The Gift of WAITING!
I’ve never thought of waiting as a gift. In fact, for most of my life I’ve been more interested in moving forward at a pretty good clip. I see my destination in sight and I’m eager to reach it–whether literally as on a vacation or figuratively as in making a decision.
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But here I am at 80+ years learning that waiting can be a gift like no other. What prompted this sudden insight after so many decades? An experience that I had last year filled me with such encouragement and excitement that I was ready to embark on a path that would surely bring me joy and happiness and peace of mind. And how could any of those traits not be worth reaching for?
However, because I’ve been known in the past to make rash decisions, which I have sometimes regretted, I decided to pray and think and reflect and ponder–basically to WAIT and SEE.
Time felt heavy on my hands. Reminders of the past weighed on me. Unanswered questions that were now too late to ever be answered pooled in my mind. Still I WAITED.
Then one day–just like that–guidance came in an unexpected way, lifting the concern, the worry, the confusion from my mind, replacing them with certainty. “DO NOTHING.”
Really? Yes, really. And so I have done nothing and what has it brought me? Joy, happiness, and peace of mind, the very traits I thought would come from doing something as a result of the experience last year.
I am now holding in my heart the gift of WAITING. It’s one of the best gifts I’ve ever received.
What has been your experience when you’ve been prompted to wait? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.
Psalm 130:5
I always enjoy your words of wisdom. After my divorce from my first marriage my daughter and son-in-law had moved to Florida and she told me I was in a “rut” and needed a change and perhaps move to Florida to be close to them. I started thinking about it, praying about it and was getting rather anxious. One night as I was washing dishes getting ready to go to a Lenten service at the church I started talking out loud to God and told Him I was “sick and tired” of trying to decide and I was going to turn it all over to Him that night as I went to the altar. WELL, God responded by telling me why was I going to wait? why not turn it over to Him right now! I laughed and said ” you are right” So I promised I was turning it over to Him right them and I was not going to even THINK about it anymore. To my amazment I really did forget about it and just went to work each day and I know it is hard to believe but for the next six weeks I did not even think about it! Then I was at home one afternoon from work and decided to clean out the box of fabric I had as I was not doing much sewing anymore. I sat on the floor and as I pulled the pieces of fabric out I was saying out loud: ” This is too heavy and I will not need that in Florida, this is fine to keep, etc. I don’t know how long this went on but I had two large stacks of fabric and all at once I stopped -dead still- and said outloud: ” God, I am cleaning out to go to Florida, am I going?” I got up, went to my bedroom, got on my knees in front of my Dad’s old trunk and started talking to God. ” Lord” I said, ” I am cleaning out to go to Florida and I did not even know I am going, am I going??” I did not hear any voices, see any handwriting on the wall but I knew for sure I was going and would leave in August! (Tanya loves this story – which is included in my stories of “God Nudges”)I moved but did not get there until the first week in September instead of August.
When I first read your blog I did not think of this period of waiting but thought of another kind of “wait” and that was the hardest period – when my five year old son almost died with Children’s Pneumonia. Another ” God Nudge” but I won’t bore you with another “story” ! smile – you know mw too well!
Love you, Karen. Margaret
Margaret, thank your for sharing this. It’s very similar to Charles’ and my decision to move to a city closer to my youngest daughter who begged us to be nearer them while her kids were still young. We simply didn’t know what to do. We would have to sell our condo, buy a new home and we were already in our late 60’s and 70’s. SO we just put it all in God’s hands and here I am thirteen years in our ‘new’ home so grateful to be close to her, especially now that Charles has passed. Divine guidance comes in many different ways. We have to keep listening. God never deserts us as you know after such a long and rich life. Your stories continue to inspire me.
Karen, you’re a few years ahead of me. I hate to wait, but your words have inspired me to look at waiting from a different perspective.
Thanks for your encouraging words, Janet.
Waiting is the worst when we’re in the middle of it and the best when we catch a glimpse of why God is allowing it. What a difference that shift makes! As always, thanks for your wise encouragement, Karen.
Lovely to hear from you, Nancy. Thanks for your comment and your experience with waiting.
This is a precious blog entry, Karen. I am so happy you have learned your God lesson. I hope to be there soon on the “seeing waiting as a gift” You showed a different view that is very appealing. Apparently, I need to practice the prayer thing more! love, Heidi
Thanks, Heidi. I appreciate your honesty and support always.
Karen, thank you for these words of wisdom. I guess my longest wait was the 38 years until the reunion with former colleagues two weeks ago. Yours was a different sort of waiting. I’m very glad the result became clear to you as you listened and waited.
Hi Carol. Thank you for your comment. I followed your journey and joyful reunion with your former colleagues as you wrote about on your blog and it was inspiring to see how the ‘waiting’ paid off, so to speak.
Hi Karen. I finally got around to reading this weeks blog and it couldn’t have come at a perfect time. I too am waiting for an answer to something I really and truly want to do. I had to take 2 personality tests to see if I would fit in this position. All of my friends and family say I would be perfect for this position and not to worry about it. My boss told me that I should have an answer in 24 hours, well, it’s been almost 48 and still no answer. I’ve talked to God and He knows how much I want this job and I know it’s in His hands now. I’ll keep you posted.
Thanks for sharing this, Judi. I totally get how much you want the job you’re hoping for. I love hearing that you have turned it over to God. Now you can rest knowing whatever will be will be the perfect outcome for you, difficult as it is to WAIT. Bless you. Yes, let me know what happens.
Hi Karen,
This is a timely message for me. I DO NOT WAIT WELL. LOL. Never have. I learned that the early bird catches the worm, but many times that little worm turned out to be snake. UGH. When will I ever learn. Many times, however, I have succeeded because I didn’t wait and grabbed the bull by the horns. I am talking about when I was older and still in the workforce. I had to work twice as hard and literally had to do things not only that I may have not wanted to do or flat do it because nobody else would. My challenge was the younger people. To keep my job and to show my gumption and worth, I’d dive in. Eventually the boss would initially come to me. But alas, it wore me out Karen. I am 76 and my body is a total mess. It would take a shorter amount of time to tell you what ISN”T wrong with me. LOL. Believe me, I’m not complaining, but looking back, as you did, I wish I would have shown more constraint on some of the decisions I made. I am so glad that I have Jesus. I would be be gone if it weren’t for Him. So I can relate to this post. I also regret some of my earlier decisions. I don’t suspect that you and I are the only ones who have those regrets. LOL. I so do enjoy your posts. I apologize for not commenting more than I do but let it be known, I read them. God bless you real good.