I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope. Psalm 130:5 (NIV)
Every morning I drive my husband to the train station, joining all the other commuters. In the long line of traffic headed into town, I can see the stoplight as we approach.
On Monday, we didn’t make it through the stoplight and were the first car in line. Tuesday, the timing was wrong again; we were the first car waiting at the light. Wednesday, same thing. In fact, all week long we were the first car in line at the light!
I am not good at waiting, and so on Monday and Tuesday, it made me feel like I’d been singled out for punishment. It was irritating. But by the third day, it got to be a joke. “Here we are again,” I said to my husband. By Friday, we felt like we were going for the record. It surprised me how an annoyance actually turned into a fun challenge: “Can we have a clean streak of five days being first in line?” We did, by the way.
READ MORE: THE STRENGTH TO WAIT UPON JESUS
I am not going to tell you that waiting suddenly became easy for me. But I will say I look at times of waiting with a different perspective. Now I try to find something I can focus on that makes the challenge less of a struggle. Seeing small steps of progress helps: one more day checked off the calendar, one more chore taken care of, one more verse of encouragement. In these ways, I give myself the opportunity to find spiritual growth in waiting, which is probably why I have been asked to wait in the first place.
Dear Father, help me find the good in waiting. I know it’s there somewhere. Amen.
