What Are You Rushing Into?

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

One thing I take very seriously in my life is shoe shopping. I absolutely love getting a new pair of shoes, particularly when I’m buying shoes for a specific occasion or event. Around this time a few years ago, I found myself looking for a pair of basketball shoes. I had just been asked to help coach a middle school girls’ basketball team, so obviously one of my first orders of business as a coach was to get shoes I could wear to practice with the team. 

I looked online for months. I sifted through a ridiculous number of shoes, trying to decide what brand, color, and style I wanted, but I couldn’t seem to find any that I just loved.

So I texted my brother, also known as my resident basketball shoe expert, and asked for his advice. There were a few pairs I liked that I sent him pictures of, but I made it clear to him that I wasn’t overly excited about any of them. They were good, but not great. 

After looking over the shoes I sent him, my brother texted me back and said, “Kristen, with the season still being several months out, you don’t have to be in a rush to pick a pair of shoes. So I would wait and keep looking…because something could come out that you love so much more than any of these pairs and you’ll be so upset that you didn’t wait if you jump the gun now.”

I ended up writing that message in my journal because I recognized Brett’s statement was one that could apply to so many areas of my life, not just buying a pair of basketball shoes. 

Waiting is not fun, and it gets more and more difficult the longer you have to do it. When that impatience kicks in, we are so quick to jump the gun, like Brett said, and settle for a lesser version of whatever it is that we’re waiting for.

But that’s typically when regret happens, and nobody likes regret. I can tell you for a fact that if I had bought one of the pairs of shoes I originally sent to my brother, I would have regretted it because the shoes I ended up buying were so much better than anything I was initially considering. 

Friend, I don’t want you to have regrets. I don’t want you to settle because you’re tired of waiting. I know you feel the pressure to find the right job, the right guy, the right apartment, or the right friend, but don’t give up on waiting for what it is you really want.

Don’t rush into a career, a relationship, or a big decision because you’re sick of trying to be patient. Instead, keep looking. Keep praying. Keep hoping. And keep believing, for the Lord is good to those who wait for him. That’s a promise you can hold onto.