Wait

There is always something we are waiting on.  Before we were born, our Parents had to wait for us to arrive, then they couldn’t wait until we could walk and talk.  As children, we couldn’t wait until our birthday or Christmas.  And as teens we couldn’t wait to drive or move out so we didn’t have to follow our Parents’ rules.  Students and Teachers can’t wait until it’s summer vacation and in the fall, Parents can’t wait for the kids to go back to school.

We spend much of our lives waiting for something or another.  We wait for the car to get the oil changed, we wait for our doctor’s appointment and we wait to use the bathroom.  You’d think as much time as we spend waiting, we’d be better at it.

Maybe we are meant to wait in line, wait for results and wait for the paint to dry so we can practice waiting.  When you practice something, you are doing it over and over so you can become better at it.  The purpose of practice is so when it’s game time, we will be able to endure.  Our waiting prepares us to be still and wait on God.

I think we’d like to believe humans have become more impatient over the past 100 years with the advances of technology.  This may be true, but I have doubts.  I think throughout history people have struggled with waiting for good news or bad news, we struggle with the in between.  We can’t idle too long without getting ourselves into trouble.  There are several verses in the bible warning about idleness.

This says to me that while we wait, we should not be idle, but what should we do?  While we wait for tests results, we can succumb to fear of the worst case scenario or we can think of positive outcomes.  While we wait for our kids to get through with practice, we can think about how they are so slow and driving us crazy or we can say a prayer of thanksgiving for their presence in our life.  When we practice in our daily scenarios, we become better at waiting on God.

Since we manage our own schedules on a daily basis, we sometimes forget that we cannot control God’s time.  We practice waiting because God will answer us when it is time.  We don’t need to know right this minute, even though we think we do.  This is not something we understand going forward, rather we need to experience God’s perfect timing, then we can look back and see why we needed to wait.

As I’ve come to understand waiting is a necessary part of life, I’ve found solace and comfort in it.  The world can scream at me that I must “ACT NOW” or be warned that “TIME IS RUNNING OUT” but I resist and wait for God.  Even in those scenarios when I think it might be a once in a lifetime opportunity, I have gotten into the habit of waiting.  You might think, aren’t I afraid of missing out?  No, because I believe if the opportunity is the one I’ve been waiting on, God will open all of the doors.