Chaplain's Corner

The other day I was walking the corridors of the hospital as I went about my work and for some reason I noticed how many people were waiting. Some were sitting outside the Lab waiting for their number to be called for their blood work. Others were waiting in a room to see the orthopedic surgeon. Others were waiting outside hospital rooms while staff did their work or while others visitors finished up their visits. Over in the Emergency Department there is always someone waiting. Waiting to be seen, waiting for test results, waiting, waiting, waiting – always waiting.

Now this isn’t the first time that I have pondered the amount of time we spend waiting. I think we all spend a bit of time thinking about waiting, especially when we are in slow moving traffic, in a long line at the store, or on the telephone with one of those automatic answering services that chirps in every couple of minutes “Please remain on the line, you are a valued customer and we will be with you shortly” even though we have been waiting for 15 minutes.

Actually, waiting is an extremely spiritual experience and according to the Christian Scriptures is actually a character building experience. The Christian Scriptures repeatedly exhort those who love the Lord to wait patiently for him. YIKES! Not only are we to wait but we are be patient about it! Let’s spend a few minutes thinking together about why waiting is both an important activity in human relationships and why it is such an essential activity in one’s relationship with God.

Why is it important to wait patiently in our human relationships? Well, there are many reasons but let’s start with this one: waiting patiently in our human relationships reduces our own stress. Remember the last time you were waiting impatiently? As the minutes ticked on what happened? Your stress went up and up and up and up. When we get stressed out waiting we become short tempered, we lose focus completely on the other person and everything becomes about “Me”: my schedule, my importance, my rights, my inconvenience, my, my, my, my, my! I’m getting a bit stressed just thinking about this. We all know that stress is bad for our health.

Another reason why we should wait patiently in our human relationships is that waiting patiently recognized the existence, the importance and the needs of those around us. Let’s just take the clerk at a busy store as an example. Can you imagine having customer after customer come up to the till and gripe about having to wait? This is a common experience for many clerks. Just stop and think. The clerk has no control over the number of customers in the store, no control over the amount of things any one customer buys, no control over the fact that the little aging lady had a difficult time finding the money in her purse, no control over how slowly the Interact terminal was working. So why should she get the grief from every impatient waiter in the line. Put yourself in her place. Do unto others.

Another reason we should wait patiently in our human relationships is that waiting is a way to recognize that we are not the most important person in the universe. Next time you are waiting and your patience is running thin and you are getting angry try reminding yourself that you are not the most important person in the universe. Tell yourself, “I am just one of 7 billion people on earth at this moment, we all have needs and desires and schedules and no one of us is more important than the next.” Some of you might find that hard to believe, but regardless of your station in life, your financial status, your heritage, your culture, your intelligence, your good looks, or whatever; you are just one of 7 billion, no better than, no worse than, no more important than the next person.

But let’s switch gears and think for a minute about why it is important to wait patiently on God. One very important reason is that He is the most important, most powerful, most loving and just and merciful being in the universe. Who God is alone is reason enough to wait patiently for him. Let me use a lesser example to make a point. If you were a avid hockey fan and Jonathan Toews was in line in front of you at the store and he was taking his time chatting with the clerk would you give him the evil eye or say to him, “Come on buddy, get the lead out, I don’t have all day you know!” Probably not – and why – because you have respect for him as one of the best hockey players of the day. Well, doesn’t God deserve far more respect than a Jonathan Toews, or a Stephen Harper, or a Celine Dion?

Another reason we need to wait patiently for the Lord is because he is working everything out, not just for you, but for everyone and he is doing this while most of the people he is caring for are resisting his care and bucking his involvement in their lives. Can you recall the last time you were really trying to help someone and they were resisting and being difficult? Imagine that 7 billion times over. And remember, God does not run roughshod over anyone; he does not use his power to disrespect us or bully us into doing things His way. If you think it is difficult for us to wait on God, can you imagine what it must be like for God to wait for us?

Or have you ever thought of the fact that the blessings God has for you will take some time to be worked out. Sometimes we think of God as if He were a Genie in a bottle who grants wishes that instantly happen. God is no Genie who waits for us to beckon him then instantly responds to our wishes, although many of us wish He were. The work God is doing in our lives takes time, not because God lacks power and capacity, but because God is wise and He knows that there is so much more that we need from Him than simply having our requests provided. God’s highest goal for us, beyond saving us from our sins and their consequences, is that we develop character, godly character. Character development is a slow process and requires patience. As you wait on the Lord, remember what God is doing is developing your character, cooperation with Him speeds the process, and resistance only slows things down.

Waiting, who needs it? We all do, we need to learn to wait patiently for others and God just as we hope others will wait patiently for us. Working with the elderly is especially useful in learning this lesson. In my 13 years as a chaplain in a personal care home I have learned a lot about waiting both on other people and on the Lord and the lessons have been more than worth the waiting. As we move into our New Year, let’s devote ourselves to learning to wait patiently.