There are three types of people when it comes to waiting for the microwave to ding or the coffee pot to fill: the watchers who stare unblinking and press the button the second the timer gets to zero, the time-management experts who linger nearby using those few moments to do a set of squats or some other self-improvement while they wait, and the wanderers who go do other things and forget they were ever heating up their lunches in the first place. I fall squarely in that third camp and have accepted rewarming my coffee (because I left it under the Keurig for an hour) as a normal part of my routine.
My kids are good at making waiting fun. They don’t mind standing in a roller coaster line for hours at a theme park. While I’m praying I won’t have to get out of line to go to the restroom, they’re playing Heads Up with their phones or some other made up game to make the time pass. I may or may not have taught them “what’s the weirdest (fill in the blank: shoes, hat, shirt) you can see from here. Don’t judge me.
While I can fill short spurts of waiting for the next event with a flurry of activity, waiting on God turns me into the most impatient human on the planet. I do not like it! I want to know the plan immediately, and I’d like to get the show on the road yesterday. It’s a shame because I know in my heart that growth and character development happen in the waiting. God is not slow as I perceive Him to be, and His timing is perfect. He’s willing to wait on me to get my act together regardless of how long it takes. So instead of stomping my foot and throwing a fit when I can’t see what’s on the horizon, I should use my time to lean in to God’s word and embrace the wait. And I should probably incorporate some squats in there as well.