Waiting or Procrastinating

Dr Seuss, author of Oh The Places You’ll Go, described a “most useless place. The Waiting Place…” In his effort to inspire students toward success, he warned that it can be hard for “a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind” about which path to take. In his wisdom, Seuss recognized that many people are just waiting for things like “the mail to come, or the rain to go…or waiting around for a Friday night…or a pot to boil, or a Better Break…or Another Chance.” A turn of the page brings an emphatic,

NO! That’s not for you!

I’ve been a fan of Dr Seuss for decades. The Foot Book was Eric’s favorite, memorized quickly so he could “read it” often. And I praise Oh The Places You’ll Go for it’s honesty about the ups and downs of life and its refuse-to-be defeated attitude. But, I think there is value in waiting if it is an expectant waiting.

Each week I wait for an idea for my blog post, often hoping to get it written early in the week, usually coming to Thursday, then Friday, occasionally Saturday, before I stop waiting and do it. I have the discipline to write weekly, but thoughts can take a while to collect. When days and hours are before me, it’s easy to go from waiting to procrastinating. Maybe I’ll write about this or that…take a walk or take a nap..make it serious,keep it light…find a title that’ll be just right…

I’m a person who loves to be productive, to get things done and not waste time. Waiting, collecting thoughts, knowing that I won’t hit Publish for a few hours – well, I’ll just do a little laundry first, check my e-mail, make a dinner plan, play my flute, do my exercises, balance the checkbook. A period of procrastination does not mean inactivity. In fact, I get a lot done while I put off the focused work of writing.

Eventually, I leave the Waiting Place, hand a half dozen half-baked thoughts over to God, and begin.

Last fall I wrote a few times about Patience, a virtuous quality that can develop as we wait, whether it be for a sunrise, for garlic to grow, or in a traffic jam. Delayed gratification has its reward.

October’s Garlic – harvested more than seven months later.

Surely Dr Seuss would agree that expectant, even active waiting is preferable to impulsive rushing ahead. I guess The Procrastinating Place wouldn’t have rolled off the tongue as easily as The Waiting Place.

I’ve been reading the account of God’s chosen people, the Israelites, being exiled in Egypt for 400 years, then being led out by Moses to the bank of the Red Sea. Generations had waited for the chance to make their home in the promised land. Then God waited for Pharaoh to release the people before showing His power through one miraculous deed after another. Now the firstborn son of each Egyptian household was dead and Pharaoh had relented, allowing the Israelites to leave, only to change his mind and pursue them with his armies. The people were afraid and angry with Moses.

The book of Exodus then describes an interesting waiting-related exchange between Moses and God. With the Red Sea in front of them and the Egyptian armies behind, Moses tells God’s people, “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.

So he did, and they did. But doesn’t it seem as though God was frustrated and a bit impatient with Moses? Perhaps being still was Moses’ preference, but God had other plans. It was time to move!

If Dr Seuss were to translate this part, he might use the words from Oh The Places You’ll Go:

Somehow you’ll escape all that waiting and staying. You’ll find the bright places where Boom Bands are playing. With banner flip-flapping, once more you’ll ride high! Ready for anything under the sky.

I had a  light bulb moment on Sunday morning when our pastor said in his sermon about God’s faithfulness, “God is never in a hurry because he’s always on time.” He hears our prayers. He knows our needs. He has a plan.When God says wait, it’s best to be still. When he says move on, it’s time to move on.

Throughout the Israelites’ forty years of wandering in the desert before entering the Promised Land, God displayed a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night to let them know when to stay and when to move. When we mind-maker-uppers need to decide, if we have faith in God, we pray for His guidance. In her song, God Help Me, Christian singer Plumb pleads,

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

Proverbs 3:5-6