WAITING ROOM BLUES?

Irrespective of age or circumstances, it seems that we are always waiting for something.

We regularly wait in traffic. We wait endlessly in the ER for attention while in acute pain. We wait in the DMV to be called for our turn. We wait for the inevitable radiology report after tests. We wait for our slow spouses or family members. We wait for our computer to REboot. A pregnant woman waits nine months to deliver her baby. Children wait for Christmas morning and the opening of their presents. A senior citizen waits for his Social Security check. We wait for a better job to come along. We wait for our tax refund check to arrive.

We wait “for our ship to come in.” Children can hardly wait to grow up. Teens wait to be old enough to drive, to move out of the house and get their own pad. We wait for the miracle of our baby sleeping through the night. We even stand in front of the microwave waiting for something to heat. We wait for the weather to change, for the stock market to recover, for the bonus we expect, for “prince charming to arrive on a white horse.” A terminal patient REsigns himself to wait for the moment when his pain and weakness will be over. We wait for our diet or exercise program to show some results.

We are tied to chronos time during our lives on Planet Earth. We depend totally on the clock and the calendar. Spiritually, God's “due time” never seems to arrive. We wait for our prayers to be answered and fret at God's delay.

Since we have to spend so much time in neutral just waiting, what should we do while waiting? Is it wasted time? Is it lost time? While waiting, do we REgress or progress? 

Does God have an agenda for us while we are in the *PAUSE button mode? He Who is Eternal and outside of time entered our Earth Time Zone through His Son Jesus. Even the Son of God had to wait until He grew from infancy through all the phases of human life until in His Father's “due time” at age 30 He launched His brief salvation ministry. I search the Scriptures for the many examples and admonitions about waiting especially in the Psalms and the Prophetic books. Have I internalized what God is teaching me through those promises? Surely the Lord has a plan for each of us even while we are in our particular Waiting Rooms.

I might ask myself while waiting whether I have obeyed or completed all that God clearly REvealed to me already. Have I stopped fretting at my circumstances and RElaxed into trust in God's timing and way? Am I petulantly waiting for something that I should not be asking for in the first place? Am I truly willing to accept God's perfect plan if He doesn't do or give me what I am waiting for? His loving way is often to surprise us by substituting something better than what I am waiting for. Have I allowed God to do His work of conforming me, transforming me into the image of Christ while I wait? Have I let patience have her perfect work while I am the crucible of waiting?

I often find myself in a Waiting Room. In fact, I am in a Waiting Room right now and I feel as if I'm there alone. Is my reader in one now? We are not alone nor are we abandoned. There is a way out. The Waiting Room has an “Exit” sign over the door. We have the presence and comfort and working of the Holy Spirit who is getting us ready to joyfully exit in the fullness of God's time. Let's not exit prematurely, however, or through the wrong door. Wait for Jesus' knock on the door before running for the EXIT. (Rev. 3:20) 

“Wait for the LORD; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes! Wait for the LORD” (Psalm 27:14). 

* Read Leona's new book SELAH REFLECTIONS: PRESS the Pause Button