While We WaitSample

Author: Liz Sarno

In the book, Oh the Places You’ll Go, Dr. Seuss talks about the Waiting Place. It’s a place for people just waiting:

Waiting for a train to go

or a bus to come, or a plane to go

or the mail to come, or the rain to go 

or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow

or waiting around for a Yes or a No

or waiting for their hair to grow.

Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting. Waiting. Waiting. What happens when it's you that is waiting? Somehow you’ll escape all that waiting and staying.” But what happens when it is you? When you aren’t where you used to be but not yet where you want to be. And you find yourself in a Waiting Place. You may have heard it said, “It’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey.” But what happens when the journey has you stalled? 

There is always a process between a promise from God and the fulfillment of that promise. Sometimes the process is short, and other times it’s so long that you may wonder if you heard God correctly in the first place. It can be easy to get frustrated, angry, and restless in that in-between time. It can be easy to be discontent, to grumble, and complain, and to be so obsessed with what’s next that you can’t enjoy what’s right now. But the Waiting Place doesn’t have to be depressing and empty, filled with longing for what’s next. It can be a wonderful place of growth and cultivation for you.  

If it makes you feel any better, even Jesus had a waiting place. Think about that. The Son of God was a carpenter until He performed His first miracle at the age of 30! That’s a long time to wait. If He had to walk through the process, then how much more do we?

The good news is that the waiting place brings an opportunity, not necessarily to change your circumstances, but to allow yourself to be changed through the process. Psalm 27:13-14 shows you that you can be strong and take courage as you wait on the Lord knowing that you will see His promises come to pass in your life.

Even when you aren’t where you want to be, you can still embrace the place where you are, and you can discover all of the beautiful things to be found in the waiting.