The Value of Waiting

THE VALUE of WAITING

You've probably heard don't count your chickens before they're hatched. If you grew up on a farm you learned the value of that advice. But if you were a city girl, like me, you probably considered it a nice cliché.

A Chicken Coop in the Country 

A grade school friend often invited me to share her country life. One of her jobs was to collect eggs, but I wasn’t much help. I was so skittish around the hens that my friend would just laugh as she completed her chore.

Fertilized eggs can produce baby chicks if incubated for the proper amount of time at the right temperature. 

Getting anxious and disturbing the eggs to see if anything has happened might cause disappointment twice---once when checked prematurely and later, when they have failed to hatch.

Waiting is Part of Life

Brooding hens know the value of waiting as they sit on eggs which will produce offspring. 

But humans brood, too. We call it being anxious, moody or worried as we wait for something to happen.

Goals, for example, need time to hatch. Have you ever set a goal and started working toward it only to think nothing is developing, so why am I wasting my time? 

Without results in your expected time frame, you begin to think your goal no longer has value.

You might be brooding over educational or career goals. Or perhaps it’s the development of a meaningful relationship. You’ve tried to allow time for it to hatch, but it seems lifeless. 

Since there’s no time chart for human relationships, you brood over it wondering what should I do?

Doctors, Treatments, Reports to Review

I once brooded over a medical diagnosis and long-term treatment plan. As friends and family prayed for me, they would ask, “How are you doing?”

While reviewing medical reports and doctors’ comments, I asked the same question. I had hope for recovery, but my expectations were premature. 

More time was needed to produce positive results.

Giving up was not an option, so I decided to hatch good health by following the advice of the Psalmist: “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord” (Psalm 27:14).

You Are Not the Only One Waiting 

Wait was the word of the day so I took it to heart.

Farmers are not the only ones who have to wait for results. People everywhere know that fulfillment of hopes and expectations take time.

Allow yourself to learn the value of waiting.