I witnessed a funny sight the other day as I made hospital rounds. When I arrived at the elevators, a woman stood there waiting ahead of me. Since the up arrow light was on, I knew she had mashed the button at least once. While we waited for what must have been about 60 seconds, she mashed the button again four times – as if the more she mashed the button the faster the elevator would descend. Finally, just as she mashed it the fourth time, the doors opened. She probably still thinks the door opened when it did because she mashed the button for that fourth time.
We spend a lot of time waiting, doctors even have a room specifically for waiting. I guess that’s why they call us patients, because the we have to wait patiently for our appointment. We wait in checkout lines, we wait at traffic lights, we wait for customer service, we wait for the preacher to get through (and wait, and wait, and wait). We despise waiting, but since it is inevitable, why not learn to make waiting work for us. After all, the Bible speaks highly of waiting.