Waiting

I suppose I can't have a blog titled "Reflections as I wait" and not talk about waiting. So here goes:

Wait is a four-letter word and has in the past been as offensive to me as any of "those" have ever been. You know which ones I mean. It seems I'm always waiting on something. Waiting to grow up, waiting to graduate, waiting for the right job, the great house, the perfect guy (not so sure he exists, by the way), etc., etc., etc. Always waiting for the next thing. I think most people live like that, wanting something more and having to wait for it. But Americans don't wait very well; we've cultivated a society in which we refuse to wait and then get angry when we're forced to do so. And so many mistakes are made when we decide we're not going to wait.

The thing is: we're all waiting, whether we want to or not. This life here, it's a waiting room. What are we waiting for? Reality, for that which we cannot see to become visible, actually tangible. C.S. Lewis wrote a profound little book called The Great Divorce in which the main character goes from what he thought was reality (a gray and boring world) to true Reality, and it is only once he arrives that he realizes that what he experienced before was nothing compared to the Truth of where he is now, a world that's more vivid and vibrant than he could ever have imagined.

My point is, there's more. As much as this life has to offer, there's another that offers infinitely more. This is just the waiting room to the True Life that's behind Door #1. The great thing is, we can experience some of that Life now, but the fullness is yet to come. That's what we're waiting for. And as for me, I want to wait well.


Q: What does it mean/look like to wait well?