Breaking news: I have a cold. Ok, not exactly headline news or anything but it definitely puts a dent in the weekend. It's that time of year again. Life is once again full of pumpkins, scarecrows, and runny noses.
So imagine my annoyance when I dragged my sick self and my toddler off to Wally World for a grocery run. Necessary? Yes. Ideal? No.
I've run into a problem out here in the wild west that I was not prepared for. See, I'm learning that we are quite lucky in the south. We take our food seriously. There is literally a grocery store every few miles. Not the case here. There are 3 in this town, 4 if you count Sam's, which I don't since we live in a hotel room at the moment and don't have room for much. That being said, on a Saturday out here, you can bet your booty that you are going to wait in line for a longgggg time. 38 minutes to be exact. A little over half an hour I spent entertaining my toddler and sneezing close to my poor victims in line. Sorry ya'll.
THEN after I finally made it out of there, starvation took hold and I headed to a slow food joint. I say slow because I then continued to wait for an additional 16 minutes for my order. Needless to say when I finally got out of the car, I was ready to fight someone.
What is my point? I'm not looking for pity. Or complaining. Just pointing out some facts. How much time do we spend waiting? According to ask.com, "Of an average life, the time spent waiting at red traffic lights is two weeks. For waiting in general, you may be waiting for things for up to five years of your life total."
Just a fun fact for you. I can bet most of us find that 5 years a little on the low side. The DMV made me a doubter I guess. But honestly, most waiting is unavoidable. We have to wait for red lights, you have to wait your turn in line. You have to wait at the doctor's office in a room full of people spreading germs.
Time to make my point. We spend so much time waiting for things we can't control. There are some things that are just out of our hands. But so many more that we can control. Waiting for a call from God, waiting for the right time to make our dreams come true, waiting, waiting, waiting.
Please don't get me wrong. Waiting is oftentimes the best thing. Waiting for the right time to have a baby. Waiting for our loved one to make it home from overseas. Waiting is necessary. It is important. It shows perseverance and patience.
But if you're waiting for something that you can control, it is not going to bop you in the head and say here I am! It is not going to jump in front of you and all of sudden be possible.
One of my favorite movies is Eat. Pray. Love. Watch it if you haven't. It's long but worth the time. This is my favorite quote from the movie and it is something I come back to a lot.
"I remember an old catholic joke about a man who spent his whole life going to a church every day and prayed to the statue of a great saint begging "please, please, please, let me win the lottery." Finally the exasperated statue comes to life and looks down at the begging man and says "my son, please, please, please, buy a ticket." So now I get the joke, and I bought three tickets."
So, are you waiting for something? What are you waiting for? Dive in. Be strong. Go buy a ticket.
So imagine my annoyance when I dragged my sick self and my toddler off to Wally World for a grocery run. Necessary? Yes. Ideal? No.
I've run into a problem out here in the wild west that I was not prepared for. See, I'm learning that we are quite lucky in the south. We take our food seriously. There is literally a grocery store every few miles. Not the case here. There are 3 in this town, 4 if you count Sam's, which I don't since we live in a hotel room at the moment and don't have room for much. That being said, on a Saturday out here, you can bet your booty that you are going to wait in line for a longgggg time. 38 minutes to be exact. A little over half an hour I spent entertaining my toddler and sneezing close to my poor victims in line. Sorry ya'll.
THEN after I finally made it out of there, starvation took hold and I headed to a slow food joint. I say slow because I then continued to wait for an additional 16 minutes for my order. Needless to say when I finally got out of the car, I was ready to fight someone.
What is my point? I'm not looking for pity. Or complaining. Just pointing out some facts. How much time do we spend waiting? According to ask.com, "Of an average life, the time spent waiting at red traffic lights is two weeks. For waiting in general, you may be waiting for things for up to five years of your life total."
Just a fun fact for you. I can bet most of us find that 5 years a little on the low side. The DMV made me a doubter I guess. But honestly, most waiting is unavoidable. We have to wait for red lights, you have to wait your turn in line. You have to wait at the doctor's office in a room full of people spreading germs.
Time to make my point. We spend so much time waiting for things we can't control. There are some things that are just out of our hands. But so many more that we can control. Waiting for a call from God, waiting for the right time to make our dreams come true, waiting, waiting, waiting.
Please don't get me wrong. Waiting is oftentimes the best thing. Waiting for the right time to have a baby. Waiting for our loved one to make it home from overseas. Waiting is necessary. It is important. It shows perseverance and patience.
But if you're waiting for something that you can control, it is not going to bop you in the head and say here I am! It is not going to jump in front of you and all of sudden be possible.
One of my favorite movies is Eat. Pray. Love. Watch it if you haven't. It's long but worth the time. This is my favorite quote from the movie and it is something I come back to a lot.
"I remember an old catholic joke about a man who spent his whole life going to a church every day and prayed to the statue of a great saint begging "please, please, please, let me win the lottery." Finally the exasperated statue comes to life and looks down at the begging man and says "my son, please, please, please, buy a ticket." So now I get the joke, and I bought three tickets."
So, are you waiting for something? What are you waiting for? Dive in. Be strong. Go buy a ticket.