The waiting room, by Nicki Copeland

My family was recently picked up by Test and Trace as having been in contact with COVID-19, so we had to self-isolate for two weeks. Being at home and unable to go out didn’t feel particularly strange – I guess we’d got used to it after so many months. What did feel strange, though, was waiting to see whether any of us would come down with the virus.

Waiting. It’s not always an easy thing to do, is it? Yet life calls us to wait for so many things – big things, little things, and mid-sized things. We wait for public transport, or wait in the doctor’s or hospital waiting room for our appointment. We wait for test or exam results. We wait for special days – weddings, birthdays, anniversaries.

Sometimes we wait in joyful anticipation – such as for a wedding or other celebration. At other times we wait in fear or anxiety – did I pass or fail the exam? What will the result of the blood test be? How did I do in the interview; did I get the job?

Waiting is part of the writer’s life, too. Waiting for inspiration. Waiting for time in our diary when we can put pen to paper, in the midst of the busyness of so many other commitments. Waiting for our beta readers to feed back. Waiting to hear back from publishers or other publications to whom we’ve submitted our manuscript or article.

The question I want to ask this morning, is what do we do in the waiting? How do we use the time? Do we hand it over to God and wait patiently for the answer, or do we pace up and down the waiting room, willing the time to pass?

I have to confess, I’m not always a patient waiter. I can sometimes be a bit like Abraham and Sarah, wanting to take matters into my own hands and make things happen more quickly.

But there are lessons to be learned in the waiting. Many biblical characters waited a long time before they realised their ultimate calling. Abraham and Sarah waiting nearly 25 years for Isaac. Moses waited 40 years in the desert. Joseph waited 13 years in slavery and in prison. And God used that time to hone their characters, to teach them valuable lessons and skills they would need, and – most importantly – to teach them to trust Him.

I guess we’re all waiting for something at the moment – the end of the pandemic and for life to go back to ‘normal’, as well as all sorts of other things. How are we using the waiting time? Are we stamping our feet in impatience, or are we asking God what He might want us to teach us?

Nicki Copeland is a freelance writer, speaker, copy editor and proofreader – and loves anything to do with words. She is the author of Losing the Fig Leaf and Less than Ordinary? She is also responsible for the day-to-day running of Instant Apostle publishers. When she has the luxury of some free time, she can invariably be found with a book in one hand and some chocolate in the other.