Waiting Well

"I hate wait." This is one of my favorite lines from the Princess Bride as Miracle Max is trying to revive Wesley who is only mostly dead. Inigo is in a desperate hurry to avenge his father's death at the hands of the 6 fingered man.

I'm with Inigo. I hate wait. "We are men of action. Lies do not become us." This is also a great exchange between Wesley and the 6 fingered man. (His name is Count Rugen. Did you know that?) I am also a woman of action and having to wait is just a killer sometimes.

So why does God ask us to wait? Clearly this is part of His progression when growing up His people. Moses spends 40 years in the desert before he leads the people out of slavery and into the desert for 40 years. Joseph is thrown into a pit, sold into slavery, falsely accused of rape and then forgotten in prison before he becomes 2nd in command and saves the people from famine. Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in jail before he led South Africa out of Apartheid. God uses waiting. But how?

If I wanted to compete at the Olympics, I would understand my need for training. Often when I watch the Olympics I try to imagine how many hours a young man or woman has spent training for something like a dive or vault that might last less than a minute in competition. The ratio has to be staggering. So why do we assume anything less when God is training us? The beauty of God's training is He wastes nothing. Joseph blessed Potipher's home and the jail with his gifts. Moses married and had a family in the desert. Nelson befriended his captures and learned their language while in prison. But all these people were changed during the waiting.

Will I let God change me as He desires during the waiting? Will I continue to do the next thing in love until I am called to do the thing I was created to do? What if I am already doing the thing I was created to do? Can I trust God with my life? Today I will say yes. Hopefully I will say yes again tomorrow and the day after that. But perhaps that is part of the lesson of waiting. Learning how to say yes day after day for an extended period of time so it becomes a muscle memory just like an Olympic athlete or concert pianist.

So is it waiting or training? Waiting seems passive and I am a woman of action. So I will see it as training and I will learn to wait well today. (and hopefully tomorrow too)