Waiting

By: Gabriela Yareliz

Waiting has been a theme recently. I think my whole week of Glorify App devotionals were about waiting. Then, I heard the sermon Fourteen, about waiting and the transformation in the journey. We have Christmas coming up, which is filled with much anticipation and waiting. It reminds us we are waiting for that second advent with longing and strength.

I was doing laundry the other day (waiting to use a machine) and a woman was taking things from the washer to the dryer, one by one. As she tortured me, I reflected on things we used to wait for that now we don’t have to wait for—

Food— most people get delivery— which skips the line entirely. We also have apps to order ahead.

Movies— we had to wait a long time to rent something and watch it at home. Now, things hit streaming at the same time or shortly after theater release.

TV— you couldn’t binge. You had to wait each week for the next episode and sit through many more ads.

Knowledge— research was slower. It required flipping through multiple books and sometimes waiting for those books to be available.

Purchases— shipping has never been faster. In cities like NYC, you can even get same-day delivery. With things like Kindle, you can immediately start reading something without leaving your bed.

Connection— long distance calls were expensive. Most of us had a shared landline, so you also had to wait to use a phone. Because of shared phones, you also had to make small talk with whoever answered the phone on the other end.

Things are faster; we have less patience. But some things in life still and will always require the wait. We mustn’t waste the rare wait.