Wait is a Four-Letter WordSample

 Day 3: Navigating No-Man’s Land

I find my daughter crouched in a corner in her princess dress, up to her ears in jewels and tulle. “What are you doing, sweetie? Is something wrong?”

She tips big brown eyes up at me and whispers, “I’m waiting for my prince to come.”

“Oh,” I say. “I see. Well. . . I’ve totally been there.” Smiling to myself, I tiptoe out, leaving her alone  to wait.

Sometimes we wait like my daughter did: hunched in a corner, life on pause. Postponing food, fun, everything. Just waiting. And while we sit there, we think things like:

I can’t be happy unless. . .

I can’t be productive until. . .

I won’t come out of hiding unless. . .

My only goal is to survive. 

But unless we want to spend our entire waiting season living life on pause, hiding in the corner in our tiara and tulle, we have to work past the untils and unlesses. We have to live in spite of the if onlys. Now if only that were as easy as it sounds!

Maybe instead of thinking of waiting journeys as time lost, time wasted, we can think of them as time repurposed. Time spent doing—and giving—things we never would have gotten to do otherwise. 

Here’s some funny irony: choosing selflessness instead of selfishness is one of the best things we can do for ourselves! We are made to give. In Luke 9:24, Jesus teaches us that giving ourselves up for God and for others will save us in the end. It will save us even now! “Losing your life” by choosing to serve or encourage others, even when you feel you have little to give, will fill up your empty spaces. It will take the edge off your pain, show you the way out of loneliness, and make you feel whole again, even when something (or someone) is missing.

And remember, Jesus says, “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Luke 6:38). So how generous will you be right now? Give generously. God always, always, always outgives us in the end.

Let’s take back this time.

Let’s give what we have as we wait for what we want.

Let’s not waste the wait.