Just Wait.

“190 minute wait.”

My family and I wondered if waiting in line for 3 hours would really be worth a 12 minute experience.

(Spoiler: it totally was.)

No one likes waiting. It’s a part of being human. In fact, I’m sure that right next to the definition of human it says, “impatient.” That’s okay sometimes. If we weren’t a little impatient we would never have enough motivation to get anything done. However, it’s not okay when we become so impatient we won’t even sit down for 190 minutes for a super awesome ride.

This weekend my mom bought me a plane ticket home for a long weekend celebration. It was my brothers birthday on the 15th, he had just graduated from Advanced Individual Training in the army and I hadn’t seen him in 15 weeks and the rest of my family in almost 8. I’m very fortunate to have such a close knit family, but it makes it being away for so long pretty hard. We deserved this.

I got off the plane in Orlando, Florida and we drove to our hotel where we would wake up 6 hours later to go experience Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

When we got to the park it started out pretty slow. Their newest attraction “Pandora” from the movie Avatar was closed. That was what we were most excited for, so we weren’t really sure what to do. We decided to enjoy the rest of the park in hopes it would open soon and we could get a good spot in line. We enjoyed things like, Finding Nemo: The Musical, The Lion King Experience, Mount Everest, African Safari, a dinosaur ride and I met Tarzan. So, it was

a pretty awesome day, but by this point we were pooped. However, we wanted to check if Pandora was opnskwslfen and sure enough, it was.

We braced ourselves for the 3 hour wait…in the rain.

At first it was pretty miserable. Although, as time went on it got more fun. We met some people behind us from Argentina, I had great conversations with my family and the props to get you hyped up for the ride were some of the coolest I had ever seen.

It really wasn’t as bad as you think, but by the time we go there we were ready.

IT. WAS. INCREDIBLE.

Pandora was the most fascinating ride I’d ever been on and I’m so glad I waited, even if it was 3 hours. I’ve traveled to a lot of places and I’ve experienced a lot of cool stuff, but if I never do anything again, it’ll be okay. It’s something I’ll remember forever and we spoke fondly of it all weekend.

Later, as the excitement died down, I had a revelation. We seem to approach life in a very similar way. If we want something we will almost always never go after it, if it requires waiting.

We jump into relationships to fill the gaping hole the last one left, or we buy a house that we don’t really love cause waiting for the perfect one to be built is inconvenient. We’ll sacrifice a good latte that we deserve, for a crappy one because the line is too long.

In all these circumstances there are two fundamental things they have in common.

One, they all take the easy way out. Ironically, they never end up being easy. And two, in all these situations, if we would just take the time to wait, our outcome will almost always be better.

Waiting is uncomfortable and sometimes, it’s even painful. However, there is something beautiful that happens when we wait. When waiting we are able to reflect, to savor, to enjoy. Waiting in the line for the Pandora ride was arguably the best part of the whole experience. I reflected on my day, I savored time with my family and I enjoyed the the whole experience. Not only that, but I was able to appreciate the ride more because I waited. If I had been able to just jump on the ride, I would’ve been over it in two seconds and ready for the next thing. But, the anticipation left me wanting more. I’d wait in that line a hundred more times.

I’d argue that waiting makes it better. Waiting makes us better In a season where all I do is wait, I’ve noticed that I am more present and thankful. The process is hard and slow but it is so worth it.  

So, wait the 3 hours in the line to ride Pandora. Get to know that person better. Deal with the pain of waiting and trust the process, because there is always a reason for it. Be thankful for the season you’re going through because what’s on the other side is more amazing than you could ever imagine.

Ephesians 3:20-21

Photos taken by Daniel Rose (Instagram: @1ofthe5)