When a Child has to Wait

“I want that!” “How much longer?” “How many days til Christmas?” I could go on, but I’m sure you get the idea - little ones have many responses when it comes to waiting. Though the questions can change and topic can vary the struggle is usually the same - waiting is hard. It’s never something my little ones choose to do - if they WANT a cookie, they want it now; if they want to call Grandma, they want to do it now; if they want me to read a story, they want it read NOW!!

I’m not sharing this because I have demanding kids, they really are no different than the average child - one who has wants and needs and longs to have them filled. When the average child has these needs it’s natural to think they need to be met immediately. They don’t want to wait, it’s hard, it requires patience and sometimes even sacrifice.

This struggle can sometimes lead to not so pleasant results - the child who has to wait can become whiney, naughty, angry, demanding. We’ve all seen the child at the check-out counter have a tantrum as a result of being told, “No, you have to wait!” It’s not a pretty sight!

Recently life has shown me, though I’m no longer a child, sometimes I still have to wait. Nearly eight months ago, I was waiting for our baby to born - anyone who’s been there knows, waiting is hard!! I’ve waited for friends and family to get medical tests results, sometimes waiting is scary. I’ve waited for God to show me what comes next, sometimes waiting can be confusing.

But as I wait, God works - eventually our little man arrived, the tests results are revealed and God’s plan unfolds. Still though the waiting really never ends - we wait for a friend’s baby to be born, someone else has Dr. appointments and though God gives me a glimpse of what lies ahead, He says, “Not yet.”

Sometimes the “not yet” wait is the hardest - just ask my little girl who wants a bowl of ice cream thirty minutes before supper. She just knows it will be so good and she’s had to wait all day already, she just can’t wait. At times I can see what God has for me and I relate to Joy - it looks so good, I want it, it’s tempting to reach out and grab it on my own. But then I hear God change my words a bit, “Daughter, remember Your FATHER knows best!”

Those words can be hard to hear - it can be tempting to regress and act like that child in the grocery store, but as a child of God that’s not how my DAD has trained me to react. No in place of the tantrum, He wants me to trust and instead of me making things happen on my own, He wants life to happen on His time. And finally rather than me creating things by myself; He wants to use me in ways that are better than anything I could do on my own.

Though I’m all grown up, I’m still a child who has to wait and though the game is still hard, I’m thankful my Father really does know what’s best!