Hurry up and Wait.

I find this phrase so very helpful. It explains so many things in life. How often do we hurry up, only to find ourselves waiting much longer than we hoped? It seems like it happens all the time…

Hurry to the store, but wait in line to check-out. Hurry to get dinner prepared, and then wait until everyone's ready to eat. We hurry up to leave on time (or at least try to), and end up waiting in traffic.

Earlier this week, Heath and I got to experience the hurry and wait phenomenon first hand.

Monday afternoon, Heath came home early with incredible pain in his lower left side. He was certain it was a kidney stone. We arrived at Urgent Care, and waited. When he was finally seen, they were in a hurry to get his blood drawn and an IV hooked up, but he had to wait to get any relief for his pain. The rest of the day and into the evening was more of the same. More hurry and more waiting. Thankfully, Heath's kidney stone was diagnosed and his pain was eventually subdued. Unfortunately, it took a trip to the hospital and surgery that night to blast the stone to bits. For those who are wondering, he's feeling much better and is looking forward to feeling back to normal again soon. Looks like the Miller house will be drinking lots more water and cranberry juice!

Sitting in the waiting room, waiting to hear how his surgery went made me think of all the other seasons in life we end up waiting for. When we're younger we wait to be in the next grade, for summer break, to get our driver's license, to graduate high school, and maybe go to college. Then we hurry up and wait to get the right job, meet the right person, buy a house, or to have kids. Later, we wait until we can take that needed vacation, or finally get to retire.

Oftentimes, we hurry up to get to that next stage in life, but are left waiting. How much of life do we miss out on while we wait? Are we experiencing today?

It seems like I've had so many seasons of waiting. Right now I'm waiting to find the right job. Heath and I are waiting until we can have kids. At the moment, I'm waiting for my cute nieces to come visit. There are a lot of things to wait for, but it seems like there should be a better way of going about this.

When I was in Uganda a few years ago, I remember doing a lot of the hurry up and wait routine. And that was just the thing; it was a very normal part of daily life. The difference was, it was acknowledged that waiting was normal. The hurry was merely preparation for what was next and the waiting meant being completely present in the moment.

Rather than being anxious for each next step to arrive, I hope to enjoy the one I'm in.