Instant gratification......

I have been thinking this past week about the many uncertainties in my life as well as so many others around me and how as humans we really hate this concept. We have quickly become a society of instant gratification. We walk up to a vending machine hungry for a tasty snack and expect to put our money in and have our treat fall quickly to the bottom of the machine into our grasp within seconds. But what if when we go to the vending machine, we put our money in the slot and then that metal corcsrew looking things turns only slightly causing our candy bar to get stuck? We all know exactly what happens but only some are willing to admit this i'm sure but we instantly become upset and start banging and shaking the machine because we are so bent out of shape that we can't have what we want now. I mean sure we put something into that machine and so we expect results right now!!!!!!!!!!

Think of all the things that we now have which gives us what we want when we want it. E-mail is the first thing that comes to mind, its so much faster than what we now call snail mail. We can get on the internet send an e-mail and within a matter of minutes receive a reply. Texting is also a new contributor to our instant gratification society. Instead of taking the time to call or e-mail we text. Some people like it because they can even text while driving so that not a minute is wasted out of their days, they can text and do other things all at once and get the information they need from another person right now. We also have drive thrus, we not only have food drive thrus we now have pharmacy drive thrus, car washes and who knows what else is to come. I often find myself laughing at the commercial where the woman pulls up to the drive through and has her eyes screened...i wouldn’t seriously doubt it if we didn’t have drive through optometrist someday the rate our world is going. Back to food drive thrus, i think its amazing you can call your order into a restaurant and they will bring it out to your car so that you can have a full course meal for your entire family within minutes. We now have microwave rice-a roni which only takes 15 minutes to make on the stove but yet they have cut it down to taking 3 minutes in the microwave, which by the way we have tried and I think its disgusting. But our marekting agencies around the world are continuing to make millions and millions of dollars off of our lack of patience.

We are a society that doesn’t have time to stop and be still....therefore when we are faced with a crisis we find ourselves completely overwhelmed that we can't have the answers right now!!! I have found myself in situations in the past where I cried out to the Lord for answers to my problems but under one stipulation I wanted them now!!! God doesn’t always tell us what we want when we want to hear it, and I am glad for this, because I think in a lot of situations if God gave us the answer right then we actually wouldn’t be prepared for it anyways. If He tried to show us the way we should go or the reason for something we would think it was just plain crazy and wouldnt be in a place to understand why. Psalm 46:10 "Be still and know that I am God." This verse makes me think God is saying, would you just chill out and be patient i got this under control....not you but I. Just like the rice a roni- sure we can have the answers much faster but in the end its really not what we were expecting and if we would have just waited a little longer instead of taking the quick fix than it would have been just right and much better. Psalm 37:7 "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men suceed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes." Dont worry about what is going on around us or what others are doing or the way their prayers are being answered, but instead focus on what God is going to do in your life as you wait patiently before Him placing your lives in His hands. During times of uncertainties in our lives we are required to be still and wait on the Lord...this is so hard for me and I am sure so many others because i have become accustomed to the instant gratification idea. But during those times where we must wait on the Lord we experience some of the most awesome blessings just because we have a few minutes to be still.

We have experienced this in the past in many ways but one in particular that i remember is when Scott was trying to find a teaching job. He had a few interviews and we started to become so frustrated because we didn’t understand why he wasn’t getting a job right now like we wanted....but in the end He ended up getting a job that was his top choice and if he would have gotten one of the other ones in the beginning yes we would have had our prayers answered quicker but it wouldn’t have been what was best for us.

Something I think about often is that I find myself feeling the most relaxed and rested at the dr’s. office. I know this sounds silly but when you are waiting for the dr. there is nothing else to do but just sit there and be still.....sure you have other things to do when you leave but until you get out of that office you can do nothing else but to sit and wait patiently. So I guess this is just an encouragement to take more opportunities to be still for a few minutes and to try and be less dependent on instant gratification...because like I have already said although its quick its not always best!!!!