We wait for many things. People, results, and good health are a few common examples.
We have hearts that crave love and satisfaction. We yearn for our hearts to be whole and joyful.
To have is deemed admirable and instant gratification is desirable.
Why would anyone choose to wait?
Imagine measuring our level of impatience on a speedometer.
We long to be on par with our peers and role models, potentially marking speeds of 70km/h.
Undoubtedly, we press even harder on the accelerator pedal when we see everyone else around us excelling, reaching speeds greater than 100km/h. We become naturally jealous when we see others achieving and receiving the things we crave.
We ask ourselves, “Why can’t that be me too?”
As we see people around us living perfect lives without facing backlash, “life is unfair”, we exclaim.
Waiting is not easy.
I remember driving up to the traffic lights signalling red.
It feels like an eternity before they are green again. Likewise, for the things we desperately wait for, it feels like forever before we receive the “okay to go ahead”.
People pass their time differently at the red lights. Some will sing or talk to the person beside them, and others will eat or check the mirrors.
I believe our emotions and mindset directly affect how we sit at the traffic lights. If we are in a rush for an appointment, the red light may be the last straw to our already challenging morning. It becomes difficult to turn around this negative perspective because we think everything is against us.
Waiting for the green light extends to the waiting we face in our lives. Although being patient and joyful are probably the last things we can do, this is essential.
Here are three ways to help us thrive in our seasons of waiting.
1. Seek renewal in God
Isaiah chapter 40, verses 28-31, describes God as our Creator, everlasting and unfathomable. On the contrary, as humans with limited strength and power, we are called to hope in God, who can renew us.
When we are impatiently waiting for something or someone, we tend to fill our lives with temporary desires hoping they will satisfy us. Sometimes we choose this way even though we know it will not give us the fullness we want.
I have discovered choosing God and trusting who he is, gives me more hope and peace than scrambling for a glimpse of relief. He gives us the needed comfort and mindset to face everything before us.
2. Lay it all out before God.
We often think the grass is greener on the other side. And whilst this may be true, being fixated on the “what ifs” prevent us from enjoying the current season.
Similarly, dissatisfaction with our situation blinds us from seeing the good. And sometimes, we need to rant to express our hurt and disappointments. So share everything with God and concomitantly surrender your needs and desires.
Let God change your mindset, so you can see and think “outside the box” about what is possible. Let him free your heart to gratefully receive the good he has planned for you all along.
God is a good Father who loves and knows how to give good gifts.
3. Wholeheartedly obey God.
Make a routine of reading the scriptures to understand what God wants you to do. Then do exactly that.
Joy will follow.
Doing what is right releases us from the darkness. We do not need to wallow in self-pity. Spending our time loving God and the people around us lifts the focus from ourselves.
However, this is not an invitation to live such a busy life to distract ourselves from the pain associated with waiting.
But an opportunity to recapture God’s purposes for us.
Waiting is undeniably hard.
But let us live in a way with no regrets. So in the weeks, months, or even years after this waiting, we will fondly look back at this time.
This season, when we chose to overcome and not be defeated; the times we did not waste waiting for the “better” and we can proudly say the enemy, Satan, and the things of this world did not have the upper hand.
The next time you sit at the traffic light waiting for the green light, whether this is literally or metaphorically, I pray you will have a smile on your face stemming from the deep joy of knowing God and an inexplicable patience knowing this is a season to renew and grow.