Timing...Live While You Wait

Crazy people wait in line for tickets to their favorite concert, or they camp out before stores open for early Holiday sales...yeah, I admit to have been a "crazy line waiter" before...not anymore, but Starbucks coffee will get my patience these days!  We don't mind waiting for things that fill a void, but ask us to wait day to day...I don't think so!  There is a reason why we wait: babies need nine months to fully develop in a mother's womb...children are intended to come after marriage in order to have a mother and father raise them...titles such as Doctorate and PhD come after many years of education since there is so much knowledge to master... our laws put age requirements on driving, consuming alcohol and even voting until a person reaches an age of responsibility in that area...we wait in lines and offices so others can efficiently do their job....we actually spend a great deal of our life "waiting."

We don't always get to do what we want to do right now or have what we want instantly....because it may not be available, or it may not be ready for us. Waiting is not wasted time...don't make yourself crazy trying to accomplish what will come naturally and with ease later!  When we force our will, it can  cause unnecessary hardships on ourselves and others. Success comes with a little persistence and a lot of patience. Your time won't be wasted because all that needs to be orchestrated is at work. When you are ready to grasp that concept you will become more patient!

I remember praying for more than 10 years of my childhood for my father to accept Jesus as His Savior...only to wait for it to happen just months before his death. Those years taught me how to pray and never lose hope. I know a family who waited 15 years to have a child. When they answered the call to short term missions....they eventually brought home a 15 year old son....who now runs his father's business...their prayers were preparing him all his life...he wasn't ready and neither were they years prior.  I've watched couples fall in love in months while some wait a lifetime to find a partner.  But when you hear their stories of life and circumstances...it all boils down to timing. You can have the desires of your heart if you're patient.  Don't let your frustration get in the way. You don't want to be in a relationship until you both are ready to give it your all.  You don't need a child until you are ready to be a parent.  You may not even need a new job...you just might need a new perspective.  My whole point here is that "waiting" is a gift of time.  Learn to wait and live while you wait. 

I learn so much about people when I am put to the waiting test.  I just had to wait in line at the bowling alley last night...only to be sent away and told to come back later...the time spent waiting was filled with more fun than I've had in a long time...full of joy...and then when we went back...we waited for what seemed like forever only to be sent away again because the lanes were all taken.  We ended up at a different bowling alley which was perfect...better than the crowded place we first visited!  At the first or even second rejection we could have gone home disappointed that our wonderful plan of an evening didn't work as we had hoped, but instead we "lived" while we waited...a fabulous dinner at a fun restaurant and window shopping at the mall...I know that is a simple minded example, but waiting is a fact of life.  You have to wait every day. The sooner you find the blessing in the "wait"...the sooner you will realize that God's timing is always better than your own!