There’s excitement in waiting when it’s waiting for something that you know is definitely going to happen, like waiting for visitors to arrive or a party to begin or a special day to arrive.
Waiting. If anyone out there actually likes to WAIT for anything, do share! Most of us do not like waiting in this day of instant gratification. I’m certainly no exception. I often say that I feel like my life is in a holding pattern like airplanes waiting to get permission to land at an airport.
What are some things we wait for in life?
- A date
- Engagement
- Marriage
- Children
- Graduation
- Jobs
- Empty nest
- Retirement
- Grandchildren
What about the daily things we wait for?
- The coffeemaker
- Water to boil
- Supper to get done
- Time to leave for school or work
- Time to go home
- Traffic!!!
- Lines at the store or gas station
- Someone to come home
- Bedtime
- A special event
“The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
To the person who seeks Him.”
Lamentations 3:25, NASB
While waiting. What do you do while waiting? It depends what time of day, what or who you’re waiting for, what comes next, and a whole plethora of other specific reasons you are waiting. No matter the reason for waiting, I try to make good use of the time.
Before having a smartphone with a Kindle app, I use to kick myself for forgetting to take along a book when I was going somewhere like the doctor’s office where I’d have to sit and wait. Sorry, doctors, but you have that reputation of being late according to the scheduled time you would have us arrive…our time is just as important as yours! Then I’d get aggravated because I was wasting time that I could have been reading or doing something important. When you are a mother who works full time, free time is precious. Now I never have that problem because there’s always a number of things at my fingertips to keep me occupied and redeem the time.
On my previous blog, I wrote a post about being on hold—probably my least favorite form of waiting. In that post I suggested some ways of making use of the time while you’re on hold with that tech support person. You can use that as a springboard for coming up with your own ideas of how to make best use of other waiting times.
Testing our patience. Waiting for anything or anyone is definitely a test of patience. But if we never had to wait, there would be a lot of blessings and lessons in life that we would miss because we’re always on the go. I remember one year when I sprained my ankle on a Sunday afternoon and ended up spending several hours in the ER, totally missing a cantata I had spent weeks practicing with the choir to sing. I obviously was not a happy camper about missing the opportunity to sing, but the Lord had a much more important job for me to do that day. A young family was also in the ER with a sick child and I had an opportunity to talk with them while we all waited. On the way out, the husband leaned over to me and thanked me for encouraging his wife who was upset about the child’s sickness.
All of life involves waiting. We wait at traffic lights, get caught in traffic jams, wait for test results. We look forward to a long-awaited vacation. We wait to finish a project, make a new friend, or open ourselves up to see what God has for us. We need to use the waiting in our lives to grow spiritually. Why does God make you wait and how is He speaking to you in those waiting times when nothing seems to be happening?
Nothing happening. That’s exactly the problem with waiting. Nothing is happening. If it was, it wouldn’t be waiting. So waiting is a down time and we should take that time to slow down, take a breath, and look around. If that short stop at the traffic light is the only chance in your day to look up into the sky and marvel at the sun and clouds or moon and stars, then take it! Every moment in time was given us by our Creator and He wants us to enjoy it.
Lent is a time of waiting. Advent and Lent are both seasons of waiting. A special day is coming and we anticipate the arrival of that day for 4 weeks during Advent and 6 weeks during Lent. I hope you’ve been using this time of waiting during the Lent season to spend extra time with the Lord and prepare for the special time of celebration just days before His life appears to be over but then an even greater day of celebration takes place. Stick around to the end for the celebration on Easter.
Tomorrow we’ll continue to talk about waiting.
PRAYER POINT FOR TODAY:
Lord, You know that patience which waiting requires is not my strong point, so I ask that You help me to make better use of the time You’ve given me in this life.
- Week 1 – temptation
- Week 2 – confession, forgiveness, and fasting
- Week 3 – listening to God and answering when He calls
- Week 4 – God’s love for us
- Week 5 – waiting, anxiety, and trust
- Week 6 – suffering (W), pain (T), and struggles (F-S), rejoicing (Palm Sunday), Trials (M-T-W), Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Silent Saturday
- Easter – resurrection and salvation