Instant Gratification

Yes, it's 6 am on a Wednesday morning and I am writing a post, but when I woke up (even though I don't have to be at work until 12:30), and I checked my email like I always do on my phone, I had one that I needed to get figured out, so I am up. 

But now I am thinking, that person is probably not like me and does not expect an email back, especially at 5:45 in the morning.  So why do I feel the need to respond so quickly?

Instant gratification. 

I was having a conversation with a friend yesterday and we were talking about how I was waiting for my Erin Condren Life Planner to arrive (dad if you are reading, it's what the gift card I won at the silent auction bought me) and that it was supposed to ship on July 2, but the label wasn't created until July 4, and probably really didn't ship until the 5th or even Monday, and that people had left nasty messages on Erin Condren's Instagram about 'how could she go on vacation when she has orders to fill' or 'I have left messages with customer service and my order is wrong and it needs to get fixed immediately.'

Honestly, I know a few people that would have that reaction, but we have become a society of 'give it to me now', and 'answer me immediately', and 'I want it shipped today'...why aren't willing to wait anymore?  We don't have patience.  We need instant gratification.  

I know I sure don't have patience, and I sure do love the rush of having something new.  I order something from Etsy or Old Navy, and I am constantly tracking the package to see where it is.  Anticipation can be good or bad.  Am I going to survive one day without my pink pair of linen pants and white shirt?  Of course.  Is it like Christmas when they are sitting in your mailbox?  Heck yeah!!  But then I get to wear the new clothes the next day, and I'm feeling all good...and then I can't wear them to work again for a few days/weeks cause people will know you just wore them - haha!  So where does the good feeling go?

My friend reminded me of the old JC Penney catalogs, (of course my favorite was the huge Sears catalog that was always at my grandma's house in AR), and how you would pick out the things you wanted, tear out the order form in the back, and fill it out, figure up how much you owed, and wrote a check and put it in the mail.  As in the post office mail.  As in, they won't get it for a few days, maybe a week.  Then it has to be processed, and then it has to ship.  As in it may take a few weeks to even get your order.  GASP!! 

It made me start to think this morning about how we are like that with God.  We pray and we want an answer immediately.  We don't want to wait for what He has in store for us.  We don't have patience when it comes to His timing.  I know I sure don't.

When did we/I become so needy that we have to have things instantly or we are not happy or satisfied? 

I keep thinking to the Instagram comment that basically said "How dare you go on vacation with your family on a holiday weekend when you have orders to fix and fill and phone calls to return and blah blah blah."  I wanted to comment and say Bless Your Pretty Little Heart that you can't wait a few extra days to get your planner, and if you are anything like me, you will go back and write everything in from the first of the month, even though it has passed because we are OCD like that.  And who are we to tell someone they can't go on vacation with their family on a holiday? 

We have got to stop being a society that has to have everything right now.  We will go on living just the same, unless it is life saving medicine, and that's a whole different ball-game.  But it's a planner people.  I can't wait to get mine, even though my friend has already received hers and told me about it, it just makes the waiting more fun.  Am I tracking it's every move on FedEx Tracking?  You bet.  But I am not going to sit there and bash someone from spending precious, invaluable time with their family on a holiday just to get my planner.  I have more important things to do.  Now when I get my planner, do I plan on sitting down and writing everything in with my fabulous new pens that I got just for my planner? ABSOLUTELY!!  But that's just me, and I know people would think I am crazy for doing that, but we all have our thing.

So back to being patient and waiting for God's timing.  We always hear that His timing is perfect and it will be worth the wait.  I have to agree with that because I waited a long time to find my husband, and it was/is perfect.  Now it's not all rainbows and unicorns everyday, but God had someone perfectly picked for me.  And I had to learn to be patient and go through some cray cray days to get to where I would truly appreciate what I have.  And I do. 

As with anything in life, we have to be patient and wait.  Even though we are praying for it right now and can get angry that we don't get what we want, when we want, and exactly how we want it.  I've learned and still learning that it really doesn't work that way.  Never has, never will.  I know God laughs at me every single day because I still try to plan out my life and my next steps, but I am learning to enjoy each and every day.  I don't want to look back on my life and be disappointed in how I was so needing to have something immediately and then was upset, that I didn't enjoy the time I had right then.  I learned early on that I did not need to be wishing my life away, and remind myself of that constantly.  We can't wait for summer, or for vacation, or for Christmas, or for our birthdays, or for this and that and this again and that again.  And then we get to that point and it's everything we hoped for and more, and then it's over and we have to wait again...but we/I need to start living as if everyday is special.  Because it is.  Every single day we have is special.  We don't need to know what will happen tomorrow.  We don't need the instant gratification to make us happy.  We just need to be patient and live. 

It's just a planner.  I can wait, and while I am waiting, I am going to live my life, (and check FedEx tracking ever so often.) 

Patience never comes easy, but when we have been patient and obedient, we have always had good things come our way.  I know I have.