Can’t Wait!

We can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit. Romans 5:5 from The Message

We could probably never count all the times in our lives that we have uttered the words, I can’t wait. It ususally starts in childhood when we get so excited about everything from “I can’t wait til Daddy gets home, to I can’t wait to start school, to I can’t wait for Christmas.” As we grow and mature, we still use these words, but in different circumstances. For example, “I can’t wait to get my driver’s license, I can’t wait to graduate from high school, I can’t wait to get a job, I can’t wait to get married.”

In every instance, the words, I can’t wait exemplify the hope that we hold for the future that things will happen in accordance with the order we expect. We have faith that God will so order our lives that the expectation and excitment we can’t wait for will come to pass. Sometimes, we can’t wait to pass along this feeling of excitement and affirmation.

The story is told of a city which had a hospital teacher program to visit and tutor children who were ill and behind in school. This visiting teacher got the name of the child she would tutor, and she spoke with the classroom teacher who asked her to help the child with nours and adverbs. Nobody told the teacher that the young boy had been badly burned and was in great pain. When she met him, she stammered, “I’ve been sent by your teacher to help you with nouns and adverbs. I can’t wait to work with you!”

The next day, a nurse from the hospital called the teacher and asked, “What did you do to that boy? Ever since your visit, his whole attitude has changed. He is fighting back, responding to treatment, and it’s as though he’s decided to live.” Two weeks later when the boy was asked what changed, he said “I just figured they wouldn’t send a teacher who can’t wait to work on nouns and adverbs with a dying boy, would they?” Hope and expectation! I can’t wait!

Sometimes, we use I can’t wait to deal with hard situations that have happened to us, and express the hope and faith that God is true to His promises for us. We find ourselves uttering the words, I can’t wait until my joints are well again, or I can’t wait until someone finds a cure for cancer, I can’t wait until this surgery is over, I can’t wait for the world to be kinder to each other, or I can’t wait until my child comes home for a visit. We hold out hope even in the most dire circumstances because we know that there’s not enough containers to hold everythiing that God has poured into our lives.

Fifty two years ago on our wedding day, I remember saying, I can’t wait to marry Randy and start our lives together. My Daddy didn’t offer much hope when he walked me down the aisle saying, “Sugar, you don’t have to marry this man!!” I did find myself saying over the years, I can’t wait to begin teaching, I can’t wait until Randy gets out of seminary, then, I can’t wait to move out of this parsonage, or I can’t wait to move closer to a town, even, I can’t wait until we get air conditioining. In spite of the I can’t waits, the rewards have been so much greater than the inconveniences. There are so many extraordinary memories of our fifty two years thus far, and I still find myself saying, “I can’t wait to see what God does next!

We are to have hope because as we survive our earthly experiences, we notice the work of God in our lives acting as assurances of the promises to come. We feel the excitement of the blessings that God pours into our lives. We all have reason to be of the I can’t wait mindset because God has nothing to prove to us. He has no reason to lie or exaggerate. It’s easy to lose sight of hope in our daily experiences especially when we see the injustice all around us, but if we dwell on that, we lose our ability to see the blessings!

Hope is much like the little league baseball player who was sitting in the dugout when a man approached. The man asked the boy what the score was, and the boy replied, “18-0, we are behind.” “Boy,” the man said, “I bet you are discouraged.” “Why should I be discouraged?” asked the boy. “We haven’t gotten up to bat yet!”

Hope in God is realizing that He hasn’t gotten up to bat yet in this world. There’s no need for us to get discouraged because His turn is coming. I can’t wait.