Waiting

We’ve all experienced periods of waiting. Often it may seem like all we do is wait – for the next milestone in life, be it a birthday, graduation, wedding, or birth of a child; for the kids’ bedtime to finally arrive; for the sun to rise after another sleepless night; for the line in the grocery store to move; for a traffic jam to clear; for the next meal-time (or is that just my kids these days?); for life to return to “normal” after a major disruption. Life, however, isn’t put on hold as we wait; life is what happens while we wait, and with that in mind, how can we wait well?

It’s really ok to anticipate those big moments. But let’s look for the small things while we anticipate. Let’s not miss the journey while we’re hiking up the mountain for the view from the summit. Let’s not overlook the win of a word remembered and read correctly while we’re waiting on fluent proficiency, or ignore the exercise nailed just right while we’re waiting to play (or hear our child play) Beethoven. Let’s not miss the beauty of a budding flower in the midst of anticipating the full bloom. Those small moments, and the perseverance to keep pressing on towards the major milestone, might actually be more important.

Let’s also look for God while we wait. Look for how current circumstances highlight His character. How can we see Him in the midst of this wait that maybe we’ve not seen before? Is there an attribute that you appreciate more that you’ve possibly overlooked or just not had opportunity to see so clearly? How is He working? Where is the handiwork of the Lord displayed as you wait? Sometimes in the midst of uncomfortable or painful or just hard waiting, we can echo Psalm 69, and say that our eyes grow dim (fail) while looking for God in the midst of suffering. (Listen to the Sons of Korah’s rendition of Psalm 69 here.)Better that they fail while looking for God than worrying. Look for the Lord at work. 

While we wait, we can also look for ways to grow. What can we learn? How can we exercise our gifts and talents and use them well? To whom can we reach out while we wait? Asking for help is a way to grow too, for all of us who might tend to be overly independent and self-sufficient on our own. A period of waiting can be a great time to take stock and evaluate what things we want to change, or what we need to change to become more like Christ. 

These are just a few thoughts on waiting; I’m sure there’s a myriad of other ways we can use our time well while we wait. Drop me a line and let me know what’s been helpful to you previously, or if any of these ideas are particularly striking.