The Waiting Game

I am not good at waiting. I’ve always been a planner and an executer. Once I’ve figured out my goal, made a list, formulated my plan, I’ll stop at nothing until it comes to fruition. When we’re very young, it’s easier to think all this planning is working. Our problems are few and less complicated, and it’s only once we reach adulthood that we realize all our planning and exacting doesn't amount to much in the grand scheme of the world; we plan, God laughs.

Here’s what I’ve learned in this period of waiting, and maybe it will help you as well:

Waiting transforms us – Learning to be patient is truly an exercise in character development. You can learn a lot about a person by watching how they wait. If we’re waiting on something from God, He desires us to use this time to grow. Take Moses, for example. When he left Egypt and went into the desert, he was exiled there for 40 years before God called him back to lead the Israelites out of slavery. What was Moses doing in that time? Complaining? Making separate plans to move to a different country since that one didn’t seem to be working out for him? Nope. He was changing from an arrogant, impetuous young man into a hardworking man of wisdom and virtue. Only then did the Lord call him onward.

Waiting brings us closer to God – I used to think my success was directly proportionate to how well I planned, how well I ran my life. I was wrong, and I only figured it out through many years of trial and failure. What I learned is that our success in life is directly proportionate to how dependent we are on God. He has our life planned out already, and the sooner we wise up to that and begin to listen for His plans, the better off we will be. We are looking at the time frame from our own limited perspective, but God is looking at the time frame from the perspective of the One who knows all things.

Waiting is an invitation: At the advice of a good friend, I’ve begun reading through all four Gospels of the Bible during this Holy Week. I plan to be done by Easter Sunday. It’s amazing how praying, reading, and then praying again has already instilled a sense of peace over the waiting. The Word of God is a reminder of His faithfulness and promises, and I can feel encouragement filling up all the empty places in my heart. Pull out the Bible and make a commitment to read a chapter every day; let the Lord speak to you. I also made a commitment this Lent not to listen to any music while in the car. It’s been hard, let me tell you. I used the time to pray instead, but I often felt my heart yearning for an outlet to express the joy or sadness I was feeling. I altered my commitment to be only praise and worship music instead. So it’s been almost 40 days of no secular music, and it’s lovely how my positivity has risen. Not all secular music is bad, and some is really beautiful, but unfortunately the most part (along with commercials and radio shows) fills our minds with a lot of garbage we don’t need. Listening to only praise and worship music has centered and directed my heart and mind on Jesus above everything else, and I find it easier to believe His promises. My doubts have been replaced with a confident expectancy.

Waiting for "The One": I get it. I have been praying for my future husband for a long time now. But the question we need to ask ourselves is, “are we really ready?” I think we can admit that whether we’ve recognized it before or not, we all want a partner of noble character. But we can’t ask for what we aren’t prepared to give ourselves. How are we ready to enrich the lives of another person? Are we prepared to serve him/her sacrificially rather than worry over how they will meet our wants? Your relationship should bring glory to God through example. If you aren't ready or willing to make that happen, is a relationship what you need? And if you are ready, are you waiting with a peaceful heart rather than an impatient one?

Whatever we’re waiting for, we need to stop and figure out what the root of the desire is. Maybe we’re waiting for a job, a spouse, to graduate, or for things to just get better. The truth is, all those desires are rooted in goodness. We want to be the best we can be and we want the best for others. However, we have to realize that the only reason we are ordered toward goodness is because we are of God, and God is the ultimate good. We want to reach goodness because our hearts yearn for communion with God. Where the good, true, and beautiful can be found, there will God be. God is the one who created this need within us; therefore God is the only one who can truly fulfill it.

Above all, take heart. Our Church has endured two millennia of extended waiting, and after the wait, the gift is always greater than we had previously imagined. The very nature of faith is to believe in something that we have not yet seen. Therefore, the Lord asks all of us to wait, but He does not ask us to do it alone.