The Power of Not Yet

We live in a culture that worships immediacy, instant results, instant healing, instant success. Everywhere we look, there are reminders that faster is better, that slow means failure, that if you’re not already “there,” you’re behind. But life doesn’t move at the speed of Wi-Fi. Growth moves at the speed of roots.

“Not yet” is holy language. It doesn’t mean never. It means be patient, something is unfolding. It means the seed beneath the soil is not dormant, only unseen.

Back in 2017, sitting in my office, I came up with the name For Colored Girls Who Lead. I wrote it down, held it close, and dreamed about what it could be. There were long stretches where I did nothing with it. Yet in my head, I wanted the instant gratification of success. I felt like I was running out of time, as if everything I wanted to build had to happen right now or not at all.

Fast forward to today. In just a few days, I’ll be turning 40. And for the first time, I feel myself settling into what I truly want For Colored Girls Who Lead to become. It didn’t happen overnight, and it didn’t happen on the timeline I once imagined. There were classes I needed to take to deepen my Womanist grounding. There were pushes I needed from my wife to finally start posting on social media and writing blogs. There were pieces of me and pieces of vision, that simply weren’t ready back then.

Now I understand the wisdom of not yet. The delay wasn’t wasted time. It was preparation. It was medicine. “Not yet” reminds me that I am still becoming. The dream is still rising. The healing is still working its way through the cracks. The strength is still gathering.

This small phrase carries the weight of galaxies. It teaches us to live in the tension between what is and what could be. Psychologists call this a growth mindset: the belief that skills, understanding, and healing can be developed through time, effort, and support. Spiritually, “not yet” is a cousin to faith. It trusts the unseen, whispers patience into urgency, and lets us rest in divine timing instead of forcing things open too soon.

So today, I remind myself:
Instead of saying I can’t, I say not yet.
Instead of saying this is over, I whisper this is still unfolding.
Instead of saying I am not enough, I breathe I am becoming enough every single day.

There is power in the pause. Power in the waiting. Power in the sacred space of not yet.