Pixabay (2018), CC0 Public Domain[/caption]
Waiting, waiting, waiting. It seems like we are always waiting for something. Waiting for the red light to change, waiting in the checkout line, waiting for Lent to end, waiting for Christmas to come, waiting to get married, waiting to hear back on a job offer ... always waiting ...
Oh, I can tell you a thing or two about waiting.
I spent the first few years of tender young adulthood as a student and a missionary in Mexico. Upon arriving back home, I assumed God would reward my generosity by gifting me with a husband immediately. A year later, two years later, and still not even a single date. Three years later I landed my first boyfriend and then another and another, all for short periods of time, for the next 7+ YEARS! Finally I got engaged, then I broke off the engagement. At long last, I met, courted and married the love of my life at 32 years of age. Since I was able to fit that fact in one line, you would think it must have been pretty simple and straightforward or perhaps even fairytale-ish, but that was far from the case.
My husband and I met on CatholicMatch.com in May of 2011. His profile stated he lived in Cincinnati but he had just moved back to his native country in South America a few months prior. Nevertheless, we were both serious and the relationship moved forward. After a couple months of daily communication, I decided to take a month-long leave of absence from work go to Peru and get to know him. The month flew by as we talked and ate together, kissed and held each other. It all seemed so surreal. He even proposed! But as time always does, it passed, and I had to return home.
Cue the endless waiting. Since he was not a US citizen and had been here on visas, he now needed another visa to reenter the United States. I applied as soon as I got home, but had no idea how long it would take. I was separated from my fiancé by almost 4,000 miles and an unknown amount of time. After six and a half interminable months, he finally arrived. We got married two weeks later and were pregnant two months later.
And even now we are waiting … waiting for our fourth child to be born. Sure there are beautiful milestones along the way: that first ultrasound, the first flutter, the first kick, when you find out if it’s a boy or a girl, perhaps a baby shower, but all the while, those 40 weeks seem endless.
But instead of this being a depressing sob story, I would like to turn this boat around. Why do we have to wait so often? What fruit does it bring? What are we truly waiting for? I have to believe it is a training of sorts for our hearts and a temperance of our desires. What do we wait for the longest? Our eternal home. What do we desire most deeply? The complete happiness of heaven.
The more we wait, the more God has the opportunity to refine us and purify our desires. So whether your waiting rewards you with a wonderful marriage, a beautiful child or your dream job, remember it is just “wait”-training for the eternal reward of heaven.
Copyright 2018 Tami Urcia
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