It's amazing how much of our lives we spend waiting. While some of it is trivial -- like waiting in the grocery line, or for someone to answer our call -- other events are more sobering. Like waiting for test results, or word that a loved one has made it safely home.  In such moments, there is no doubt about it: waiting truly can be "the worst."  And in times of difficulty, we want quick and positive solutions.

"All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy." Romans 8:22-25, Peterson's "The Message"