The Gift of Hurry up and Wait

Waiting.. it provides the perfect moment....  
Photo credit: My husband

Positive Pensées

Kathy King

The Gift of Hurry up and Wait

“If we learn to enjoy waiting, we don’t have to wait to enjoy.”

Kazuaki Tanahashi

Hurry up and Wait!

That is an interesting phrase.

It means to spend a lot of time waiting.  

Sometimes for days.

It may be hours or minutes. 

But waiting, it’s hard particularly when you are the one wanting and anticipating.

It can be sharp, it can be boring, it can be filled with lots of silence.

Take that time, use those moments to pray and reflect.

Hurry up and wait can be a gift both to your current self and future self. .

Let that time teach you patience

Let that time make you more gracious.

Let the time give you discipline to grow, to gain wisdom and discovery.

You may discover you are not ready for the given situation.

You may discover another path from taking the time. 

So Hurry up and wait! It is a good use of your time. 

I marvel at the fact that once again…. I wrote this over a year ago.  It was like God was writing a note to me (and I hope others)... to wait.  To pray.  I am impatient this morning… I want t be recovered fully… doing the things.  I want my writing to be successful.  My music to be shared, to have a new and better job… and mostly to be back to health.  Mostly, I want to be able to do more for my very loving and helpful family.  When I woke up this morning… and mind you, I was groggy from the new meds of getting my body back in the right direction.  The words that kept coming to my mind were to wait and pray.  Waiting is a teacher.  I am not good at it.  In fact, I am very bad at it.  So much so that I would probably jump farther, do more… and still get it wrong.  There is an art to stopping, praying, and most of all… waiting.  

Hurry up and Wait!  My sons in the Army talk about this often.  Serving in the military gives you a lot of time to sit and ruminate.  So much so that this phrase has web pages dedicated to this very subject. Military Hurry up and Wait is defined as: the long standing tradition of making everyone come in 6 hours before any training event, travel or other military activities.  I have heard this phrase uttered countless times by all 4 of my sons.  But what can waiting really teach us?  First, in a society where we are inundated with information from just about everywhere, particularly with the 24 hour news cycle, waiting can give us time to make a judgment about a given situation.  How many times has something been reported as fact only to have a correction issued within a few hours or days?  Waiting gives us discernment.  Secondly, waiting can give us perspective.  When any given situation arises our first reaction is not always the best reaction.  My brother is a very quiet, well spoken individual.  In his professional position he employs quite a lot of folks.  He has the ability to make decisions that impact the lives of a lot of people.  I asked him how he deals with this on a daily basis.  He told me that if someone comes to him with a difficult situation that needs to be reckoned with in a timely manner… he stops and says, “Give me a moment to answer your question.  I want to pause and ponder the best course of action.”  That single response changed my frame of mind completely simply because our first response is not always the best response particularly if the situation is difficult.  Thirdly, Waiting can teach us empathy.  Sadly empathy has taken a back seat in life these days.  Pausing can help us gain insight into what others are experiencing.  I often find that social media, television, our society in general celebrates narcissism.  There is definitely a need for a correction towards empathy, sympathy and general goodwill to each other.  Finally, hurrying up and waiting gives us fortitude.  The phrase, “Good things come to those who wait.” comes to mind.  Think about some of the rewards the endurance of waiting gives you. Waiting can give you much needed rest.  Waiting can open doors to bigger and better opportunities. Most of all, waiting gives us wisdom.  Wisdom about ourselves and wisdom concerning others.  In our fast paced world, it takes some time occasionally to hurry up and wait.   

Source: wearethemighty.com