Waiting. Life is full of waiting and longing for the next thing to happen.
Waiting to pay off the house.
Waiting after that to save up money to travel.
Waiting to save more money to travel again. (Sensing a theme here?)
Waiting for a baby to be born (12 days late).
Waiting for the newborn to sleep through the night.
Waiting to learn more, do more, and be more before getting started.
I wait in fear of the future.
I wait in frustration of the hold-ups and what I view as inconveniences.
I wait in excitement for the big moment ahead.
Jeff Goins was the keynote speaker at Declare Saturday night. His book, The In Between, is about slowing down and welcoming the wait, enjoying each moment of life and not letting those seemingly small moments of waiting go to waste. (I suppose that means I should look up and notice the beauty around me when I am stopped at the red light I really didn’t want to hit.) He challenged us to remember times in our lives when we had to wait and how it caused us to grow.
As I waited 12 days past my due date for our first child to be born I had to trust that God knew the perfect timing. I could enjoy the waiting and the last days with just my husband and me or fret and worry and spend all my waking hours wondering when the baby was going to come.
I’m waiting to pay off the house so we can travel. (Just in case the first paragraph wasn’t obvious enough.) This was a good reminder to not rush and forget that the memories we are making at home and on mini-trips around our state are worth creating. I’m being foolish if I miss out on the opportunities and excitement of a stay-cation because I’m waiting to step foot in England. My daughter doesn’t need to step on foreign soil to be happy; she just wants to spend time with her parents.
I spent months, and years even, thinking about blogging. Waiting to get over my insecurities and uncertainties. Waiting for I don’t really know what. Seven weeks ago I decided to go for it. I didn’t know what I was doing. I’m still figuring things out, learning to own my message, and embrace who I am in God.
But.
I’m not sitting around staring out into the internet anymore waiting for the big moment to happen before I start. Even when I’m unsure, I’m going to open up my computer and enjoy my journey on this blog and all the waits it involves. I will savor the learning, growing and discovering.
It’s important to remember life is in the waiting. I need to make it a priority to enjoy each moment.
Ecclesiastes 3 talks about there being a time for every matter under the heavens. Maybe that means there is even a time to enjoy the wait and seemingly small moments God has put in my way. Verse 11 says, “He has made everything beautiful in its time.”
May I always see the beauty in waiting and not rush the moments but instead enjoy the present.
