Waiting. It is part of life. You know when you get to the doctor's office there is going to be a wait. You know when you arrive at an airport you will be waiting for your luggage. In Sydney one month, I kept track. During that month I spent 4 hours and 12 minutes waiting for the bus. I was lucky in that there were three bus routes that took me from my home to the church otherwise it could have been longer. It was a few minutes here, and a few minutes there but by the end of the month it all added up.
In some ways that was wasted time. I could have been home writing a sermon or making that phone call I needed to make. I could clean the house. Sometimes I made good use of the time. I would listen to a podcast or an audio book on my phone. Sometimes I would play Sudoku on my phone. Sometimes I would look at the app on my phone and laugh because it said the next bus was due in one minute and there was not a bus in sight. I could have walked home sometimes faster than taking the bus, but often it was too hot or wet, or I was too lazy. So I found myself on Military Road waiting for the 143, 144, or the 257 to get me home.
I remember once in Toronto, I was one of 9 people and a young puppy who got stuck in an elevator. We were in there 45 minutes. One woman had a panic attack. Some of us talked to try to relieve the tension. The puppy, with a very full bladder remarkably held it in all that time. When we were finally able to get out of the elevator, another woman said in disgust that she just wanted 45 minutes of her life back. Obviously she was not a patient when she had to wait.
I am not sure any of us like to wait. Some of us do it stoically. Others stamp their feet, look at their watch and sweat bullets. No matter how carefully we plan, there still comes times when we have to wait. One can grumble about it or one can accept it as part of life.
Right now, we are being asked to wait to resume our"normal" lives. COVID has changed so much. Some things are opening up a little bit. There are though heavy restrictions. We can gather in slightly larger groupings, but we need to maintain social distance. Churches could hold gatherings of up to fifteen people but there will be no coffee, no handshakes, no hugs, no singing. It would hardly be "normal." And pity poor number 16. They would not be let in the door. We as church are not good at turning away people. So we wait. We don't like it. We can think of so many other things we would like to do- meet in person, shake hands, give hugs, catch up over tea and a cookie, and so many other things. We have to wait. Blessings.
