Most of the time, waiting sucks. And it sucks because usually, we’re waiting for something we really want: a significant other, news about a grad school application, an end to a sickness, a restored relationship, a job opportunity, and the list goes on. Our lives are filled with seasons of waiting and uncertainty.

Right now, I am in my own season of waiting. I graduate college in six weeks, and I have very few concrete plans or goals for the next stage of my life. Honestly, I expected some grand plan to have come my way by this time, but instead, I am left waiting. Ever waiting.

Because I have found myself in a prolonged season of waiting, I wonder:

What does it mean to wait faithfully?

What does true patience look like?

How long do I have to wait?

Why should I wait when I could be satisfied now?

What good does my waiting do?

I’ve learned that seasons of waiting require holding fast to God. Waiting tends to produce large amounts of stress and anxiety because you don’t know what is ahead; you don’t know if you’re going to get the thing you want. In those times, clinging onto God, who is steady and trustworthy, will produce a calm, patient spirit.

When the waiting overwhelms me, I try to repeat this verse which brings me much peace:

“The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.” Lamentations 3:25

Waiting on God produces patience and an understanding that God’s timing is far better than our own. Although it is excruciatingly hard to trust in that unknown, the pains of waiting will be alleviated when we trust in God’s timing.

I’ve also realized that waiting can actually be a beautiful thing. In periods of my life where I feel like I’m waiting, waiting, waiting, I tend to come to a clearer and fuller understanding of myself; I see the deeper inner workings of my heart. When I’m without the things I desperately want, I discover where my priorities, desires, and passions are truly hidden.

Finally, I’ve come to understand that waiting is one of the key components of the Christian life: we will always be waiting for Jesus to come again. We wait for the new heavens and the new earth. We wait for world peace. We wait for an end to sickness and death. We wait for an end to prejudice and hate. We wait for Jesus’ triumphal return where all will be made well.

Waiting sucks. But there is relief in knowing that we will not wait forever. Jesus will come again and the wait will be over.

“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Revelation 21:4