That Awkward Waiting Bit

Here’s a quick thought on That Awkward Waiting Bit.

You’ve been there. We all have. Waiting. Waiting for news, waiting for your birthday, waiting for your dreams to come in or waiting for test results. Sometimes we are waiting for summer only to immediately start waiting for winter when summer arrives.

Waiting is not easy.

The mind has a way of seeking out the future at every opportunity that it gets. “How will this choice affect that aspect of my future…”, “When will I lose my hair…?”, “When will I meet the boy or girl that really gets me and fits me?”

Sometimes the sheer weight of waiting seems too much to take.

Even the universe gets this, “We know the whole creation groans…eagerly waiting for our adoption as sons…” (Romans 8).

In Acts 1, Jesus heads up to heaven, but before he goes, he tells his disciples to wait. They were to wait in Jerusalem for the gift of the Holy Spirit and after that, they would be ready to go out and get on with The Stuff. It must have been deflating. They had just been promised all This Stuff, and they had seen Jesus come back to life, they had chatted to angels and everything, and then suddenly, they were supposed to just wait a bit.

Wait.

So they did. Trusting Jesus, they gathered together as friends, prayed, ate together, and waited. (Acts 1+2) It wasn’t long before the Holy Spirit came on them and they were able to get on with The Stuff — but first, they had to go through That Awkward Waiting Bit.

What are you waiting for? How are you waiting? What can you do while you are waiting for promises to be fulfilled? Are there friends you can invest your waiting time in? What are you praying? Are you taking some time during the waiting to just rest, eat and be refreshed?

God’s timing is perfect. Even though That Awkward Waiting Bit can feel like it’s beeennn foooreeevveeer, it is important to maintain connections, trust and to keep being you.

Or, as Andy Warhol put it, “The idea of waiting for something makes it more exciting.”