A waiting game

I have learned throughout my years that patience really is a virtue.

There are too many things in life for which we have to wait—some of them that are actually worth it, while others are simply a waste of time. Either way, there sure is a lot of waiting to be done.

I remember times when I was a little kid waiting for my mom to get home to take me somewhere. When it was to some place about which I was incredibly excited, I would go to the window and part the blinds almost every 42 seconds or so just to see if I could catch a glimpse of her red Suburban coming down our street. I think doing that almost made it worse—it made the wait seem that much longer.

Then there was the time in college when I went to the emergency room with pancreatitis (before I found out it was chronic), and I was in the waiting room so long that I curled up into a ball on the floor because of the pain. I had been waiting too long, and the wait seemed endless. Finally, they moved me into a separate room. Oh, wait, it was just another waiting room, but this one was just secluded so that people didn't continue to stare at me in my roly poly form. I waited for what seemed like an eternity in this room until they finally came and got me.

Recently, I've had to wait on a fracture to heal, which has been rather frustrating. But, thankfully, I can finally start running again soon—so long as there is ABSOLUTELY no pain involved. I have to wait for that to happen.

I have waited years upon years to cheer for a decent baseball team. Finally, the Rangers have come alive! It truly makes all those painful years of watching them fail every season fizzle away (well, sort of—actually, maybe they are still there, but this is so much better). Is it possible that DFW is finished waiting for a World Series? Good gosh, I hope so. That line of patience really is wearing thin.

Like every other person in this world, I have waited a countless amount of times in life. There is no escaping waiting. I mean, I'm essentially here just waiting for Jesus to come back and take me home. Waiting is everywhere.

We wait in lines for face painting and balloon animals (among other things,

of course); we wait for the little rainbow ball of death on our computers to stop spinning; we wait for our phones to ring or texts to come through; we wait for paychecks; we wait for the right people to step into our lives and change things forever; we wait for healing; we wait for answers; we wait for family and friends to arrive places; we wait for food and service at restaurants; we wait for broken hearts to be healed.

We wait. Always.

See, patience really is a virtue.