Five Things I Learned About Waiting (day 30)

This month hasn't gone exactly as planned. In my ideal blog world I would have written more stories of past waiting and shared a lot of wisdom and some how-to's. And if I had succeeded I probably would have been a little smug at how smart I was. 

However, things didn't go quite as planned, and that is not always a bad thing. I end this month with not as many answers as I had hoped for. I'm lacking in the advice department, too. Therefore the smugness was kept at bay.

Have I learned how to wait? Kind of, sort of. Forcing myself to write on this topic every day helped me to realize that I am learning how to wait, just not in the ways I wanted. You know, the easy ways. Here are five things (I think) I learned this month:

• Be authentic about the waiting - the good, the bad, the ugly. Lisa Jo Baker wrote this on her blog today, "I believe because of the altars left by the storytellers who came before me. ... I type and I tell because how can I not?" It resonated with me this morning, and it is still speaking to me tonight.
• Don't wait alone. Community makes the waiting bearable. Even when they might not even realize that they're helping you with the waiting.
• Your present waiting is not always a result of something you did in the past.  Sometimes it is just life.  But the waiting can be used for God's glory if you are open to that.

•  Enjoy the gift of the day, even when it is hard, especially when it is hard. Remember that there is more to life than just this (sometimes all-consuming) aspect of it.
• Pray. It might not be lengthy or flowery or even as consistent as you think it should be. Keep praying anyway.