How are you in the waiting game? Having to wait for something is in some ways about delayed gratification, something I wonder if I am lacking? When I was a kid, my neighborhood playmate Kathy and I would receive cookies from her mom which we would share equally. It was always a game as to who could make her cookies last. Kathy always won. I would be so frustrated that I never won. What was wrong with me? Only later did I realize that she would hide her last cookie.

Waiting always makes me think of the marshmallow study done over 50 years ago by psychologist Walter Mischel. While the findings and conclusions have been reassessed over the years, I still find the videos of the children and their antics/strategies to not eat the marshmallow before the allotted time and thus, receive an additional one in the end, adorable. When I get frustrated waiting, this makes me laugh: Click here to watch.

How I feel most days as I wait for the remodeling to finish…

Once again, we have had a delay in our remodeling project. I must say, I am really beginning to lose patience over the delays. In all fairness, most of the delays are really out of anyone’s control. Yet it seems, once the wheels fall off the wagon, the whole thing falls apart: one error can cause a whole litany of other problems to happen. I get it. Sometimes that is just the way things occur. I remember when working with clients, inevitably there would be one client, that if one thing went wrong with the care and/or project, then sure enough, multiple things would also be off.

Yet, I also recognize that because of the issues and delays, the final outcomes have been better than if things went according to the original plan. For instance, the snafu with the cabinets caused a reassessment of the type of cabinet for the stove, which now is even a better arrangement and will provide more storage.

But, like the Psalmist I groan, “How long, O Lord…?”

I keep muttering to myself, “trust in God, trust in the process and trust the workmen.” At times I have been discouraged about the whole shebang- moving, remodeling, and the all encompassing energy that both things take. I start to doubt God and myself regarding the call to move.

Then I get an affirmation from the place where we live- the beauty of the surroundings or the friendliness of the neighbors. Reminders from God that we are exactly where He wants us to be at this time. I begin to remember God’s faithfulness in the past. Not just to me and my family but to my spiritual family and friends as well as the stories of the faithful in the Bible.

I have been reading about Joshua and Caleb- the only two spies who, after coming back from the reconnaissance in the Promised Land, were encouraged that through God, the Hebrews could overtake the area. All the other spies incited the people to reject what God promised and not trust that God would do what He said. Because of that, God decided that the whole generation would not enter the land. The Hebrew people would have to wait for the next generation to receive the Promised Land. Only Joshua and Caleb would be allowed to enter with the new generation because of their trust in God.

Only recently did it dawn on me, Joshua and Caleb had to wait forty years before the Promise came to fruition for them. They didn’t do anything wrong. In fact, they were doing everything right and yet they still had to wait. Even after entering the Promised Land it took some effort and time before things settled down and there was a period of peace.

What about you? Have you ever had to wait for some dream or plan to come to fruition? How did you handle the waiting time? Are you more like the marshmallow children, sneaking in a bite or two or more like the hound- waiting patiently for something to occur?

Interestingly that this week’s chapter in my Bible Study book was all about waiting. (Tish Harrison Warren, Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life) The author reminds us that waiting is active and purposeful like a fallow field. Even when a dirt field appears to be dormant, there are microorganisms, fungi, insects, wind and sun all readying the soil for planting.

When I am impatient, I need to remember: my past and God’s goodness as well as His goodness to others. It gives me hope and helps me to be patient and trust God.

Tertullian, an early (160 A.D.) Christian author from Carthage, states, “The singular mark of patience is not endurance or fortitude but hope. To be impatient…is to live without hope. Patience is grounded in the Resurrection. It is life oriended toward a future that is God’s doing, and its sign is longing, not so much to be released from the ills of the present, but in anticipation of the good to come.” (Robert Louis Wilken, The Spirit of Early Christian Thought: Seeking the Face of God.)

May we all look forward to the good that is to come.