams. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.