As an ambivert with more extroverted tendencies, being patient and waiting have never been my strongest characteristics in life. If you are a follower of Christ, you know that in Galatians 5:22-23 the fruits of the spirit are discussed (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control). If you are anything like me, then the patience part of this sequence is lacking and needs some more fine tuning.
I have never been a patient soul. I have always lived my life waiting and wishing for the next big adventure. When I was in middle school, I wanted to be in high school. In high school, I wished to graduate, move out and go to my dream college. Throughout my life, I have regretted my singleness and I have wished to God that He would send me the man that he would want for me; so much so that I even turned to online dating because I was tired of waiting (my advice, online dating wasn't bad if you're being safe and smart).
To say that I am an impatient person would be an understatement. As I sit here, I am finishing up my last ever first week of college (well, the undergraduate portion of it that is), and I cannot help but think that it is bittersweet. Yes, I am excited to walk across that stage, get that degree and begin working in my field, but to say that I am done! YIKES! Where did the time go?
In the hit television sitcom, The Office, a character by the name of Andy Bernard says on the series finale
"I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days before you've actually left them".
The realness of this statement hits me every single time. I think as a society, we keep chasing the "next best thing". As a society, we are so consumed with when our next big break is. When the next iPhone will hit the stores...when your favorite TV series will come back on the air. We have lost the art of being patient and enjoying the wait.
As you read this, I bet you are on your phone, just wondering when my article will end. It's ok. I do the same thing, yet you keep reading because you are half way interested. So you trek on wondering when the last words will be. Even now, you are not enjoying this season of reading my article.
Ladies and Gentleman. We have got to tap back into our patience (wherever that is located in the brain, not really sure, but it has to be somewhere...right? Maybe?). If we do not learn to start enjoying whatever season God has us in while we are in it, we are going to begin to look back "on the good old days" and think that those were the only good days you had because you wished the rest of your potentially good days away. I get it. I want to be married right now with a baby and the white picket fence and the two car garage and all those things that the American Dream say I should've already obtained. But God says, not now. In Ecclesiastes 3, it is mentioned that "For everything, there is a season, a time for every matter under heaven...".
God has plans, and although I might not like His timing, I have to enjoy whatever lesson He has meant for me while I wait in whatever season I am in. So, it is my hope and plea that you begin to embrace wherever you are in life. Single. College. Retired. Unemployed. Hardly making ends meat. Living it up. About to move away. Whatever God has set out for you, embrace what mess your in, because when you get through your season, I promise, you will not be the same person, and I promise you will still want the same things. Joshua 1:5 "...Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you."
