Hurry Up and Wait!
Nearly every morning, one of my children waits by the door. Backpack slung around their shoulders, left hand on the doorknob and eager anticipation written on their face. “Dad, can I go yet? I don’t want to miss the bus!” “Not yet,” is often my reply 5-10 minutes before it’s time to leave. “Isn’t there something you can do while you wait?
This familiar exchange reminds me that unlike their father, this young child has mastered the art of being early, which means the opportunity to learn the art of “hurry up and wait!”
Life, in many ways, is a series of waitings – filled with regular opportunities to hurry up and wait. We wait to graduate from school. We wait to hear back from a prospective employer about a new job. We wait for the day we can finally afford that house, that car, that vacation. We wait to meet the love of our life. We wait for the birth of a child. We wait by the bed of a sick or dying loved one. We wait for that diagnosis to discover the cause of our symptoms. We wait for reconciliation. We wait by the phone for a call that may never come. The question for us is not will we have to wait, but instead, what will we do in our waiting?