Can you imagine having to wait? Some of us get frustrated if we have to be in line more than ten minutes. We go to the express lanes, get the Fast Passes at amusement parks, we zap our food in the microwave, we'll drive around town until we find a restaurant with less than a five minute wait...we don't like to wait.
It's amazing how the cell phone has changed us. Now when we have to wait we turn our focus to our cell phones, maybe something exciting happened on Facebook or Instagram and we wouldn't want to miss it. We even hand off our cell phones to our kids so they can play a game while waiting, or we get them their own phone. We don't want them to get impatient.
Last week while grocery shopping my waiting tolerance was being tested. When I go to check out I always look at each line and I try to get in the shortest line. There was a cashier without anyone in her line, so I headed her way. At about the same time a couple of ladies also noticed her and headed her way. I didn't try to rush in front of them because I had three times as many items in my cart as they did, I didn't want them to have to wait for me.
Turns out, I should have gone in front of them. Even though they didn't have many items their way of paying took forever! One of them had a Visa gift card. The cashier tried to use it and put in an amount and it seemed good until the friend realized the cashier didn't use the entire amount on the card. So the cashier tried to fix it, and for some reason this wasn't working. So she canceled everything and started again. Still no luck, the card wasn't processing. The Cashier Manager came over and he couldn't get it to work either. After several minutes another Manager came over, and finally the problem was resolved. The lady who had the gift card never registered it. Finally, fifteen minutes later it was my turn!
I could have put my stuff back in my cart and gone to another register or I could have rushed in front of them before they even had a chance, but instead I waited! A couple times we even had a conversation with each other, imagine that.
There are times when I have to wait on the Lord to answer my prayers. During these times I think and pray about what I am waiting for. Sometimes I even try to figure out if there is something I am supposed to be learning during the waiting. Should I change something I am doing? Then I continue to wait until I know if this is God saying "No, not now." Because sometimes He has better plans.
Waiting can be hard, but during the waiting we learn patience and how to be stronger. So next time you have to wait do so with joy and take a moment to be still and know God.
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