Wait a minute! Wait a second! We’ve all used these expressions for a variety of reasons in our lifetime. We’ve also expressed it in other ways such as; Can you just give me a minute? Can you just give me a second? Back in the days when I had Bon Jovi hair (well not that much but I had enough) I would tell the guys to “wait a minute” because I was still working my hair into the masterpiece that it used to be as I painted that canvass with enough Aqua Net hairspray to put the ladies in the local Regis Hair Salon to shame! True story. All of it.

Waiting isn’t fun.

Waiting is fun if you’re waiting in line at the local ice cream stand on a hot,, summer day until you’re next in line to order only to hear they just ran out of your favorite flavor! That’s the worst!!

Waiting is fun if you’re going through the McDonald’s drive-thru to get a happy meal for a boy only to find out they put a girl toy in there. Dear Lord, the carnage!!

Waiting is fun if you’re at the dentist’s office….WAIT, no it’s not.

Waiting is fun if you’re like a kid on Christmas day until you open the notorious shirt box that your grandmother gets you every year only to open it and see that the sweater is even uglier than last year and she still gets you the same size even though you’ve gained a few pounds and the sweater that you have to try on looks like you just shopped at Baby Gap. Form fitting!!

Wait a minute! Wait a second! These are terms that we often use. You never hear yourself or someone else say; Wait a month! Wait a year! Why? Because we don’t like to wait! We want it all right now. We don’t want to wait. I say “we” because I’m quite confident that anyone who reads this blog will be in a waiting room of some kind.

There are some guarantees in life; death, taxes, and waiting.

Recently, I had to have my gall bladder removed. Evidently, I had gall stones that caused two attacks in just a matter of months; the second one leading me to the ER and overnight stay in the hospital. The food was good. It should be at $2500 for mashed potatoes, half baked chicken and cold carrots. Fully baked chicken and warm carrots was an additional $225.35. I chose the cheaper option. I was poked, prodded and tested and it was determined that my gall bladder had to be taken. I feel like a part of me is missing; oh, wait!

On the day of surgery I had to arrive to….the waiting room. Here is what I observed I the waiting room…everyone was anxious. No one wanted to be there. A young lady to my right would check her phone every few seconds, adjust her posture and let out a sigh. The doctor came and got her and said, “everything went well.” Sigh…

An older gentleman had a brother in surgery and he kept buzzing the door trying to get back to see his brother. It was touching. They let him in.

An even older man was sitting directly across from me with nothing in his hand but his head.

I was by myself but I wasn’t alone.

If you’re tired of waiting you’re in good company…

Isaiah 40:31 tells us that when we do wait on the Lord that our strength is renewed. We can soar like an eagle. We can “run like the wind blows” (insert your best Forrest Gump impression) and not get weary. We can walk and not faint.

Let me end by sharing part of my devotional from the book, “Streams in the Desert” from May 24,…

“The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.” (Psalm 33:11). But we must be prepared to wait God’s time. God has his set times. It is not for us to know them, indeed, we can not know them; we must wait for them.

If God had told Abraham in Haran that he must wait 30 years until he pressed the promised child to his bosom, his heart would have failed him.

Take heart, waiting one, thou waitest for the One who cannot disappoint thee; and who will not be five minutes behind the appointed moment, ere long, “your sorrow shall be turned into joy.”

Watch. Ask. Invite. Trust. WAIT!

By the way, my surgery was delayed but the result was still the same.

His timing, His way!