The meeting was formally set. A room had been arranged, materials prepared, and a draft agenda distributed. I had started getting physically and mentally ready. Everyone’s expectations were high. This was important and I knew it! There was still time to refine my remarks, think through the possible reactions and follow-on conversations, and prepare.
As it does, my phone chirped with the arrival a whatsapp message. I glanced at the sender to assess the urgency. Seeing that it was an important stakeholder, who also happened to be attending the upcoming meeting, I read the message. I knew my reading would triggered a notice on his phone that I had seen and read the message.
“Thanks for sending the news article through. How are we doing? Any progress?”
I could not ignore the message. I also know that if I answered it there was little reason to have the upcoming formal meeting. The agenda was to discuss this with him! There was no time to think about it. The clock had already started as soon as I read the note. My only option was to respond and reschedule the future meeting to the next update milestone.
Life rarely fits in neat boxes. The idea that predefine structures of time, place, and content are the only way of living is a myth. Especially today, we live in a world where elevator pitches are as important are investor meetings, whatsapp responses as critical and informative as formal reports, and decisions are taken on proposals of less than twenty-four words.
Mantras I am trying to remember include the following.
Anything can happen at any time and in any place. “Wherever people gather together along with their rulers to worship him,” (Psalm 102.22) Divinity was there. Yes, there are formal times and places. Equally important are the informal moments wherever and whenever they might be.
Prepare now, you never know how much time you have! Preparation time is determined by the event. If the event moves, everything changes.
If there is a moment and opportunity within reach, seize it.
