Waiting isn’t even about what is “missing”…
My truck was stolen on Friday, and we’re working with the police and insurance to see what can be done. But something like this isn’t resolved overnight. We could only focus on the challenges of this situation and grumbling — and miss seeing multiple friends offering us their spare vehicles to temporarily help us out, miss seeing people sharing the video of the theft online to help find the truck, miss precious time with my parents helping us search for a wise and responsible replacement, and miss an opportunity to trust God, wait patiently, and praise Him in the storm.
Sometimes things are completely out of our control and there is nothing we can do to “fix it” in the moment. Sometimes no matter how much we “want it right now”, that isn’t the way life goes.
For my daughter and I, visiting amusement parks and riding roller coasters is a good analogy for life. Most times the best rides have a wait involved. They are thrilling and exciting once our turn comes, but the wait is part of the process. And through the years we have come up with various ways to keep ourselves occupied that doesn’t include grumbling about the wait.
It is the same with life. Grumbling about having to wait doesn’t change the situation for the better, it just makes it worse. In life we can’t always look at a the situation and estimate when our wait might end. In life there are usually no guarantees that our waiting will eventually result in our getting what we are waiting for. But how we wait can influence our whole life.
If we are spoiled children who always demand our own way “right now”, the disappointments of real life will eventually wear us down. But if we are wise and value patience, we have a great opportunity for a different life, for a different perspective, and for a different journey.
My daughter and I enjoy the rides themselves, but that time in line together, trip after trip is where the memories are made together. And the time that we spend together with others while waiting — and with our God while waiting — builds memories, strengthens our bond in the relationship, and teaches us to trust each other. Choosing patience and relationship in those moments of waiting also helps us focus on our blessings, on what we can do in those moments, and to treasure the opportunity of the moment instead of wasting it by focusing on an “illusion of lack” instead of seeing the “reality of abundance”.
One of the enemy’s favorite traps is to trick people into focusing on their perceived “lack” — something where they are so laser focused on their own “unmet expectations” that they can’t see all of the blessings and opportunity that surround them. Imagine Eve with her eyes on the one deadly fruit that was in the middle of an orchard full of life giving fruit. Imagine the prodigal son who set his eyes on “greener pastures” out there in the world rather than appreciating the blessings he had right there at home. There are so many stories and scales that are written, but I’m sure we also know times where we have personally focused on “perceived lack” instead of looking around at so much abundance.
Lord, help us to bear that fruit of your spirit that is patience. Let the world see us walking in that peace that passes all understanding so that they know that you are there with us in those moments. Help us to find our rest in you and to know how abundantly blessed we are — especially when we don’t think that we are getting “our way”. Help us to understand and trust you in The Way that is best. Amen.
Psalms 130:5 AMP
[5] I wait [patiently] for the Lord, my soul [expectantly] waits, And in His word do I hope.
Harold J. Ballinger 