Hurry Up and Wait

Patience is a virtue...blah, blah, blah. I have a hard time waiting. I'm sure some of this has to do with the consumer focused, instant gratification type of society we live in here in the U.S. but I bet some of it has to do with me as well. I tend to be someone that wants things now, almost to the point where today isn't soon enough. I like change, it doesn't bother me and I find it spices things up a bit but I have a hard time waiting for it. Or even when things are hard I would rather face it, deal with it and move on. The thought of waiting around to see how things are going to play out can drive me mad.

This morning I was reading something from Carlo Carretto, who's writings I have just recently discovered, and it made me think about patience in a new way. I think I'm moving toward the conclusion that we were made to have an attitude of patience, of being willing to wait. Carretto says it much better, "We must assume an attitude of waiting, accepting the fact that we are creatures and not Creator. We must do this because it is not our right to do anything else; the initiative is God's, not ours."

I'm not sure I would say this is life changing for me but it might be. So often I am quick to see or make things happen to the point of stressing myself out when it seems like life would be so much more enjoyable if I would simply wait. I am the created, not the Creator and so I have no business worrying about making things happen before their time. I must simply wait and in those times of waiting come to know God.

"Be still, and know that I am God"

Psalm 46:10