09/03/2026
Waiting. We are not very good at it anymore. In our culture, immediacy is highly valued. We no longer have to wait in line at the bank or even at stores. Banking and shopping can be done online with a few clicks on a keyboard. With AI, we have answers to just about every question at a speed that is frankly hard to believe. In so many ways, advances in technology have reduced the time we spend waiting.
The future comes at us faster and faster! So, when we feel stuck in our personal lives, we have less practice at being patient with the ‘in-between’ time. We become anxious when our circumstances do not change quickly. We push ahead. We hurry through. We try to bypass the in-between. We tend to rush to determine the outcome for ourselves. However, the beauty and mystery of the in-between time is in how God is present and working in us even when the destination isn't clear. In our need for constant forward motion, for timely resolutions, we fail to understand the value of the in-between time for recovery, learning, and development. We tend to view the in-between as a problem to be solved, while God may view it as a place where we are being formed.
Often, we may not understand the mysterious workings of God or where the future leads—at least not as quickly as we would like! But trust in this—God is at work in the in-between. Our focus should not be on how quickly we move forward, but on what God may be doing in our lives during the in-between. As the Lord asks in Isaiah 43:19, “Do you not perceive it?”
Image only AI generated
