Waiting....

​Do you spend your life waiting?  In the past month I waited 90 minutes for a delayed flight arrival, 5 hours for a signature needed delivery, 2 hours for the county inspector, 45 minutes for a traffic slow down….I could go on.  If we add up the time we spend waiting our turn, waiting for the traffic to clear, waiting during extreme ETA windows, waiting for personal attention on calls very important to the organization called, and others, we might be amazed at the total time we wait. 
 
So, what do I do when I wait?  Do I idle the time away?  Do I ponder what life would be like without waiting?  Do I act antsy, irritating those near me who are also waiting?  Do I grouse at the checkout clerk?  Do I drum my fingernails on the dash, the desk, the shopping cart?  Do I consider why the answer to life, the universe, and everything is 42? Hmmm – time wasters for sure. 
 
What could I do instead?  Here is a list of possibilities:  Give thanks for the great people and things in my life; pray for friends and family members needing God’s special blessing; chat with the folks in line with me (pleasantly – no complaining); sing the refrain of my favorite praise chorus in my head if I am not in my car; try to remember the books of the Bible in order; recite the alphabet backwards (again in my head when I am in public); conjugate Spanish verbs; listen to podcasts or audio books on my phone through bluetooth.  Do you have possibilities I haven’t listed?
 
I do know I have little if any control of waiting time. The Apostle Paul warns us in Ephesians 5: 15-16 “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.”   I will try to make better use of my waiting time – How about you?