Something great CAN come from Waiting

When was the last time you sat for 55 minutes and did nothing? I mean, really nothing. No TV, no reading, no falling asleep- just sitting still for 55 minutes. Most of the time I couldn't answer this question, I would have NO IDEA when the last time I sat that still and did nothing was..... EXCEPT for this week.

This last Saturday, I sat in my car trying to get out of a parking garage for 55 minutes. We didn't move even an inch, neither did ANY of other car around us. Time stood still; the only movement was the exhaust out of tailpipes of all the other non-moving cars.This was a very negative WAITING experience!

I participated in this madness because my family and I went to MONSTER JAM. Yah know where the Monster trucks race and smash and do stunts? It was a VERY cool show. My boys loved it, and yes I enjoyed it too! BUT you know what my favorite moment of the day was? THIS!:

You'll notice there are no monster trucks in this picture. In fact, we aren't even IN our seats. This picture was taken before the monster truck show when we were again waiting (this time in the lobby before we could get in our seats). I was holding Micah in a HUGE crowd of people, and we stood there for 25 minutes. In this waiting, Micah began playing with my hat. He thought is was HILARIOUS. He was giggling. Then he put on his hat and turned it around backwards. He was so proud of himself and this picture was the result.

Generally, we NEVER see waiting as a good thing. At the end of our Saturday night Monster jam experience, the LAST thing I wanted to do was wait in a parking garage for 55 minutes without moving. But that's just what happened. We didn't want to wait in the lobby either to sit down, BUT I would have missed out on this funny moment with my youngest son.

Sometimes when we are waiting for something we just might catch something incredible. We are currently in a TOTAL age of digital photography. People take pictures, if they don't like them, they delete them. No longer do we take pictures on our camera and THEN bring them into be processed to see what they look like. Photographers from the olden days didn't know what they got in their picture until they were processed. AND I bet every once in awhile, something amazing they didn't notice came through. Maybe a background image or a smile they didn't see. They got an incredible picture that they may have deleted in the digital age.

The point I'm trying to make is sometimes something great can come during our waiting. An incredible example of this in the Bible was Zechariah. Zechariah was a priest married to a woman named Elizabeth. One day while he was praying in the temple, Zechariah was visited by a angel. The angel told him that his wife would have a son. Zechariah has a moment of doubt with what the angel said. He was OLD, his wife was OLD, how could they have a baby? The angel again reassured Zechariah they would have a child. They would name the child John and John would prepare the way for Jesus. But NOW Zechariah would be silent...unable to speak...until the baby was born.

Imagine that waiting Zechariah went through....silent. BUT, in the waiting, something great would also happen. You see, a girl named Mary would also become pregnant too. Her child would be born after John and that child would be named Jesus.

So this Christmas season, when you find yourself waiting for something- start looking for something GREAT to happen. There could be a good reason for our waiting, so let's look for the positive in that!