By Rhonda Stinson
“C’mon pokey, I don’t have all year”, I mumbled, following behind a very cautious driver. As soon as it was clear, I hurriedly passed the driver as if a huge emergency was awaiting my attention.
Truth was… I just wanted to go faster than the driver in front of me and became impatient in the waiting. A quick glance in my rear view mirror showed that I’d left him in the dust.
Just as I slowed down and put on my blinker to turn left into my house, a stream of cars started coming from the other direction. They were bumper to bumper with no room between. I was hoping it wouldn’t happen, but to my dismay it did. “Oh great!” I disgustedly said to myself. “You just had to pass him up and look where it got you.” (Self-talk helps me cope in situations like these.)
The pokey driver had to sit behind me and wait until I could pull into my driveway. I felt like crawling under the seat of my car! My impatience had gotten me nowhere but into a humbling and embarrassing mess.
Waiting has never been one of my strong points, but I am getting a little better at it. Waiting on God’s timing is an essential element in a Christian’s life. God has every aspect of our lives in place, from beginning to end. Think of a Tetris game. The blocks moving down the screen have different shapes, but at just the right time, they turn and fall into place.
God knows every detail of our lives. Like a Tetris game, when we are patient, He sets the pieces into place—one by one.
Are you trying to rush ahead of God? If so, you’re destined to miss something important that He wants to show, teach, or give you.
“But those who wait on the LORD shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)
“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.” (James 1:2-4)
“But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”
Like my pokey driver experience, impatience sometimes results in another needed godly trait—humility.
