Patience

Few of us have the means (or celebrity status) to live in a state of perpetual instant gratification. For we “normal folk,” wanting is inextricably linked to waiting. The length of the wait may vary, but there are very few things we want that we don’t also have to wait for. Wanting means waiting. We wait because we want. Whether it’s the time it takes for the cupcakes to cool so I can ice (and then eat) them, the time it takes for the elevator I missed to come back to my floor, the time I spend waiting for my delayed flight to take off so I can finally start this vacation, or the time it takes to see a deep-seeded dream realized, I must wait for what I want.

By nature, I am not a patient person. I can’t even walk slowly when I don’t want to go where I’m going. Far too often in my life I have allowed my impatience to compel me. Thankfully I am learning that whatever God wants me to have is worth the wait. And more than that, the wait is worth something. The process of blindly trusting — the act of having peace and reassurance without knowing or seeing when or from where my hopes or dreams will come — has value. In fact, sometimes the waiting is worth more than whatever I’m waiting for. So much can be learned in the silence and darkness that resides between a desire and its realization. For in my seasons of anticipation, I have seen increases in the worth and weight of my faith. When I have learned contentment in the face of sustained disappointment, I have seen the currency of my trust in God appreciate.