If you have ever been through a season of waiting, you know just how difficult it can be. As a rule, we are a people who enjoy control. We live in a culture of immediate gratification. We tend to view waiting as a waste. But patience requires a type of quiet acceptance that we are not accustomed to. We have not learned how to be content with the fullness of today.

If we’re  truly honest with ourselves, patience isn’t something we yearn to develop – because we don’t want to practice waiting. We hate waiting. It doesn’t matter if we are stuck in a grocery line, at a red light, or if we’re waiting to meet our soul mate, we hate to wait. But patience is about more than the mere act of waiting. We often don’t have control over the wait time. What we do have control over is how we handle the wait.

“Patience is not simply the ability to wait – it’s how we behave while we’re waiting.” ~Joyce Meyer

 

In our life as a married couple, we’ve found ourselves in several seasons of waiting. We’ve waited for my husband to find a job. We’ve waited to become pregnant after a loss. During those periods of waiting, I became so singularly focused, that everything else in my life faded to the background. My impatience and lack of trust in God’s plan for my life stole my joy and turned my eyes inward, developing traits of selfishness and entitlement. Then, when those moments came, we realized that while they were blessings in our life, they weren’t the cure-alls we were hoping for.

Our joy cannot be dependent upon our circumstances. We must learn how to be content in the moment. [tweetherder][/tweetherder]

I have so often made the mistake of waiting for the next “big thing” that I miss all the rest. I end up merely tolerating my days – going through the motions of life, instead of truly living. When we become focused on the “one thing” that will make us happy, we’re losing sight of the precious gift of today.

This extraordinary ordinary life you are leading is the real deal. It’s the gift. It’s the picking up dirty socks, pushing your kids on the swings, watching tv on the couch with your husband, trying that new recipe for dinner kind of day that makes up your life. Those big grand moments we’re all waiting for – are just that – moments. They’ll bring us temporary happiness, but those feelings will fade.

We must learn to make the most of EVERY day, and not allow ourselves to get caught up in the waiting.

I know how difficult waiting can be. My hope and prayer is that you will learn to see the periods of waiting as something other than a waste. We can continue to live for the “next big thing” or we can embrace the things going on today – trusting that God knows better than we do, and is the giver of all good things.

We’ve waited for things and received them. We’ve waited for things that have never come. We’re currently in a season of waiting. We’ve learned that we must make the most of the wait – striving to be content in the moment – trusting that our sense of wholeness is not dependent on any outcome, circumstance, or event.

I encourage you to make the most of your wait, and trust that God knows what’s coming, what’s not, and what’s best for you. Enjoy today. Enjoy the moment. Don’t merely tolerate or trudge through the waiting – LIVE through it! (And fully!)

 

For more encouragement, please read through the Daily Encouragement Archives.