I love taking the train out to my destination. No need to worry about traffic, gas, or the endless circles searching for a parking spot. I have more mixed feelings about taking the train to get home. Recently, I missed my train by less than a minute, I heard it pulling away as I was running down the stairs. And due to that one minute I had to wait an hour for the next one. I was immediately annoyed. Unfortunately, you can’t blame the train for leaving on time.

It's easy to chalk this up as an opportunity to learn a little patience, and trust in God’s timing. Yet, in the moment, patience is stupid. Like that girl in that movie, “I don’t care how, I want it now!” Of course, patience is a virtue, and a fruit of the spirit, and an aspect of love, and James calls it a growth opportunity (my paraphrase). To all that I would reply, “while true, it’s also really, really hard in the moment.”

We hate waiting. Whether it was due to our own poor time management like my missed train, or factors outside of our control like a flight delay, unplanned/forced waiting throws a wrench in the way we expected life to go. However, we can also think of waiting in the same vein as fasting. While challenging, we can learn from it, if we are mindful. When we look back, we can see what we’ve learned and how our muscle of patience has grown. God is faithful. God has come through for us again and again. God has strengthened us when we thought we’d lost it all.

Isaiah 40:29-31 says, “God gives power to the faint, and to those who have no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint.”

We don’t like when our timing is interrupted, but each time it is, we have a choice. We can lean into God, or we can wallow in anger. It’s a hard choice to make; I hope we can all make the right one—at least once in a while.