Psalms 62:1
Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him.
Ecclesiastes 6:9
Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don’t have. Just dreaming about nice things is meaningless- like chasing the wind.
At sixteen I find myself waiting, longing, and dreaming quite often. I dream of finishing high school. I dream of moving and going to college. I dream of getting a professional job. I dream of getting married and having my own family one day. I know that many teenagers share similar dreams. The next ten years will be full of change. I’ve been thinking about waiting and dreaming lately. Through thinking, praying, and reading the Bible, I’ve learned a lot about waiting. I think dreams are great, it’s important to have dreams and goals for our lives. However, dreams can hold us back from living our life in the present. When I think about my future all the time, I miss out on the great things happening in my life right now. When I was younger, like many other little girls, I dreamed of being a teenager. Now I’m living it, but far too often I’m too busy dreaming about the next step in my life. If we’re not careful, life just becomes waiting. We wait, we long, but we don’t live. But life is about living in the waiting. God has a plan for us, and his plan isn’t for us to sit around and wait for it our whole life. It’s about embracing today while we look forward to tomorrow. After all, we’re never promised tomorrow, we have to use everyday God gives us for Him. God wants us to quit waiting until we’re older, until we have more money, until we get married, until we graduate college, etc. and seek him right now, just as we are. We find our satisfaction in God, not in our future. Waiting is learning to be content in God, regardless of what the future holds. It’s about surrender to our own hopes and dreams, and complete trust in God’s plan. I find myself elevating my vision for my life above God’s vision for my life, but waiting is about putting God’s plan above our own plan. Ecclesiastes 6:9 hits me hard; desiring what we don’t have is like chasing the wind. Ouch! When I desire the future, that’s what I’m doing, desiring what I don’t have. Instead, we’re called to enjoy what we DO have, to enjoy the present. I want to wait quietly before God, and find my hope in him. I hope to live my life in the waiting.