If there's one thing that I may consider a pet peeve, it is waiting. I'm easily annoyed / irritated when waiting especially in situations like I'm running late or really starving and the queue to ride a cab / train / jeepney or to buy food is really looooooong. Longer than my patience!hahaha Waiting can be a challenge because most of the time I want things to happen in my own way and time - now, not later. But it's not always the case because people will get ahead of me in line and things don't happen accordingly with my set time. Boom Asar!hahaha Reality comes in that I have to wait for my turn and for things to happen in its perfect time. It can be frustrasting and disappointing but having the right view on waiting can drastically change my attitude and response during this process.
How should we view waiting?
Waiting isn't actually a bad thing if only accompanied with positive thoughts. The time spent in waiting is a time well spent because we can actually learn valuable life lessons, build our characters and test our faith during this season. The longer we wait for something or someone, the more we appreciate and value it when it finally arrives. As we wait, patience, endurance, steadfastness and perseverance were developed, which brings growth in our characters. Also, it is during waiting that we can show our faithfulness in the Lord. God allows us to experience delays so that He can form our characters & prepare us for the things that we've been praying and waiting for.
How should we respond during waiting?
Our usual response during waiting is either we make shortcuts or become passive. Shortcuts is a quick fix we do just to cut the waiting time short while passivity is when we do nothing at all. I'm guilty having done one of these in the past. :p Both are easy response but not always the best response during waiting.
Rushing things will only make things fall apart but if we're waiting patiently upon the Lord, things will fall into place. However, it doesn't mean that waiting is spent sitting around and passively waiting for things to happen. It helps to wait actively by doing something positive like improving ourselves, learning a new skill, finding a new hobby, building meaningful relationships with family and friends, serving others or doing worthwhile things while waiting. Most of the time, we're hesitant to wait because we're afraid we might end up waiting in vain. Waaah, I can hear that reggae song playing in my head.hahaha But trusting God as we wait even if we don't know His ways and time is waiting with simple faith. Our act of waiting must be done patiently, actively, and eagerly with faith.
Just like a mother anticipating the birth of her child, we should wait with great expectation and with heart full of hope that something great lies ahead of us.
If you happens to be in a waiting period like I do, maybe you're a single person waiting for "the one", a married couple waiting for a child, an employee waiting for a promotion, a business person waiting for financial breakthrough, a sick person waiting for healing or a person just waiting in queue, let's not give up and keep on waiting until our time has come. Yes, waiting takes time but it's never a waste of time. As the new year approaches, let's all stay hopeful and expectant that greater things will come and God will break through for us.
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| Habakuk 2:3 |
