The Practice of Waiting

Today I want to write about waiting. I’ve been thinking about this, the way some people can’t wait for the light to turn green but I am relieved when I finally hit a red (don’t get me wrong, sometimes I’m in a terrible hurry too!). I am always looking for an opportunity to finish applying my makeup (when I bother to wear it) or send a text I had meant to hours or days ago or check a list…

On Thanksgiving Day I was reading about the Pilgrims and their wait, which must have been excruciating, for their ship and its team to be readied and for all the details that went into their historic voyage.

Moms know we spend half our mom lives waiting at activities practices or pickup or drop (why I bought a house across the street from the school, to avoid this mind numbing twice a day practice!). Sometimes it drives my kids crazy that I am not just sitting waiting doing absolutely nothing focused solely on them showing up but usually I am engaged in some activity, on a call or even typing a document on my laptop.

I feel like all of these tiny waits have parallel application to the bigger waits in life, waiting for the right job, spouse, your baby to sleep through the night (keep waiting!), your toddler to learn to use the potty, the kids to leave your home for college, and on and on. I know many who wait for a painful situation in their marriages to change and others who wait for the right person to love snd be loved by.

The bottom line is that life is not static. Even when we get what we were waiting for, even our biggest wish, things change. Our human nature knows this which is why when we that really big thing we’ve been wanting and waiting for (house, baby, dining room table, new skis, piano, puppy…insert yours here___________) we are onto the next desire! The level of desire varies by personality as I find some people are just more content in general with the status quo and then there are others who are so ambitious the sky is the limit.

Life gets derailed sometimes too and an entirely new list of things or priorities can develop and then there is even more waiting.

It is trite but my thought on this is that we need to try to enjoy the journey so to speak, even the less exciting, oftentimes monotonous, sometimes extremely painful or stressful parts and try to find joy in them.

Just something to consider next time you’re stopped at a red!