Why Did I Wait So Long

Why Did I Wait So Long

Right now I need a haircut way bad.  Heath needs a dentist appointment.  I’m on my last pair of contacts. I’m sure there’s something of Heidi’s I haven’t done that I don’t even know about yet.  And, I haven’t ran in over a month. Just keepin’ it real.

February kicked my rear. I got the flu. That led to a sinus infection. Which, was my first one ever.  I have to apologize to any you folks that I didn’t have sympathy for when you had a sinus infection. It really does feel like you’re dying and your head might explode.  (Well, maybe I am one of those people who can be a little dramatic when it comes to illness). Brent and I totally have role reversal with the whole sickness thing.  He is tough as nails and never complains. I’m pretty quiet in those conversations where women talk about how poorly their husbands handle sickness.

Back to the point.  So I was dying. Kind of.  One Sunday afternoon like 30 days (or just 14 days) into thing, I went to the doctor.  She started me on meds.  Within a couple hours of taking the steroid, I was a new person.  It was amazing.  I kept saying, “I can not believe I waited so long.”  Of course I repeated that over and over as I do most things I am excited about.  I told all my school peeps who were snotty and sick to get to the doctor.  And that, “You’ll being saying ‘Why did I wait so long?’”  

Then I started thinking about that phrase, “Why did I wait so long?” and started really meditating on it.  There is a whole lot to think about with that phrase.  

Have you seen the movie War Horse?  If you haven’t, you should.  I’m sure I’ll write about it one day.  It’s one of those story lines that just really speaks to me deeply.  Essentially, in life, there are times when you just have to put your head in the plow and do the hard things day after day.  They will grow you and shape you for your next season of life.  Actually, that hard thing could be the thing that saves you in the end.  It totally resonates with the Bible verse that gripped me as an 8th grader laying face down on my light green carpet.  

“Consider it pure joy when you face trials of many kinds for the testing of your faith develops perseverance.” James 1:2 (weird verse for a 14 year old?).  This defined my life for years. Pain after pain, trial after trial. I clinged to the good that would come if I could persevere.  Point is, I tend to just accept hard things in life and even try to anticipate the good that will come eventually. I do believe suffering and trials are truly some of the absolute greatest gifts we are given in life (that's a-whole-nother story).

But what if that’s only half of the story? Clearly there are situations that we can make better, rather quickly even, if we’ll just take a steps to do so.  What else have I just accepted as a trial and am waiting too long to fix?

Like last week, Brent had our front door fixed that has been a problem for three years.  It took the dude a couple hours.  Do y'all know how many people I have had to yell at through the door, “One sec, I’m trying to get the door to open!  Now you push real hard while I pull!”  Or, "Hang on, go to the back door, I can’t get this one open!”  The mail people even learned to bring the packages to the back. Now we have so much freedom to just come and go and welcome people in without awkwardly yelling at them.  Why did we wait so long?

Maybe it's just something simple we need to do to make everyday life better.  Or, it can be a big decision that we put off.  Calls we avoid to make.  Saying a big fat NO to something good, so we can say yes to the best (that’s from Bryan Mills… gotta give credit where it’s due).  Or just saying a big fat NO to something because it’s the right thing to do and we don’t need to care so much about hurting someone’s feelings.  Saying yes to a dream or an adventure or a new start.  We only live once, ya know.  Maybe we need to do the hard thing and forgive. Work through some past pain?  Do we need to sit in the quiet and listen and reflect on scripture and let God inspire and prompt us?  Have you ever done that?  Ever waited way too long to slow and reflect and connect with God?  Then when you do, you have a renewed sense of purpose and perspective.  Let’s not wait so long.