Naomi Dawn Musch

     Waiting is hard. Keeping busy minds and busy hands is supposed to be the antidote to that, but that’s hard too. It’s hard to put your hand to work when your mind is telling you to just sit there, anticipating.

It doesn’t matter what you’re waiting for, it’s just difficult to switch gears, go down a different track, and submerge your energy into anything else when you are distracted by the Big Wait on the Big Thing.

     This has been my big challenge lately. Some much anticipated correspondence with an editor has me waiting like a fisherman staring at the bobber. I’m saying come on, come . . . on. . . . My eyes are so glazed from opening my email and staring at the incoming list, I’m afraid that when the bobber finally starts to wobble, I’m going to miss it. I didn’t accidently delete it, did I? Did my confirmation get lost in cyber space? Did the editor change her mind about her offer?

     Deep breath.

     All this spellbound waiting had me putting things on hold; other projects, I mean. I told myself, I’ll need another month to complete that. Wait until Spring to begin that. I’ll just wait until I hear back, and then I’ll know . . . But I’m pretty sure that’s not what God had in mind. He didn’t want me to just sit around while I waited, any more than He wants a Christian to sit around and just wait for His return. He’s put a lot of irons in my fire, and he expects me to turn them, to pull them out and brand something while this waiting continues.

     It finally occurred to me after nearly a month of waiting that maybe once I get going, once I commit myself to something that needs to get done, then maybe I’ll hear back from that editor. So, I’m trying it out. I’m taking my eyes off that one lonesome bobber and I’m going to try throwing out a few more lines.

     And if everything should start tugging at them at once, I’m sure God will show me how to get through the action. But for now, I’m going to get busy!