My team and team Steadfast Pursuit are serving together in Puerto Barrios, Guatemala this month. The first week was very interesting and ministry was far and few between. We did a lot of waiting around. Have you ever read Dr. Suess’ “Oh, the Places You’ll Go?” This is one of my favorite books and there is a page about the waiting place.
“…for people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, or a place to go or the mail to come, or the rain to go or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow or waiting around for a Yes or No or waiting for their hair to grow. Everyone is just waiting. Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for wind to fly a kite or waiting around for Friday night or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake or a pot to boil, or a Better Break or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants or a wig with curls, or Another Chance. Everyone is just waiting.”
I seriously began to feel like I was in this part of the book. Don’t get me wrong… I kind of enjoyed it. It was the first time on the race where we haven’t had a jammed packed schedule and we could actually take some time to rest. The reason I enjoyed it the most is because the girls and I would sit around (or more accurately lay on the cement floor with the fan blowing on us) and talk. We would have bible studies, serious discussions, fun discussions, and lots of mini revelations. We have talked a lot about how we thought we would come on the race and then all of the sudden everything would just click and there would be this huge moment where we were like “Yes, this is what I have been waiting for.”
On one of these waiting days, Annie shared the first chapter from “Cold Tangerines” and it put things into major perspective. This is the part that stood out to me the most, “For me, life is what was happening while I was busy waiting for my big moment. I was ready for it and believed that the rest of my life would fade into the background, and that my big moment would carry me through life like a lifeboat.” Boom it hit me… not only have I been sitting around on the race waiting for a big moment but I have been waiting on a big moment all of my life. While waiting on these big moments, all of the small significant moments have been passing me by. I love God and how He speaks to me through other people. It was as if He was whispering… “stop waiting on something big and look at everything that has happened and is happening right now. My plans for you, big and small, are significant.” So I’m done waiting around and letting life pass me. I’m going to live each day like it is the big moment I have been waiting for. I’m going to let God use me each day and etch me into the person He wants me to become.
For anyone reading this who has been waiting on their “big” moment, I’ll leave you with this quote from ‘Cold Tangerines’: “You have stories worth telling, memories worth remembering, dreams worth working toward, a body worth feeding, a soul worth tending, and beyond that, the God of the universe dwells within you, the true culmination of super and natural. You are more than dust and bones. You are spirit and power and image of God. And you have been given today.”
