Don’t Grow Idle: 3 Things To Do While You Wait

Credit: Evie S. via Unsplash

I can say quite confidently that I haven’t known a time in life when I wasn’t anticipating something. Whether that be the next phase, a trip, vacation, the weekend, or the arrival of my Husband after a long day. I’ve also anticipated the birth of each of our children, the moving date to our new home state, and currently anticipate the day we buy our home… It seems I’ve always lived in some manner of eager anticipation. Anticipation can certainly be exciting, though sometimes it has rendered me quite impatient and even passive toward my present circumstances- each day spent idly waiting.

I recall the pregnancy with my second who was a full FIVE DAYS past his due date, I laugh about that now, but I recall waking up each day disappointed that labor hadn’t begun and going to bed frustrated each evening as I laid down with no signs of labor starting. I stayed close to home, I canceled plans, I fussed with baby clothes and reorganized the closet as I waited. It was almost as if my to-do list read: wait for baby. I don’t recall doing much else, until one day when I became stir-crazy and frustrated by the fact that contractions came and went with no progress. I texted my precious mother-in-law giving full vent to my frustrations and I decided I wasn’t going to sit around waiting for labor anymore! I made plans for a full day finished off with strolling target and grabbing my favorite food on the way home. Long story short, I went into labor while grabbing toothpaste at target and my baby was born a mere 3 hours later.

Even still, I’m a bit stubborn and I didn’t understand the windows of opportunity that waiting held until some years later. Another relevant example is our waiting on purchasing a small homestead. This has been a dream in my mind since shortly after the birth of that precious bundle who will soon be turning 8. Thats probably the most years I’ve ever had to wait for something once it was in my head. Turns out, having more babies, moving states, and starting a business can take some time, energy, and quite a bit of money…

It’s easy to feel stifled in the waiting. “I can’t do X until Y.” While I certainly can’t buy a bunch of chickens while renting in the suburbs, there is a lot more I can do and plenty more to learn! I’m currently learning to can and preserve food. I’ve studied herbalism for about 6 of those years, learned to sew, planted container gardens, learned to cook from scratch with and without recipes, bought a couple dogs…. You know, to keep predators away from those future chickens. ahem. - No carts before horses here, they’re too big for rentals, but I may have put the dogs before the chickens.

I digress.

We can become so caught up in this idea of “waiting” that we feel stuck somewhere in between, twiddling our thumbs or tapping our toes. The truth is, there is no idle or arbitrary season of life for the children of a sovereign and almighty God. Where we find ourselves currently, regardless of what our future holds or our dreams may be, is precisely where we are called to live fully and faithfully.

3 Things to do while waiting:

1. Remain faithful in the tasks of today.

2. Pray about the future and trust in God’s sovereignty.

3. Seek ways to learn, grow & prepare for the coming seasons.

Remain faithful in the tasks of today.

Each day we are alive is a day to be faithful to God’s call. We are being sanctified and given opportunities to learn and grow. In seasons of waiting we need to place our full trust in the Lord’s faithfulness and sovereignty. Submit your plans to the Lord while remaining faithful to where he has you right now. Elisabeth Elliot says, “Does it make sense to pray for guidance about the future if we are not obeying in the thing that lies before us today? How many momentous events in Scripture depended on one person's seemingly small act of obedience! Rest assured: Do what God tells you to do now, and, depend upon it, you will be shown what to do next.”

Pray about the future and trust God’s sovereignty.

We don’t know the number of our days, and God does not owe us to fulfill every longing or desire we have for these short lives. Our ultimate purpose in this life, as believers, is to glorify God and walk according to his word. There is no sitting around for that!

“Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” ‭‭James‬ ‭4:13-15‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Seek ways to learn & grow as you prepare.

When we are intentional with our time we are never simply waiting but also preparing. As my family waits for our hopeful future homestead we can continue identifying skills that we can hone and develop right where we are, right now. What is something you could begin learning or practicing as you wait for that next thing? Of course we prepare as we pray with open hands, heeding the wisdom of James 4 which says “Lord willing..” This active waiting becomes an act of worship.

“Does it make sense to pray for guidance about the future if we are not obeying in the thing that lies before us today?” - Elisabeth Elliot

If you find yourself in a season of waiting or anticipating the next thing, I hope these 3 things help you to guard yourself against idleness, grow in sanctification, and learn to seize the opportunities to learn & prepare. [Related: “Waiting well“]

In the waiting,

Abbey