Today I had the chance to go to lunch with my good friend Jared (E not G). By default we ended up at one of our standbys, Chipotle. Chipotle is one of my favorite places to eat because it doesn’t hurt the wallet and it doesn’t bite back like other phony Mexican eateries tend to do. I am always amazed at Chipotle’s ability to process humungous lines and deliver food in hand within minutes. It is the Ford assembly line of the modern-day burrito! Today, however, for the first time ever, I saw a wrench stop the Chipotle cogs. My rare craving for a steak taco just happened to coincide with the restaurant’s shortage of prepared steak. The workers began to snap at each other, and one yelled mildly at another. Wanting to keep the machine moving, I told them they could make my tacos and add the steak once a new batch was ready. They obliged, but this caused the register gal to ring me up for a wrong order. Once this was worked out I sat on the side waiting for my tacos. I waited a whole 5 minutes, becoming as agitated as the worker who lost his cool. I relaxed when I thought to myself, “Surely I will get some free chips out of this deal.” But alas, when my tacos and steak were finally united, the only thing I got was an empty “sorry for the wait.” Without wanting to come off like a jerk, I raise my eyebrows (still coming off like a jerk) and replied with an empty “ok.”
Moments later, still thinking about the chips I should have gotten, the thought passed through my head: Why do I expect everything to be instantaneous? Am I really entitled to free chips because I was disappointed by a short wait? This thought led to a sober realization: My desire to have not just my tacos, but everything instantaneously creates a tremendous amount of angst in my life.
Sadly, my impatience is all too common to a whole generation that has lived on microwave meals, high speed Internet, and super-saver two-day delivery. Not that any of these is bad in and of itself; they can be quite good (except for the microwave meals). But not knowing how to wait well is a detriment to our souls as impatience can rob us of today’s blessings.
The reality is that Scripture says that waiting with faithful endurance is good for us because it produces the character of Christ in our lives (Romans 5:4). This means that our times of waiting for prayers to be answered—or even for our tacos—can be just as precious in our understanding of who Christ is as those moments in which we receive everything we hoped for.
It is my prayer for you and me that if you find yourself waiting you find yourself at peace, not shaken by the wait, but assured that God’s timing is always absolutely perfect.
Just a thought,
Jason