What are you waiting for?

Waiting is a bummer. I am an impatient person. I don’t like red lights, people driving too slow in the left lane, or long lines anywhere. I especially cannot stand the feeling that my life is on hold.

I don’t mean indecision, procrastination, or self-imposed delays; I mean waiting for God’s timing on an issue. I am talking about the waiting that I must endure as my soul is prepared for what God is doing in my life or intends to do in my life. It is the waiting period that I endure as I live out my dreams and not necessarily the waiting to live out my dreams.

I believe Creator’s purpose for us is to live out our full humanity and to remove obstacles that prevent others from living out their full humanity. Sometimes living out one’s full humanity requires waiting at the red lights in our life, for red lights help monitor traffic and prevent accidents.

What are you waiting for? What is being prepared in you as you go about living out your dreams?

Does it feel like you are running the same race over and over? Have you ever found yourself jumping the gun only to end up right back at the starting lie all over again? I think often, we are addicted to activity. We have to be constantly on the move in order to have some sense of peace that we are accomplishing something. Perhaps waiting is a good place for prayer, discernment, and listening.

I must admit, there are times when I am waiting that I want to take matters into my own hands and force a solution. I want to break the law by driving on the shoulder of the road to avoid the long line. It is usually fear-based. Like Jesus in the wilderness, I am tempted to use my God-given power to save myself.

There are times in life where waiting is critical.and like standing in line at Space Mountain in Disney World, if I refuse to wait I miss the anticipation of the thrill that awaits. As we know, sometimes the anticipation of the thrill is better than the thrill itself. If I refuse to wait patiently in line at the Academia Gallery in Florence I miss encountering Michelangelo's masterpiece, David.

I wonder what masterpiece I may miss due to my refusal refusal to wait? May we remember the words of the psalmist:

"Trust in the God and do good; dwell in the land and
enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the God and he will give you the desires
of your heart. Commit your way to God; trust in him and he will do this: He will
make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the
noonday sun. Be still before the God and wait patiently for him…"