Waiting

Happy May! This photograph is from my backyard a few days ago. I love Spring!

I have found myself struggling with waiting, as of late. I don’t know if I’m tired, or my patience is running thin, or maybe I’m just used to the speed of technology making me feel like everything and everyone else should move faster. Even the most minor things, like slow traffic or delayed drive-thru lines or snail-pace grocery lines, frustrate me.

It’s easy to fall into a productivity trap, where I feel like I have to be constantly moving and accomplishing something. Most of my days are filled with a long to-do list. Things like, morning Bible devotional, work, home-school, tennis lessons for my daughter, exercise, groceries, dinner, writing, and bed-time stories are part of my every day. However, instead of enjoying most of those things, I’m in a big hurry to mark them off my list. Just reading this article is exhausting!

I went to my Bible and pulled some verses to help remind me that God purposely created the dimension of time. He didn’t mean for us to accomplish all things in a day. He actually wants us to sit back sometimes and just rest.  I have to remind myself about how He rested on the seventh day of creation.  Genesis 2:2-3 says, “By the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so He rested from all His work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work of creating that He had done.”

Sometimes, we have to wait on Him. I’m reminding myself that right now. I can try with all of my might and strength to make some things happen, but in the end, I’m left with my wheels spinning and I feel frustrated. That’s when God has to gently sit me down and say, “Rest, wait for me, I have good things planned for you. You just need to wait.” Exodus 14:14 says, “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

Here are some more verses about waiting, in case you, too, have my syndrome:

I wait for the Lord more than watchman wait for the morning.—Psalm 130:6

Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.—Psalm 27:4

I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.—Psalm 130:5

Moses said, “Wait until I find out what the Lord commands concerning you.”—Numbers 9:8

We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield.—Psalm 33:20

Lord, I wait for you; you will answer, Lord my God.—Psalm 38:15

I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefor I will wait for him.”—Lamentations 3:24

In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.—Psalm 5:3

And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.—Hebrews 6:15

Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains.—James 5:7