Waiting: A Gift of Time

     Thinking about waiting today…I spend a lot of time waiting.  Don’t we all?  I wait for my kids to finish their schoolwork.  I wait for someone to buy my house.  I wait for enough money to be saved to buy things or to pay off the orthodontist bill.  I wait on the phone when I call a business to ask about my account.  I wait for answers to questions; I wait in line.  I wait for Abbey, oh Lord, do I ever wait for Abbey.

     It has really been trying my patience lately and after reading one of my regular blogs, it really made me aware that it keeps us from having peace in our home.  I feel a burden to fix the problem.  The blog really helped me and gave me some great advice.  I also feel like part of the burden is inside of me though.  I have never been gifted with the virtue of patience.  Let me just put it this way, I really don’t like waiting.
     So today I tried to look at it from a different point of view.  It’s wonderful that I am efficient with my time and that sometimes I am finished before others or I am early.  It’s not very wonderful how I spend the leftover time I have, complaining about waiting.  I just need to have a productive plan for that extra gift of time.  I could use it to pray for my character flaws and focus on the plank in my eye instead of judging someone else.  Admittedly I’ve gone there.  I will think “How dare they always keep people waiting, how rude.  I don’t do that.”  What do I do instead?  I could open up my bible app on my phone and read about judging, a sharp tongue, anger, patience, lack of wisdom….my problems.
    I’m not saying that I don’t want my daughter to be on time and to learn that it’s rude to keep others waiting, but I also need to look within myself and see why it steals my joy.  We need to learn together and as the grownup in the situation it is my job to keep the peace while the lessons are taught.  So today I give thanks for the spare time I receive throughout my busy days.