Do you remember when restaurant servers used to be called “waiters” & “waitresses”? I do. There wasn’t anything really wrong with those original terms...society has just moved toward more gender-neutral phrases in recent years. English can be a funny language. A server best not be confused with ser-vant. I am a woman of color, but please don’t call me “colored”. Yet there’s something special about that old word... “waiter”..........
The title actually sounds like the job...to “wait” on tables, so to speak. When someone hears the phrase of waiting “on” someone at a restaurant...we start picturing a person with a white cloth draped over their arms, smiling at us and checking in periodically to ask questions like “Can I get you anything?”...”Is everything ok?” ... “Is there anything you need?” That’s what it can mean to “wait” on someone. Then there’s the other “wait”. This is the one that feels like a dis. It’s the one when you’re all dressed, ready to go...but someone you need to leave with just isn’t ready yet, so you have to wait. There’s also the classic waiting that happens with city rush-hour traffic...your car is going nowhere, so...you have to wait. Then there’s the time when you just drank one too many cups of tea, it’s time to find the nearest restroom...you’ve found it but, the door’s locked...someone else beat you to it; so, you have to wait. Finally, there’s the classic “Waiting Room”. Think of the busy Doctor’s office. Your appointment was for 3:45. You took off early from work for this appointment. You had to wait 6 months to get this appointment. You came early, just in case they could see you early...but the doctor’s not ready to see you. You have to wait.
One kind of waiting seems to be done with a smile— almost like I “get to” wait on you! The other kind of waiting feels like a drag— more like, “I HAVE to wait on you...ugh.” Waiting. What kind of “wait-er” are you?
Are you the one who finds yourself keeping busy, trying to distract yourself from something you dare not say aloud, but actually thinking...I think God might be dissing me right now...He put me in the waiting room...the room in the corner for the Christian delinquents...I’m not sure why God did that to me...but surely He still loves me, right? Well, are you angry about it? Are you going the route of sad? The act of waiting can bring out some uncomfortable feelings inside we may not have realized were there...what is coming out of you as you wait? Personally, I’m not super fond of waiting. In fact, I’m pretty bad at it. I guess you could say I would rather be the wait-ee than the wait-er. I find waiting...annoying. I’m a teacher...I work with little kids...yet probably the #1 classic phrase out of a teacher’s mouth, at school, is: “I’m WAITING!” And usually this isn’t said with a smile. The implication is...you...little child...are holding up this train here...and we don’t “deserve” this...so STOP it! It’s a negative vibe, all the way. I guess it’s the reason I’m usually running late....key word: running. I’m more used to being busy, on my way to something in a hurry, than sitting around waiting. I don’t usually arrive late to appointments; but I cut it close too often. It has become an addictive adrenaline rush...one I’m not proud of...but it, at least in my psyche, beats getting there early and then having to just...wait.
"I remember feeling like everyone else was being called out of the waiting room, but not me. I felt the “weight of the wait” strongest when I desired to become a mother...it hadn’t happened for five years."
Never mind all the good things that can happen when we aren’t in a rush. Never mind the meaningful conversations that take place with others when we aren’t in a rush. Never mind the things we notice, or remember, that we would otherwise have missed, if we just hadn’t been in such a rush. None of it seems to come to mind...it’s as if the act of waiting is just too difficult for any of that to matter; but, is this the best way to view waiting? What does God say about it?
Isaiah 40:31 says “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” (KJV)
Years ago, a dear church sister pointed out to me that most of us tend to read that verse as “waiting” - in terms of being patient as we wait for God to do something for us...to which I said, “Yup...that’s how I read it.” Then she challenged me to look at the word “wait” another way. She asked, what if we considered the word “wait” to actually mean being like a waiter in a restaurant...but for God? I was like...wait, what? (No pun intended :). She said...think about it...if we were to “wait on God”...as if tending to His needs, asking what He wants, seeing if there’s anything we could do for Him...would He not, in turn...give us more strength, as we wait on Him? Maybe it’s not even a matter of reading the verse to mean one type of waiting over another...but more about it having both meanings—waiting patiently for Him to act; but in the meantime, also waiting on whatever He would want to use us for, to bless His people? Someone may be thinking...God doesn’t need anything. That’s true...and not true, at the same time. Our God loves us so much that He identifies with us through Jesus. He knows intimately how we feel on the inside, and when we hurt, He feels it too. Remember the parable about the sheep and the goats, in Matthew 25:31-40? Jesus said He was hungry, He was sick, He was a stranger, He was in prison...for as we’ve done good to the least among us, we’ve done good unto Him. Are you truly “waiting on” God?
That question convicted me. I realized I was, in some ways, trying to “wait well” but every now and then, I would get side-tracked by focusing more on what I wanted. It was quite a struggle, learning to wait well...it still is...but I felt it most in my life at times when I wanted to find a good job offer, get married, have a baby. I remember feeling like everyone else was being called out of the waiting room, but not me. I felt the “weight of the wait” strongest when I desired to become a mother...it hadn’t happened for five years. My medical diagnosis was “Unexplained Infertility.” That’s when God spoke to my heart...in many ways— but one of my favorite times was when He talked to me in terms I could really connect with...CUPCAKES!
He gave me a vision of a very familiar scene...Classroom Birthday Parties. You see, as a school teacher of young students, there would often (years ago pre-Covid) come those times when a family would send in cupcakes for a child’s birthday. Sometimes there would be assorted icing flavors...with little themed figurines poking out the tops of the cupcakes. I would call out to the kids like a paperboy from the 1940’s... “Ok so I’ve got 12 chocolates with Spiderman, 10 vanillas with Mickey Mouse and only 5 strawberries with Wonder-woman alright? So let me know what you want when I get to your table.” All the excited kids would start telling me their orders as I came around...”I want this”...”I want that”...etc. and all the way across the room, there was this little girl, who always did what I asked in class, always helpful to others, just a sweet, humble pleasure...sitting at her table. No, it’s not her birthday, she’s just a classmate to the one(s) getting all the attention...but I, the cupcake-giver...can see her. I mouth to her “I’ve got one for you!” I see her trying to keep calm and smile back at me as the cupcake count dwindles away. I happen to know very well that she LOVES Wonder Woman and that strawberry is her absolute favorite flavor...but oh so quickly, one by one, the rare cupcake flavor seems to be disappearing before I reach her table. I finally arrive and notice her smiling but with eyes looking concerned, as another child, the one right before her, asks for the last strawberry Wonder-woman cupcake...which I hand over. I see the girl’s eyes brimming...as she asks...Do you have any cupcakes left? That’s when I proudly hand her my TRUE last cupcake... strawberry Wonder Woman, and she is so grateful. She thanks me and says she thought they were all given away. That’s when I tell her...I knew you were waiting for your favorite, so I hid this one, just for you. It’s mine, and now it’s yours.
God showed me that He was like that Cupcake giver...the girl in the vision waiting for her dream cupcake, was me...and my loving Father God had already reserved the one gift just for me, before I even had to ask. The delay did not mean denial.
My pastor used to say... “special orders take time”. In the end, I am glad they do. Special orders are the best. Don’t fret in the waiting room. God isn’t “dissing” you. You’re not being punished. We have all done wrong in our lives, none of us can make the case that we deserve any of God’s blessings. What we actually deserve is Hell...but by His Grace, we aren’t there. Appeal to God for the thing you are praying for, on the basis of His generous love...not on our merit. Know that as long as the desire remains, and as you bring it to Him in prayer, you grow closer to Him in the Waiting Room. Also remember, He’s taking special care with what He has for you. In the mean time, why not get busy “waiting” on Him?
Happy Healing!
Love,
Hey Honey! Are you struggling with Waiting on the Lord for anything? Would you like prayer or support through your trying time? Check out the Healed Honey Prayer page here or Visit the HH Instagram page or email me at HealedHoney@gmail.com
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