The Wading Pool

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about waiting. We wait for many things: food, coffee, traffic, Harry Potter books, jobs, answers, healing…the list could go on. And as I thought about waiting, I couldn’t help but hear good ol’ Tom Petty, in his nasally, Dylan-esque voice, singing “The waiting is the hardest part!” I don’t like to wait. I want satisfaction right now. I want to know the answers to all my questions right now! Anybody else feel like this? No? Yeah, me neither.

Instant gratification is the American way, is it not? We don’t like to wait. Oh, we WILL wait for certain things: aforementioned Potter book, iPhones, concert tickets. We don’t like to, but we’ll do it for somethings. But what about all the other things: how many of us like waiting in line for food? Or waiting in traffic? Or waiting for word about a job? I don’t. I want what I want, and I want it now.

I was reading Psalm 27 today, and it ends with these words:

“Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord!” (v. 14)

I realized that I don’t like to wait on the Lord, either. I mean, He’s God, right? And being God, He’s got everything under control, right? So why do I get bent when I have to sit 5 minutes in traffic? Or, someone pulls out in front of me and doesn’t go 5 miles over the speed limit like me? Or when I pray for guidance, and I think I’ve got the right path figured out, only to have Him tell me “wait.”

It’s hard to wait. It’s getting harder every day in our culture. And today I realized that my inability to wait for stupid things directly affects my inability to wait on the good things God has planned for me and my family.

I think I need to take a step back. Maybe then next time I want to buy a book, I might wait. Or when that car pulls out in front of me, maybe I could take that extra time to pray instead of blowing my top. Who knows? Though the waiting is the hardest part, it might pay dividends.