The answer to your first question is very simple. Yes, Jesus is coming soon, but we don’t know when that will be. We do, however, know the responsibility we have today. 

That soon—is it two weeks, one year, or a hundred years? We don’t know. What we know are the responsibilities of today—responsibilities that mean something to God. 

In the book of Timothy, Paul cautioned Timothy a lot about the responsibilities a person has to their families, home, and community at large and how service to our community and family is part of our service to God. So long as you have today and you still have those responsibilities, you are obligated to meet them. 

When is Jesus coming? I don’t know, but I know today exists, and I know that for me, today I have my wife and son. I won’t say that because Jesus is coming soon, I won’t do what I need to do.

I must. If, by chance, tomorrow comes and I still have tomorrow, I will still do it again. Jesus Christ will meet me while I am taking care of my business, and he will carry me away while I am taking care of my business. Now, this is the mindset we ought to have. 

For your second question, I will say that (I am going to teach this in module two where we talk about cultivating the meditative life) one thing our generation lacks (especially in an age where we are exposed to so many options) is mastery. We have people who can do so many things, but very few are masters of them. 

We have heard of the word “masterpiece”. In the old world (especially in mediaeval Europe), they had guilds (a group of people of a particular trade) come together to establish what is very similar to a trade union.

In that trade union (for lack of a more contemporary word), they had what we call “masters” who had spent many years working in the trade, and they had spent many years being apprentices of a master.

To be called a master you must have:

• Spent many years in an apprenticeship
• Produced something that the masters who were there before you would call a masterpiece—just like what we call a peer-reviewed article today in academia. 

Right? If you’ve produced something that all your contemporaries will say “yes,” what you have done has contributed greatly to the body of knowledge and work that we have, then you can call that a masterpiece.

But that cannot happen if a person is not meditative on a particular job, occupation, or way of life. When we try and take on so many things at the same time, we may never really grab anything fully, and in doing so, we never get to experience the fullness of anything. 

So we must first understand, “I have to achieve mastery in something." Is it possible to achieve mastery in multiple things? Yes! But you have to start with one. By devoting a great amount of yourself to something until it grows to maturity. There is no business in this world that cannot be super valuable. The issue is that no one really has the patience and determination to work hard enough to see a particular business or trade enter maturity.

Rolls Royce, for instance, doesn’t make so many cars, but because they became masters at luxury and at making a vehicle that can make a person feel comfortable with prestige, they don’t need so many clients.

They just need the right clients in their niche, and they can make a lot of income from it. Toyota, on the other hand, has functionality as its business model. You know, ease of acquisition, price, etc., so it can go to many people, and they focused on that. 

When they wanted to add more to their vehicles, they created a new brand under Toyota called Lexus, which focuses more on luxury and the financial bracket of people who have a lot more money. In this niche, they focused on getting luxurious and comfortable vehicles, and it was not just about functionality but also about user experience and enjoyment.

All these can’t be produced if we don’t pick something and hone that craft. 

Ambidextrous people (who can do multiple things) have this dilemma because there is a saying that “when a person is exposed to so many options, that is when they are least likely to make any decision,” and in doing so, they do so many things but never achieve mastery at anything, and because of this, the fullness of their potential is never fully achieved.

So, what that would be out of all your talents is up to you to decide and do this based on practice. We talk about purpose a lot and ask, what’s my purpose? But you can’t discover purpose without putting your hand to the plough. It is in doing so that you get to know the things that you have a natural affinity for and enjoy. 

Beyond that, there are things that you can endure because work is not always convenient and there will always be trade-offs in life where I have to count the cost. Sometimes, you may love a particular thing, but what it might cost you might be too much.

For instance, you may love baking or to be a pilot, but for you, on your hierarchy list, family is at the top, and anything that will not allow you to be there for your family is too expensive, and there is that. Yeah, I am good at flying planes or baking, but it keeps me away from my home for months at a time, so I can’t do that.

It is by putting your hands to the plough and doing things that you will start to know what you are good at and what you can work towards. It doesn’t cost me more than what I can pay, and you put all yourself into it. 

Then you go and study and research to expand your knowledge. To know people who have been in that field, what is the knowledge that has been invested in that field?

If you do that long enough, you will be surprised at how you will not only become very valuable but people who can recognise that value will begin to find you. You have to have something that you are devoted to until it becomes mastery.