Waiting & Waiting & Waiting
When we moved back to Pennsylvania, the farmhouse we lived in for a few months had no office space, so I did most of my writing at the kitchen table. Every day as I wrote, one of our cats would very patiently wait for me to pet him. He just sat in the windowsill, in no hurry to go anywhere, simply waiting and waiting. When I got up, he got up, following me wherever I went. When I sat back down, back up into the windowsill he went. Just waiting. And to this day, when I sit at our kitchen island and write, he still waits for me to pause and pet him, sitting in the chair next to me, just purring, just waiting and waiting and waiting.
Anytime we walk toward our kitchen, both our cats run over and sit there and wait. Waiting for us to open the pantry and give them treats. They will just sit there and wait and wait and wait. I could learn a lot from the patient waiting of our two cats.
In 2016, the Chicago Cubs beat the Cleveland Indians in seven games to win baseball’s World Series, which ended the 108-year drought for the Cubbies. Not only did winning the Series end that long drought, it also put to rest one of the longest running superstitions in professional sports. According to legend, in 1945, Chicago’s Billy Goat Tavern owner William Sianis brought his beloved pet goat to Game 4 of the World Series at Wrigley Field. Because of the goat’s odor, he was asked to leave the ballpark, and upon exiting, allegedly shouted, “Them Cubs, they ain’t gonna win no more.” The Cubs, who were up two games at the time, ended up losing Game 4, going on to lose the best-of-seven series, four games to three, and thus, “The Curse of the Billy Goat” was born.
Cubs fans had waited and waited for a championship, and they were tired of waiting. I imagine many of them had given up waiting, thinking the Cubs were destined to never again win baseball’s highest prize. Regardless of what you have been waiting for, I think you will agree; we are not a society that waits very well.
For some of you, you too are in the midst of a long dry spell, and you wonder when it will end. Or maybe you have been praying for something for what seems like an eternity, but so far, no answer from God. Or at least not the answer you hope for.
Usually when we think of waiting, we think passive, sit back with feet propped up, and wait – “I will wait until it stops raining to go outside.” But waiting on God is anything but passive. In Psalm 27, David expresses that waiting on God involves trusting (vv.1-3), seeking (4-6), and praying (7-12). And the hopeful psalm ends like this – “I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD” (13-14).
“I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits, and in his word I hope” (Psalm 130:5).
So today, even if it seems like you have been waiting and waiting and waiting, maybe patiently, maybe not so patiently, know this: “The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him” (Lamentations 3:25).
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