Oh waiting… How I hate you. These are the first thoughts that come to
mind when I think of this word. And now
more than ever aren’t we so tired of waiting? With modern technology and its instantaneous
results we don’t have to wait until we are near a landline anymore to use the
internet because we can just whip out our phone. Amazon Prime offers two day free shipping,
because who would ever want to wait seven days for a package to arrive? I’m not saying all of this is intrinsically bad
or evil but instead that it can be dangerous if we come to expect that we should
never have to wait for something again.
I think most of us
struggle with waiting. Everyone has that
one thing that they wish would happen now or sooner rather than later. There are married couples out there who desire
so much to bring a child into this world but are not able to conceive. They would like for the waiting to end and to
finally be able to bring life into the world. I know patients battling cancer just want
their fight to be over. They want the
feelings of nausea, weakness, and pain to end and to beat the disease once and
for all. I know the spouses of those in
the military who are overseas would love for the waiting to end and for their their
loved ones to return home today.
I myself have my
own struggles with waiting. But the
thing I struggle with most is dating.
There are so many times when it just seems like a waiting game. When will this, “just another first date”
turn into the last first date. How do I
know if this is “the one”? Why would I
want to wait to find that out? Can’t I
just know now so I don’t have to waste my time?
Ahh, but there is
the catch. When we start thinking of the
waiting as a waste of time it can be a slippery slope. God does not intend for us to wait as to waste
our time and make us feel miserable. God
wants us to grow closer to him in this waiting. I myself have learned so much in the process
of waiting. For example with dating I now
know what things are truly important to me in a relationship as where ten years
ago the things I thought were important are really not important at all. And just think when the waiting is over how
much more rewarding it will be when we finally realize God’s plan for us. Whether it is what we are waiting for or not.
In the bible we
see many themes of waiting. In fact when
you think about the bigger picture aren’t all of us Christians waiting on something. We are all waiting for God’s Kingdom and for
Jesus to come again. This can all sound
rather cliché because it’s something we have heard in church so many times that
it just becomes rather routine. However,
while we are waiting I believe we aren’t just called to sit around and be
lazy. If that’s all we amount to then
how are we going to ever be ready when that final day comes? Will we be ready for God’s Kingdom? Will we even recognize it if it is shown to
us? The point of this life is not just
for the now but more importantly it is to prepare us for the next life.
