I have recently found myself longing for the summertime, especially when there are whispers of summer all around me. I long for the warm sun, tanned skin, tank tops and shorts, watermelon and potato salads, ice cold lemonades, and beach sunsets. The long, cold winter leaves us often wishing for the warm days of summer, for the flowers of spring (especially for this Floridian who was amazed to experience a “winter” that lasted longer than a fortnight). But the bitter winter teaches us the invaluable lesson of patience, the ability to wait.
Our world has become so fast-paced, and we find ourselves frustrated, impatient, and angry when something takes longer than an instant. How shocked are we when we haven’t lost any weight at the gym after only a week, or how impatient do we become waiting in a long grocery line, or on hold with the bank, or for the check at a restaurant, or how frustrated do we become with a student who takes multiple repetitions to understand a concept, or for the friend who takes an hour to leave the house when they said they’d be ready in 5 minutes? We feel that waiting is a waste of time. But what’s the rush?
In American Sign Language, the sign for “wait” is made with both hands held in front of your body, fingers wriggling, like this:
What we can observe is that this sign is an active motion. Waiting is not as passive nor the waste of time we may perceive it to be in our lives, but active, an opportunity even.
Just as the winter taught us to wait for the sun, the warmth, and the flowers, the season of Lent taught us to wait for the joy of rebirth, the magnitude of Christ’s resurrection. The wait during Lent wasn’t passive nor a waste of time, but was a time of opportunity: a time to reflect, learn, reconcile, forgive, simplify, observe, ponder, and to realize truth. What good would it have been for our salvation if Jesus was resurrected immediately after His death? If His eyes opened as soon as they closed, and He hopped right off the cross? What true joy would Easter bring if we didn’t spend 40 days and nights waiting and longing? What beauty would a spring flower bring if it did not sleep through the winter and grow again in the sun? Waiting is an essential part of the human experience, and learning to be patient and accept the wait is an invaluable lesson to take through life beyond the Lenten season. In truth, our entire life on Earth is the long, long wait for our reunion with Christ. There is purpose to waiting, and it teaches us to value and appreciate all aspects of life, especially the things people zoom right past in their rush to get on with it. So maybe the next time you see this image on your computer screen,
you’ll just…
