THE JOY AFTER THE WAITING ROOM

THE JOY AFTER THE WAITING ROOM

To wait is to hope. To wait for something in which you cannot see is to hope. And the mere fact that you are waiting, means that you are hoping for something positive or beneficial at least. We do not wait for something that does not give us some measure of satisfaction or fulfillment. We do not wait for what is to come without a reason to wait.

So many people live day by day waiting without even knowing it. They are waiting for some measure of satisfaction and fulfillment to come. They are holding on to a hope that tomorrow may be better. But what if it is not better?

Growing up I always had little to no patience in waiting for anything. I always preferred to get piece of something quickly than to get the full thing but slowly. My lack of patience turned out to be a by-product of my greatest quality, my obedience. See, I was obedient to the core. I answered every call with great joy and the loudest yes I could have roared. I was so immediately obedient that I developed a lack of patience.

I was never able to understand and appreciate the beauty and joy in patience and waiting. If you told me that I must wait to receive something…. then there is a bit of a problem. My parents called me Joy. I guess it made sense at first. But it is only after I turned 18 that I would fully understand the true meaning of my name.

My entire life I never truly knew what it meant to have a purpose. I never knew what it meant to think that I, Joy Maywinger was created for a specific purpose. When we think of it, anything created on earth has a specific function that it was meant to fulfill. But these things are objects, so we can easily rely on the designer/maker of it to answer three things for us: what it’s supposed to do, how is it going to make our life easier and why is this the only way for the function to be fulfilled.

With human beings even though there are the same questions, it is a bit different. Although I wish it were not. We are born and we grow up in different environments, all very intentional however to what our ultimate function was intended to be. “Why was I born in 1995 and not 1940?” “Why was I born in London and not New York?” I asked myself. All these things matter, even though we may not see it at surface level.

From the moment you were born until the moment you find out what is your purpose here on earth, you are in a waiting room. And we all know what waiting rooms feel like. We spend all our time there, waiting, hoping for some news…. hoping to make it through the next doors, to go to the next level.

The waiting room is always the first level. “Why is it that they always ask people to wait first?” I asked my parents. My dad’s response to me was one I would take with me forever,

“At a hospital, at an office, at a hotel…there’s a waiting room wherever we go. Why? Because it is virtually impossible to get/receive whatever you came for immediately. All the preparations and arrangements being made for us take place behind the scenes and we never know what’s happening…because we’re on the other side.”

As a child growing up, I did not see the beauty in this answer…until now. Until having experienced and understand the waiting room of life. Whether you call it a lobby, a waiting room or a lounge…one thing remains common throughout…you are placed there to wait for what is to come. I had moments where I had to switch and remind myself “What are you waiting on? What are you hoping for? What are you being prepared for?” I had to shift my mindset on waiting because life is a waiting game…. in all aspects.

Before I found my purpose, I was just moving through life. Day by day. Waiting. Just waiting. Waiting for that day when I would be passionate about something. Waiting for that divine intervention. Waiting for God Himself to say to me “I made you Joy at 6:33pm on May 27^th in Oldeater town, Alabama to do this. And you’re going to go in two months.”

But sadly, the reason does not come so explicitly. Sadly, there would not always be an announcement when you leave the “waiting room” and move on to the next level. Also, did I mention that you may only have a vague idea still…

It is sometimes a quiet discovery as it relates to your purpose. One day you are no longer waiting. But you are being moved to the next level, which in itself is a story for another time….

What are you going to do when the moment comes to go through the second set of doors? What are you going to do in your level up moment? When I turned 18, it dawned on me that all those years of just “floating around” provided me with so much skills. Skills that I now needed on the other side of those doors.

We all hate waiting; we all hate the idea of time passing and nothing happening. But the truth is, something always happens in waiting rooms. They place you there for a very, very specific reason. If they just sent us into whoever/ whatever we came to, there would be no transition. And without transition, things get overwhelming. A video without transitions becomes overwhelming to watch, because you are just moving from one height to the next.

Even if you have been in the waiting room all your life so far, let me assure you it has a reason. Life is a waiting game in all aspects….

Cherish the waiting room moments. Even though it may be the greatest test of patience, think of it as preparation. You will be 1000% stronger as a result of waiting. You are sharper, you are calmer, and you are better. Most of all whenever you leave the waiting room, it will be because you are also READY.

Waiting can sometimes seem like a tedious process. But shift it…you are waiting for a reason. Waiting is the time when your hope is placed in someone else’s hands. Trust. Trust that it is working out for your good.

Trust that one day, things will shift. You will find out exactly why you were created and step out of the greatest waiting room that life has ever placed us in. Before I knew why I was made, I was not waiting…I was floating. I was floating and buzzing like a bee from place to place. But that never brings any fulfillment or satisfaction.  

It does however bring preparation…

I was being prepared for the joy after the waiting room without even knowing it.

 As humans we love immediate gratification. We are selfish and we think very much in the moment and how we can “satisfy ourselves” in the moment. But this does not last. For so long I too thought like this. But, long-term fulfillment and satisfaction with something that is lasting will always beat immediate gratification.

No one becomes a success overnight. Jeff Bezos has been making moves with Amazon since the 1990’s, yet it’s only just become popular within the past 10 years. We make a move and we wait. We strategize and we wait. We do and we hope…in that order. No one waits without there first being hope.

To wait is to hope. To wait for something you cannot see is to hope. The problem with waiting was that I was focusing more on the time that was passing rather than the hope that was coming. What good is waiting for something you cannot see? If you are waiting on something, you are holding on to hope! Whether you know it or not… Find joy in that which you cannot see.

In the waiting room was where I found the most joy, myself. I found myself in my season of waiting. In those years floating around and hoping for something to happen, I found myself. One day I discovered the why. And you will too, I believe you will hope.

I discovered there was an even greater joy after the waiting room. Discover the joy after the waiting room for yourself…To wait is to hope.

Hope. Your future self will thank you for it. I know I did.

Love, your Mom.

(A letter to my unborn child: Hope,

I discovered the joy of waiting

while waiting for you… my blessing.

I hope you enjoy the waiting room.

I know you can’t see it.

But that’s the beauty, Hope.

Enjoy the waiting room.

There is joy in the waiting room,

There is even more joy after the waiting room.)