i don’t like to wait.

Growing up I wished my life away. I couldn’t wait to get in middle school. I couldn’t wait for High School. I couldn’t wait for college. And my mom would continually say, “You are wishing your life away!”

But I just. couldn’t. wait.

Somewhere after college the waits became more difficult.

I had to wait to get married.

I had to wait 3 months to join my Army Officer husband in Germany.

I had to wait to 5 years to become pregnant due to infertility.

I had to wait 9 months to see the miracle God has formed.

I had to wait a week in the hospital with my 6 month old for a diagnosis to be rendered.

I had to wait on my children to talk, be potty trained, and walk. There was a lot of waiting.

The wait.

These days it’s even worse. I hate waiting to hear back from editors to see if what I’ve written will be published. My impatience grows when my computer slows down and my foot begins to tap as I have to wait for 60 seconds for my lunch to be heated in the microwave.

I’m not a good wait-er.

Somehow or another I’ve let the busy world creep in to my life. I feel like I have to stay connected. I suffer from FOMO — the fear of missing out! I have to answer that email back within minutes of it arriving. I feel the weight of the urgency of responding to everything. Everything! Immediately.

I’m not even good at waiting in between times that we have Taking it to the Streets. I want to be there — and now. So I stay busy preparing for it and not stopping to savor each moment. I want to be in Guatemala now and there’s still 2 more months of wait. I can’t wait to speak in Florida, but there’s still 4 more weeks of wait there. I can’t wait for my hubby’s next day off and that’s 7 days away. Wait. Wait. Wait.

“In our anxiety toward not missing out, we are losing the most meaningful moments of life.”  [Tweet]

The book.

My friend Jeff Goins just released his new book, The In-Between: Embracing the Tension Between Now and the Next Big Thing. (pssst — the audio book is my favorite In-Between media)

This read was timely for me. Feeling frazzled by the to-do’s and suffocated by the “I’ll-never-get-caught-up.” This book helped me breathe. Slow down and pause.

Check out the book trailer. It will surely grab your heart.

The breath.

My life slowed as I read Jeff’s story with heart-connecting words. I long to see time differently. In the moment, I want to see everything going on around me. I don’t want to miss a family gathering around the table or the person in need of help on the side of the road. I want to just breathe and be present. I want to slow enough to truly see and hear.

I want to let what seems urgent play second fiddle and embrace the simple.

You know, maybe life isn’t about rushing from one thing to the next, but savoring each moment as if it were my last. Taking wide-eyed note of the ordinary and mundane.

My soul shouts “YES” and with that kind of thinking I’ll take a breath.

What steals your moments? Is waiting for the next thing hard for you?

You can get The In-Between book on Amazon by clicking here.