I have been thinking a lot about the idea of waiting recently. So many things in my life recently have involved waiting. 7 years ago I was waiting to finish high school, so my “real life” could happen in college. 4 years later I was waiting to graduate so I could start my “real life” on Young Life staff. A year and a half after that I was waiting to move to Raleigh in the fall to start my life in the “real world” I have always sort of fallen into thinking that the next life event on the horizon would be where “real life” was actually going to happen. I have learned two things about waiting in the last couple of weeks.
1.I will always be waiting for something. Waiting to hear back from that interview I had, waiting for the promotion, waiting for that hot chick to finally notice that I’m the right guy, waiting for kids, waiting to retire, waiting really for heaven. C.S. Lewis was on to something when he said that we have a desire for something more than this world can give us, therefore we can assume that we were made for something greater than this world. It is easy to think that the next big thing on the horizon is going to be the solution to my longings. But I know that until that great wedding feast in heaven, I will be waiting for something.
2.Real life is happening right now in those times of waiting. It hurts to think of all of the life I have missed by convincing myself that I just have to get through the next couple of months or so and then I can really start to enjoy life. I heard that the time least like heaven is the future. It seems counterintuitive at first because heaven is in the future. I can get caught up dreaming of what it will be like to live in perfect harmony with Christ just like I can get caught up dreaming of what it will be like being married, or having money to live comfortably. By doing that, I miss the time that is most like heaven, the present. It is where time touches eternity; where freedom and actuality occur (Thanks again for the idea C.S. Lewis) Now I’m not saying that we should never think about the future, but just so that we are sure that it is in accords to what we are doing now and how they are connected.
God has plenty for me here in the present even if it is in a season of waiting.
MG