I think I'm getting worse at waiting and I don't think I'm the only one.

It doesn't matter if I'm waiting for a friend at a cafe,
waiting on the phone for customer service, or
waiting in a queue at a restaurant -
I'd rather be somewhere else, multi-tasking or distracting myself.
I can't sit or stand there... just... waiting.

We are impatient waiters.

We are frustrated waiters. 

Maybe even frustrated waiting for a distracted waiter.

And yet waiting is what Christians have been doing for the last 2000 years.

I'm learning that waiting is about looking forward and looking back.

Spend enough time in a "pho-queue" (don't say that out loud or you may get into trouble) and you know what I mean.

Recently, Mez and I headed along to Pho Hung Restaurant in Springvale (would recommend!) and joined the queue on a chilly Thursday lunchtime. As you wait in line a strange thing happens: whether you look forward or back, you can simultaneously either be encouraged or discouraged.

Looking forward you see the delicious steaming bowl of soup or how far you've still got to go.
Looking back you see the other eager diners or a reminder of what it was like to be at the back of the queue.

You can choose whether to be encouraged or discouraged.

In 2 Peter 3:14-18, Peter urges Christians to look forward to a day when righteousness dwells and be encouraged... and to look at the history of God's faithfulness and be encouraged. 

That's the best way to wait, the only true way to wait:
look forward and choose encouragement,
look back and choose encouragement. 

Don't fear the future ambiguity
or panic because of past mistakes.

Look forward with faith,
look back with boldness.

Maybe the waiting will end tomorrow.
Or maybe we'll have to learn how to wait.