Stop Waiting & Start LIVING!

“I’m not waiting for anybody, anymore! I’m going to run as fast as I can, fly as high as I can, and if you want, you can come with me! But I’m not waiting for you anymore.” ~C. Joybell C.

It seems that in the arena of love, singles are always encouraged to WAIT. Wait for God, wait for “The One” to magically appear…wait for the right timing, the right circumstances, the right season. We cling to phrases and ideas like “Good things come to those who wait” and “God always saves the best for last!” and meanwhile, we put our lives on hold and change our plans and even hop off the path God put us on and put our lives on hold “waiting” for the moment when love walks into our lives.

And in the waiting on love to walk IN, we often walk OUT on our own lives.

We delay going back to school. We hit the pause button on trying out a new career path. Or, like I have been guilty of doing, we rent apartments and postpone buying our own house and putting down roots, because we want to WAIT and buy our first home with our future husband. A future husband, who, for better or worse, might not ever arrive.

The truth is…some of us weren’t created for “I do.” Some of us were put here on this earth specifically to chart a path that’s only meant for one. Realize a destiny we can only realize alone. Do something so monumental that it requires our undivided attention. I’m not sharing this with you to depress you or discourage you or to imprison you in a cage of resentment and bitterness and sadness and fear.

I’m saying this to set you free.

There’s a story in the Bible in the book of Luke about two sisters, Mary and Martha. You’ve probably heard it before. It’s only four verses long, but it packs a lot of power. The gist of the story is this: a bunch of people were hanging out at Mary and Martha’s home one day, listening to Jesus teach. While Martha was hustling and bustling around the kitchen, playing the hostess with the mostess, Mary was sitting at Jesus’s feet, soaking in his message. Like many women, Martha got irritated by this and complained to Jesus, expecting him to admonish Mary. Instead, he admonished Martha, telling her: “You are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed – or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Though many people view this story as a cautionary tale about busyness or activism or hospitality, I like to think it was Jesus’s way of saying to women: “It’s okay to reject the stereotypical roles that society has thrust upon you. It’s okay to wish for something greater than housework and cooking and cleaning. For some of you, I have a different path, a different plan, a greater destiny.” He gave Mary permission to break from the norm and the expectations placed on her as a woman and choose a different path.

And that same permission is extended to YOU.

I’m going to suggest something radical. WHAT IF we stopped waiting for love…and started living? What if we embraced our lives as is and celebrated the path before us, whether it holds one set of footprints, or two? What if we acknowledged that we don’t have to have a significant other to lead a significant life? What if we did all the things we wanted to do with a partner…like buy a house or travel the world or even adopt a child…on our own?

WHAT IF everything we’ve ever dreamed of has been waiting for us to stop waiting?