Worth the Wait

"For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother's womb. 

I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful,

I know that full well." 

Psalm 139:13-14

The past couple days were a waiting game. Five days past her due date our daughter was in labor in an Austrian hospital. She and I texted back and forth numerous times that evening and throughout the night. Sleep eluded me. I wanted to be awake to hear that next text notification. In my morning meeting the phone in my hand never vibrated with the news I was anticipating. Throughout the day I couldn't concentrate on much, except the fact that my baby was working so hard to bring her baby into the world. Hours of labor, difficulty with the epidural ... nothing came easy. I wanted to be there. Midafternoon I sent her this text, "She will be so worth it." Then for the next five looooong hours we heard nothing.

And then - "Like cold water to a weary soul" came "good news from a distant land." (Proverbs 25:25) We got a text from the proud father, accompanied by a photo and video clip of mama and baby. As mama snuggled her newborn daughter, her words were, "She is so beautiful."

Worth it? You bet.

I got to thinking. How many periods of waiting do we go through in our lifetime? In most cases I want to take a short-cut, to speed up the process, to reach the goal faster.  We read that "God's works are wonderful," and most often 'wonderful' takes time.

He makes everything beautiful in His time. (Ecclesiastes 3:11)