Waiting

Blog 2   There’s a scene from the old movie “The Princess Bride” were Wesley is climbing a cliff wall chasing three men who have kidnapped Buttercup, the woman whom he loves.  Waiting to duel Wesley with swords at the top of the cliff is one of the kidnappers, Inigo Montoya.  He offers to help Wesley get to the top of the cliff so they can duel.  When Wesley declines the help, Inigo Montoya says, “I hate waiting.”  

Wait.  That word has been on my mind a lot lately.  I’ve been waiting for consistent temps above 10C, and as I write this it looks like those temperatures are just around the corner.  Right at this moment, I’m waiting for an MTS rep to message me back via live chat.  I often have to wait to fall asleep again in the middle of the night.   

I like to think of myself as a patient person, except, I confess, when I get a few red lights in a row, or, well, I’ll save those details for another time.  I struggle sometimes with waiting, and maybe that’s because it’s connected with frustrated expectations or worry.  Many of us have had to set aside expectations and are suddenly worried about finances or work or health (our own or someone we care about).  We are all waiting for our world to return to some semblance of normal, whatever that normal is going to look like.  

I just finished reading through Ecclesiastes, one of my favourite books of the Bible.  I find comfort in “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again.  There is nothing new under the sun.”  What we are going through is new to almost everyone alive today, but it isn’t new to God.  I need to continue to remind myself that there are few things that I can control, and a whole lot that I can’t.  The things I can’t control, I need to wait for God.  Actually, I also need to let Him guide the few things I can control.  

“I am still confident of this:  I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.  Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD” (Ps 27:13-14).   

How are you dealing with waiting?