Oh, The Places You'll Go: Mid-Week Reflection

THE REV. DAVID M. STODDART

In "Oh, The Places You’ll Go", Dr. Seuss describes a “most useless place, the Waiting Place, for people just waiting”:

“waiting for a train to go or a bus to come
Or a plane to go or the mail to come
Or the rain to go or the phone to ring
Or the snow to snow
Or waiting around for a yes or no
Or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.”

And he is right about one thing: everyone is waiting. I talk with people all the time who are waiting for test results to come in and conflicts to be resolved, for circumstances to improve or retirement to come. And all too often our waiting feels useless, something we must passively endure.

But speaking as someone who does not especially enjoy waiting, I have come to appreciate its genuine spiritual benefits. Despite the fast-paced, fast food, fast action nature of our popular culture, most of life really is a slow unfolding. Nothing truly worthwhile comes quickly. We can’t make ourselves grow up fast, nor can we master the skills needed to play an instrument or maintain a marriage overnight. Maybe there is something salubrious about waiting, something that opens us up to richer, fuller life.

Certainly we worship a God who is not in a hurry. In the poetic language of Genesis, God creates the world over seven days—not instantly. That same God has been acting in and through the events of human history for ages. Indeed, of all people, Christians should most embrace and appreciate the process of evolution. God is at work in our world and in our individual lives to do something marvelous. Why rush it? If it takes twelve years to make an excellent Scotch, it may take a lifetime or eternity for us to become all that God intends. And we cannot even fully imagine what that will be like. But we know it will be awesome beyond our imagining. And we know God is moving even now to make it happen. If we consent to it, we are already being transformed.

Wait for it.