Banana Blunder: To Wait or Not to Wait

Willing to do anything to give my daily ritual of a chocolate protein drink a shake up, I grabbed one of the new bananas next to the blender. Ok, so they were a little green at the top, but the rest of the banana was golden and ripe. Immediately after breaking off the top, I knew I was heading in the wrong direction. You know that resistance you get when you start to pull back the peel and part of it clings to the fruit? Well, I ignored that warning, threw the hard banana into the blender and hit the liquify button. I anticipated a great new taste as I watched the yummy chocolate and banana swirl.
Wow…were my taste buds in for a BIG disappointment. Yuck! It tasted chalky, a little bitter and pasty. Even after that initial swallow, I continued to gulp down my breakfast. I couldn’t quit now – I had already mixed it together. Of course, an hour later I totally regretted my decision. My stomach wanted to remove that banana! How I wished I had waited one more day for it to become ripe. One more day would have made all the difference between gross and great. Lately, it seems every where I turn I hear the words “wait” whether it is in the sermons I hear or the scriptures I read. Today, I read David’s advice on waiting, in Psalm 27:14 “Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord.”
Maybe like me, you already feel like your life has been a series of short stories of waiting. Waiting for the perfect man to give myself to (that one was probably the hardest!) Waiting for the right time to have our first baby so I wouldn’t have to work outside the home. Waiting for our children to get potty trained so that I could have more freedom. Waiting for my husband to lead our family instead of grabbing hold of the reins. While in the middle of waiting, it seems like some of my deepest dreams and desires will never come to pass or I feel that God has forgotten about them.
Now, I am starting to see life in a new light. I see that I have actually made choices to wait; to wait on the Lord and see Him do His thing in His time. This waiting has been good and led to many blessings. A marriage free of painful regrets, satisfying employment as a stay-at-home mother, more freedom than I need now that my children are all in school and a husband who is truly the head of our household. Don’t get me wrong; there have definitely been those times when I didn’t wait such as putting my son in school too early only to hold him back later in his school career. Hopefully, as I grow, I will see the true benefits of waiting for the Lord and those times of getting ahead of God will be less frequent.
Paul encourages us in Romans 8:25, “But if we hope for what we do not see, then we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.” This waiting we do in Christ is waiting with perseverance. It is waiting in faith – an expectation that God will do what He says He will do in His perfect timing. It is waiting with prayer; knowing that God truly is doing everything at the right time.
Nobody lives out perseverance like a child. “Mom, can I have a cookie?” If the response doesn’t come fast enough, the same question comes again. “Mom, can I have a cookie?” By time number three, the volume is raised and the question becomes an exclamation, “Mom, can I have a cookie!” Can you believe Jesus actually encourages this type of behavior? In Luke 11: 5 – 13, Jesus tells the parable of the friend who consults his buddy at midnight, asking for bread for a visitor. At first he is told, to go away…I’m in bed. Yet as the man persists, the friend gives him what he has asked for. His perseverance paid off.
A couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to speak at my first teen retreat at our church. After two days of teaching, I was exhilarated! I knew that I had finally found my calling. Shortly after the retreat, I had a very clear dream where I got “ahead of the game”. When I woke up in the morning, I knew that God was telling me to wait. Something was on the horizon and I needed to wait for His perfect timing in using His gifts in my life. That following summer, my husband totally changed careers. Because of this, I have been needed at home, physically and mentally, 24/7 to help everyone transition. During this time, a very dear friend of mine reminded me that in God’s kingdom NOTHING is ever wasted – including waiting.
What are you waiting for? Your husband to lead your family? A new job? A close godly friend? Like David, we can cry out to our Savior and say, “Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.” Psalm 25:4 -5 NIV
Whatever it is you are waiting for, the Lord sees and cares for you. Hang onto that “banana” and wait with perseverance one more day…it will be worth it!