Daring To Wait Series

DARING TO WAIT

An American police officer was waiting on the side of the highway to catch speeding drivers. Just then a car came past puttering along at 22 MPH. He thinks to himself, “This driver is going dangerously slow.” So, he turns on his lights and pulls the driver over. Approaching the car, he notices that there are five old ladies -- two in the front seat and three in the back. The ladies are staring wide-eyed and motion-less. The driver, obviously confused, says to him, “Officer, what seems to be the problem? I was doing exactly the speed limit!?” The officer replies, “Excuse me ma’am but you were driving too slow. Do you know that driving slower than the speed limit can also be a danger to other drivers?” “Slower than the speed limit? No sir, I was doing the speed limit - exactly 22 miles an hour!” the old woman said proudly. The officer, trying to contain a chuckle explains to her that ‘22’ sign she saw was the highway number, the speed limit was 60. A bit embarrassed, the woman thanked the officer for pointing out her error. "But before I let you go, ma’am, I have to ask, is everyone in this car okay? These women seem awfully shaken and they haven’t muttered a single peep this whole time." "Oh, they’ll be all right in a minute officer. We just got off Highway 119."

Maybe you have felt like those women. Sometimes life is flying by at such a hectic pace you can hardly cope, other times it seems like you are just crawling along and everything and everyone is passing by you. Today we are continuing in our series Daring Faith. Today I want to talk about Daring to Wait.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-11 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: 2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, 3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, 4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, 5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, 6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, 7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, 8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace... 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

If you are like me, there are few things in life that make us more irritated than having to wait. Waiting in traffic. Waiting in a waiting room. Waiting in line at Walmart. Waiting... We don’t like waiting. Technology has made us much more accustomed to things fast. It has actually made us more impatient. What we need to understand is that waiting is an important part of life. It is an important part of character development and maturity. There are some things we only learn by waiting.

During the 1960s, psychologist Walter Mischel conducted what became known as "the marshmallow test" with four-year-olds in the preschool at Stanford University. The object of the exercise was to assess each preschooler’s ability to delay gratification. Each child was given one marshmallow. They were told that they could eat it immediately or, if they waited until the researcher returned in 20 minutes, they could have an additional two marshmallows. Some kids in the group just couldn’t wait. They gobbled down the marshmallow immediately. The rest struggled hard to resist eating it. They covered their eyes, talked to themselves, sang, played games, even tried to go to sleep. The preschoolers who were able to wait were rewarded with two additional marshmallows when the researcher returned.

Twelve to fourteen years later the same kids were re-evaluated. The differences were astonishing. Those who had been able to control their impulses and delay gratification as four-year-olds were more effective socially and personally as teenagers. They had higher levels of self esteem and self-confidence. They were more trustworthy and were able to deal better with stress. Remarkably, even their grades were better. What the research shows from this study is that a key difference between successful people and those who struggle to get by is self-discipline. It is their ability to wait.

Immature child do not know the difference between “no” and “not yet.” They see delay always as a negative. The problem is that we sometimes grow older without growing up. The inability to wait is the cause of so many problems in our lives. Our inability to delay gratification is the cause of all debt. It is the cause of many social problems. The inability to delay sexual gratification until marriage if the source of so much brokenness in our world today.