How Long?

Last week I talked about how to manage expectations and stress, how meeting your expectations makes you happy and not meeting them makes you unhappy. My expectations about the quality of my writing are pushing me to improve fairly consistently. I feel good about that. But my expectations about making a career of my writing have been battered by reality.

I’ve heard so many great encouragements over the years: Quitters never win and winners never quit. Pray like only God can do it and work like only you can do it. Keep plugging. Never give up, never surrender. (Movie quotes rock as inspiration!)

But how long will it take? When will I get there? Can I keep pluggin’ that long?

On Sunday, I heard a sermon that re-energized me to keep working hard at my chosen career. Our pastor talked about the story of the widow woman and the unjust judge. She kept pestering him to give her justice for her problem until one day he said to himself, even though I don’t care about people, I’m going to give her justice so she’ll stop bothering me. Then Jesus told the people listening to the story, if that is what an unjust judge will do for someone he doesn’t care about, imagine what God will do for you!

I’ve heard this sermon before, and every single time I hear it, I get excited all over again! Why does God make us wait? I don’t know, but I get ideas by watching the children of my friends. Two-year-old Sarah is beginning to have a good idea of what she likes and doesn’t like, what she wants and doesn’t want, but she doesn’t know the implications of getting what she wants when she wants it. She’s not allowed to run into the street, no matter what cool bird is on the other side. Sometimes she cries quite loudly about it. But other days her parents take her to the fenced-in kiddie section of the park and she’s allowed to run freely wherever she wants – inside the safety of those four walls. Seventeen-year-old Doug is not given money every time he asks for it, even though his parents could afford to say yes more often. They push him to get a summer job, save for bigger purchases, make choices like saying no to lunch out today so that he can have money for snazzy kicks tomorrow.

You can see where I’m going with this. I don’t know why God is making me wait. I have some ideas and guesses, but none of them make me feel really good about the waiting. But when I read or hear the reminder that we’re totally allowed – in fact, encouraged – to keep bugging God about our goals and dreams, I get excited! I work harder and I pray harder and I feel more like a kid waiting for Christmas. I may not understand God’s calendar – maybe I don’t realize I’m not going to get it at Christmas, but at my birthday instead – but I know that if He’s anything like a parent with a gift, He’s as excited about giving it to me as I’ll be at getting it.

I hope this gives you food for thought and encouragement to keep going. And I hope you’re feeling more like bugging God about your dreams! I have to go now. The 10-year-old in me wants to get some face time with God and reiterate why she thinks it’s important that he helps her with her dreams now.