Waiting...

If you had to guess, how much time do you think you spend waiting each week?  How about in a year?  Apparently, some researchers have looked into this, and the average American spends about 38 hours each year waiting in traffic.  We spend thirteen hours annually waiting on hold for customer service, and seven years of our lives are spent lying awake in the bed at night, waiting to fall asleep.  Those are all averages, but they were pretty disturbing to me.  I hate waiting… I frequently find myself wishing I could move things along faster.  I want to be somewhere else.

Last week, I spent a considerable amount of time waiting in the doctor’s office with a sick child.  This was not where I wanted to be, and it was easy to become frustrated thinking about all the other things I needed to do.  However, when another family came in, I started talking with them.  We didn’t have much to say, but we laughed a little and shared a few stories.  It wasn’t much, but I felt like it was infinitely better than just stewing over all the time I was wasting.  I also realize it was a blessing to simply spend a little time with my child who really did need me in that moment.  Today, I hope we can enjoy whatever moment we are in.  We are going to spend a lot of time waiting.  That’s life.  However, we get to choose the attitude we take with us. 

In this week’s scripture passage, Jesus tells a woman her life is not a waste.  Life is an opportunity to be cherished and loved.  I hope and pray we can all cherish the days we have, because each day is a gift… Even the days full of waiting!

Peace!

Brian