I have never been a naturally patient person.

I run fast. I plan my day. I think ahead. I keep a schedule. I try to guess which grocery line is the quickest, but usually am wrong and get frustrated as my line ends up being the slowest. I am the first one in the car and often find myself idling while waiting for my significant others to catch up. No one likes being stuck in traffic and I don’t like being stuck in church services or in meetings that are dragging on long after they should be over.

Right now I am waiting. Waiting to sell our home. Waiting to know what my next ministry assignment will be. Waiting to know where I will live. Waiting for the grandbaby to “arrive”. Instead of growing impatient, I am learning to enjoy this window of time.

If you are like me, your life is usually running too fast. If you are waiting for anything, you are being forced to slow down. You can worry about it. You can stress out. Or you can embrace the pause. It will not last forever. It is a time to be renewed, to be still, and to listen. It is time to catch up on things you have been putting off. Whether it is neglected projects or relationships, now is the time to attend to these things.

Perhaps your self-worth is derived from your productivity and accomplishments. While waiting you have to opportunity to recenter your self-worth in deeper things. We are forced to let God be God. We are forced to trust. But being forced to do anything is uncomfortable. We are being invited to surrender to the Lord.

“But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” – Isaiah 40:31

Can we get to a place of true contentment in the Lord? This is where we abide (live) in the Lord. It is from a place of abiding that striving in one’s own strength can be let go of.

“Surely I have stilled and quieted my soul; Like a weaned child with his mother, Like a weaned child is my soul within me.” – Psalm 131:2

Hear the Lord’s invitation to let Him set the pace for your life at this moment:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” – Matthew 11:28-30

This is an invitation for those who are running on fumes. This sounds like a pathway that leads a person from burnout to health. Perhaps the impatient feeling that you have while waiting is actually the Lord beckoning you to Himself. 

What are you waiting for right now? What is the Lord saying to you?