Time Moves Slower When You Wait

By Ashley Wells, on October 15th, 2011

or at least it seems so…

and I’m not the only one that thinks it!

Here’s a quote from William Shakespeare,

“Time is very slow for those who wait.”

I know this to be true. It seems to be like the second hand gets stuck.

Really it’s like trying to watch water boil, it seems to take so much longer! Right?

So then, if it feels like time is moving slower…how do we get through? How do we move forward?

It seems that some days I feel like a broken record.

But, I think the way to combat this mentality is to embrace the here and now and live fully in each moment.

That’s so hard to do isn’t it?

When we’re waiting, we’re waiting for something to happen. Something to change our circumstances. Something to move us forward.

Time seems to be at a stand still when we are waiting on something to come to fruition.

However, I think of a flower blooming. It is a process. And, if you watch carefully, you can see the steps before your eyes. You can watch each step as the flower blooms.

This is part of the living in the moment. You can embrace each step of the process. You can watch for God to provide those steps along the way. You can rejoice at the progress through the process of waiting.

Take for example my waiting on children. This has been a process. We have to complete certain steps to get where we need to be.

First, we looked for a house. This took a long time! Much longer than we planned. However, when we found a house. It was a great time of rejoicing! We saw how God had provided this specific house for us! Step 1.

Then, we moved. We moved into a house that has enough room for our children! We had to do this before we could move further. Step 2.

Next, Michael took his job training. He had to take his training before he could get a new job. Step 3.

Right now, we are looking for a new job for Michael. He has had several interview but nothing yet. We are still waiting on this step. However, when God provides a new job we will rejoice and move forward! Step 4.

After Michael gets a new job, we will finish all of our paperwork and wait to be licensed. Step 5.

Finally, once we get licensed, we will wait for a placement. Step 6.

Because I have taken the time to see the steps of our process each moment, I realize that time has moved faster than it appeared. We have moved forward in our process. We are closer now than we were this past summer!

So, maybe you can think about the process. Are you waiting on the flower to bloom and missing the beautiful process? Are you missing the opportunity to praise God for each step along your journey of waiting?