it seems like we spend so much of our time waiting. we spend so much time hurrying to the next thing….only to wait. and to top it all off, we think it something awful most of that time. something dreadful. so much so that we wonder if God is even present with us. could He possibly invite us into something only to wait? could He invite us to dream and hope and then let us wait in it?
i don’t know about you but i spent the majority of my life in the future. always looking for what was next. always trying to figure out how to get to the next place/goal/dream. sometimes i found myself in the past and even more rarely in the present. the future, however, is quite the dangerous place. “the screwtape letters” screwtape describes to his nephew, wormwood, how the future “inflames hope and fear.” he even argues that nearly all vices are rooted in the future, which i find intriguing. obviously it isn’t wrong to think about the future or plan for the future but to live there gets dangerous.
when we live solely focused on the future, we miss so much in the present and we find ourselves in a perpetual state of waiting and i am going to take a safe guess that it’s not an enjoyable waiting.
BUT
the more i have learned to be present, the more beauty i see in the waiting. granted there are things i have been waiting decades for and often grow impatient but i also see immense beauty. there is a beauty because He never stops creating…even in the waiting.
this past week i was blessed to go on a cruise. now i love being on a ship but i love the beach even more. what is interesting is i would rather live near the mountains and only visit the beach but the beach is restful and familiar to me. when i got back from vacation, all these ladies were posting pictures and i realized i had only taken a handful. honestly part of me was irritated that i didn’t have more pictures to remember the trip with all the while simultaneously thankful that i was able to remain present. present in the resting instead of escaping, instead of dreaming i was somewhere else.
it is in those moments of thoroughly enjoying the present that the beauty of the most creative God shines brightly to me. there have been so many invitations to enjoy the process. i’m sure the invitation has been given to you too! whether starting a business or relationship or new training program for a marathon you want to run. it is so easy to rush ahead to the end…where you hope to end up.
but what if that means you miss all the beauty along the way. the small moments where you see Him shine through to say…”I’m still creating, dear one.” what if you miss all the gifts He has in the present cause you are preoccupied with the future. He is the God who spoke it all in to being…He can handle making sure His promises are taken care of. He is faithful like that. but not only is He faithful, He’s abundantly generous. sit with Him in the present of whatever process it is you’re walking through and ask Him to show you what He sees. i bet you will be surprised.
because my God is a God of the past and present and future. He sees the past and wants to redeem the broken places and build upon great places. He sees our future and has purpose for it! He also walks with us in the present. it is here in the present that we can watch Him create as we make our way to that elusive point in the future.
if you are always rushing ahead, stop. slow down. take a breath and be still. what is He creating while you are waiting for whatever is next?