Love a Little Stronger, Dig a Little Deeper

My last post was about waiting and how hard it is for me to do so. I have been asking the question "what do I do while I am waiting?" I get it I am supposed to wait, but I don't think I can do nothing. I have to be doing something and not because I think I need to work to gain the favor of God. I have written about my struggles rather adventures with dealing with life through and ADHD perspective.
So the answer that I have been getting for this question has been to invest in the people immediately surrounding you. It sounded so cliche when I first heard it, but over the past week, it became so evident why it is so important to invest in other people.

Not to change topics, but how many times have you thought "well people just don't understand me"? I know I have thought this many times without taking the time to realize that I was making it a priority to get to know the people around me and try to understand them.

Several conversations recently made me think more on this topic. I had remarked to someone that a particular person was just "sooo quiet!" They were roommates with the person and they looked at me strangely and said that they most definitely were not quiet and that I just needed to get to know them better. Then I thought about myself and how I was nearly the opposite. When I am in large groups and highly stimulating environments like football games or modern worship services, I get really excited and talkative. I mean really excitable. All of the noise, people, and movement is just energy to be absorbed and I feed off of it. Thus, this is the perception that most of my friends hold of me. I say that I am the opposite because when I am in a more one on one environment that is not so distracting, I am way calmer and quieter. Don't get me wrong, I am no introvert. However, it is a big difference from the bouncing ball of energy that exists in huge groups of people. But you would have to get to know me well and one on one to know that.

So, what am I missing in others by not investing in them in a more personal way. Why do I just make judgments right away and decide whether or not we'd be friends or not?

I also thought about the personality tests people can take to learn more about themselves - specifically that Myers Briggs one. I remember my test results: ESFJ. You can Google it to learn more about me and even find what yours might be. However, I warn you that not every sentence is a perfect truth. While I think in general it has many truths that I never would have thought about myself but are very explanatory, there are some things in the description that are flat wrong. It suggested that I would not like to travel which couldn't be further from the truth. I love to travel and am constantly looking for my next trip. The more interesting one in the description I looked up was the outright statement that people of my result would be very masculine if they were a man or very feminine if they were a woman. Interesting, I thought. Outside of my love for the color pink and cooking, I don't think I could be categorized as VERY feminine. I love to shoot guns and blow things up. I vastly prefer action movies over romantic ones. I do manual labor for my job. I am an agriculture major. I rarely cry; I just don't. All of these things while I do not believe are wrong for a woman to possess just do not fit what is considered in our society to be "feminine."
I say all that to prove the point that even personality tests cannot accurately pin down who a person is. You have to discover that in a person to person manner. You have to invest in them personally. It takes time and effort. So I challenge you to love a little stronger, dig a little deeper. You never know what amazing friends and life partners you might unearth.

The Longer The Waiting

I have grown up in a family of fast paced, high achieving people. We are always on the go, always doing something. Idleness is not a word used in describing a Spaid. We rarely go on vacation and when we do it is not your typical chilling on the beach, catching some rays vacation. They are going to be packed and planned out full of things to do and things to see. I know no other way of life. I remember telling someone, "as long as I don't have two things scheduled at the same time, we're good and sometimes that is okay too." 

This morning at church we were studying Joshua 8. (We have been going through the book of Joshua.) You might not know the story that is in Joshua 8, so here is a really quick synopsis. Joshua and the Israelites have just had a military setback because of Achan stealing some stuff that he was supposed to destroy. God then rectifies that whole situation and helps the Israelites take down the city of Ai. However, God gives them specific instructions to follow. We read through the first couple of verses before Pastor Rob stops with his first point. 

"What God has for you IS worth the wait." 

I dropped my pen. I was thinking, "Really God?" You see, God has been pounding in my head for quite some time now that I should wait. I have no idea what I am waiting on but He lets me know when I am rushing ahead without Him. But, Man Oh Man! It is hard to wait! The hardest part is not even knowing when and what I am waiting on. 
In our society with its pressure to perform, perform, perform, is so hard to be that rock in the river saying this is where I am supposed to be for the time being. 

Literally every person I have talked to lately about spiritual things has brought up how I should just wait in some way or another: friends, BCM messages, sermons at church, and even random flippings in my Bible have landed on passages about waiting. 

So I am waiting on something. It is going to be worth the wait. My God will deliver.