Growth through waiting

I have recently planted potatoes in my garden. Now that I have a gardener to help with the mowing and weeding on a regular basis and can actually see the soil on the borders, I have been able to plant the seed potatoes given to me by a friend a few weeks ago. Yesterday I noticed to my excitement that green shoots have sprouted: something is definitely going on underneath the soil! They are, however, not going to be ready for a little while, and I am going to have to wait to unearth them and enjoy (hopefully!) the product of the planting, cultivating and waiting, however much I would like them to be ready to eat now. They need time, and I need patience!

Waiting for the potatoes to be ready to eat; waiting in a queue at the shops; waiting for the holidays when you can finally have a bit of a break; waiting for a change in circumstances or situation. How good are you at waiting? It could be said that waiting in the queue at the supermarket is a great deal easier than waiting for, say, a change that would seemingly have a much larger impact on our lives or the lives of others.

Waiting may not be that difficult, or it may be very challenging, or somewhere in-between. Whatever one is waiting for, the waiting itself can either be a positive, exciting, challenging or frustrating experience, or a mixture of some or all of these. The extent to which one might feel these different effects may depend upon many factors, such as how long one might have to wait, the extent to which one can influence the waiting, and the difference that not waiting anymore will make to life.

And perhaps, most importantly, the attitude with which we approach the waiting will affect our experience of it the most.

Waiting for something that we would like to happen, particularly if we have little idea of when it might, can be very difficult, and it is easy to focus on the frustrations and challenges of this. However, some waiting can involve an important time of transition and preparation, and a time of opportunity for growth, even if this is difficult to see at the time.

At the moment, I am waiting for something; I am waiting to go back to interviews for selection to ordained ministry. When I was first told that I would need to wait for at least two years to do this after my last series of interviews, I felt disappointed and frustrated. As time has gone on, however, I can see how much this time of waiting has presented an opportunity for time for me to grow and develop.

I have recently subscribed to “Reflections”, a series of daily reflections on a Bible reading written by various individuals. Earlier this year, Martyn Percy wrote some thought-provoking passages about how we might understand the process of waiting. He writes, "wait for God’s good time. Try and see history and destiny through God’s eyes, not ours….We have to wait for God’s goodness and completeness to gestate; for he surely feeds us even when we struggle to see the manna in his hand."

We can learn much about ourselves during times of waiting, and it can be a time to be fed and nurtured so that we can grow in the best way possible. And when the waiting appears to be over, we continue to be fed and nurtured by God so that we are constantly growing to become the people that He wants us to be.