Now, I have to admit it, there are times that the things we are waiting
on may be only a small amount of time while others may be very lengthy in
duration. I have this habit (which is
probably something I should try to stop doing) when I’m in the counter line at
a fast-food location.
The clerk finally brings the food tray to the counter and says (trying
to be polite): “Here’s your food. I’m
sorry for your wait.” I always look at them and reply: “My weight
has nothing to do with it. I ordered
this food and you’re suppose to get it to me quickly!” Sadly, only about half of the clerks get the
joke. My wife simply looks at me and
says, “Let it go.”
However, we are a waiting bunch of people. We wait at doctor’s offices. We wait at checkout lines. We wait at movie theaters. Then we wait at
the concession stand! We wait for
weekends, holidays, vacations, and other events in our lives.
We find out as parents that we are expecting a new baby, then we have to
wait! And while we’re waiting, we got to
doctor appointments, shopping, eating out, etc. and we find ourselves in lines
waiting! It seems to become a vicious
circle. Every day we are finding
ourselves in new (or the same) situations, waiting!
One of the more humorous situations I found myself in when our children
were growing up was waiting for lunch and then while sitting there enjoying our
meal, we would start waiting and wondering, what’s for supper? We are indeed a strange bunch of people.
Did you ever notice that as long as we think we are progressing in our
waiting status we continue to tolerate it?
Think about it. We have an
appointment with the doctor and we have to wait for it to get here. It finally arrives and we show up at the doctor’s
office and then we still have to wait.
But, after we have almost reached our limit of waiting, what do they
do? The nurse calls you back, you enter
another room, she spends a little time with you. What I call time for your waiting anxiety to
calm down and then what happens? She
says, “the doctor will be with you in a few minutes.” And then you sit there in that little room,
by yourself, and you WAIT!
The principle works the same in many other situations. It only takes something to distract our
attention for a moment and then the waiting doesn’t seem so bad. You’ve probably been to some type of
amusement park or theme park and had to wait in those long lines for a two-minute
ride on some new machine they have setup.
You zig this way in the line, then you zag that way. As you do this, they have at very well-chosen
locations placed displays, signs, and other things for you to read or ponder
over only to distract you from the fact that you are still in line waiting for
the ride!
When I was in the military, we used a saying for the various activities
and events we were engaged in, “hurry up and wait!” It didn’t matter what you were doing. We had to get to wherever the location was as
quickly as we could and then WAIT for everyone else or for the drill
instructor to get there and tell you where you were going to be hurrying to
next!
Maybe the problem is that we are simply an impatient bunch of
people. Maybe the problem with waiting
is only the perspective that we have on the situation? Maybe if we weren’t just waiting but doing something
that occupies our time, we would be more satisfied than we presently are?
Perhaps we should learn more patience within our lives and we may be
happier! Think about this for a moment:
We are told at 2 Peter 3:8, that “a thousand years” with God is only like one
day. So, if a thousand years will pass
for us and from our Creator’s perspective it is only like one day, how are we
going to feel about waiting if we should approach God and ask: “God, I’m tired
of waiting. Is there any way I can get
my reward sooner?” And God looks at us,
pauses, and answers, “Just give me a day to check that out for you!”
We should develop the mindset as was penned by Lady Mary Montgomerie
Currie, who used to write under her pseudonym, Violet Fane, “all things
come to those who wait.” Our
biggest problem to going through life with this impatient attitude is the fact
of truth that we’re only human!
QUOTE TO CONSIDER
THOUGHTFUL GEM
"How are you going to get anywhere
if you only sit waiting for the next bus?"
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