In The Meantime

What are you doing in the meantime? I have had several conversations with friends and with my husband lately about living for the next big event. We tend to focus our attention towards the big stuff....the next baby...the next job...the next big birthday....the next house...the next boyfriend or girlfriend....the next success. There are many things each of us can fill in the "next" blank with.

I have been challenged to concentrate on the meantime instead of the milestones. There are verses in the Bible that encourage us "to be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10) or "to wait on the Lord" (Psalm 27:14). Those are wise words but that doesn't mean we don't have purpose or responsibilities in the meantime. There is important stuff that God does for us and with us in those meantime moments. If you look in the Bible you will see story after story of people and their choices in the meantime.

We can read about the story of Sarah who wanted a child so desperately that she filled her meantime with her own plan and got ahead of God. She tried to hurry up God's plan by allowing her husband to sleep with her slave, Hagar in order to have a baby. Sarah later dealt with the consequences of taking the meantime matters into her own hands. God had a plan to give her a baby and even with her impatience, He still blessed her with a child of her own. The disciples had to learn to fish for fish first before they could be fishers of men. Moses had to tend to his father-in-law's sheep for forty years before he could tend to the people he was going to lead to the Promise Land.

The Bible has clear direction on what we can be doing to stay busy while we wait. There are people that need to be loved and ministered to. Our prayer life can be enriched. We can heal or grow. We can teach others while we are learning ourselves. Don't feel the need to help God along. He's got it!

In retrospect, I can look back on some of my own long meantimes and see that God was preparing me, making me stronger, and teaching me to depend on Him more. God was dreaming big for me and I didn't need to spend so much of my time just focusing on my big dream. Besides, His dream was much bigger and better than any I could have ever dreamed up.

If God is taking a while, don't worry. He might be dreaming REALLY big and the extra time is needed. Find your purpose in the meantime. Learn what you are supposed to learn and enjoy it. God doesn't waste anything so focus on the really cool stuff He has for you while you wait!