Learn To Wait

This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God. Genesis 6:9

There’s no such thing as instant success, with either people or problems. Whether you need to lose ten pounds or one hundred pounds, the weight can only be shed one pound at a time. Standing on top of the mountain is a thrill, but you can only get up there one step at a time. Nothing great is created suddenly; almost every significant success in life comes at the end of a long, strenuous wait. And unless you accept that truth, you’ll give up too soon and settle far short of the success God has in mind for you. The American company Jell-O celebrated its one-hundredth anniversary in 1997, but if the inventor were still alive, he would probably take little comfort in his product’s success. In 1897 Pearl Wait wore many hats. He was a construction worker who also experimented in patent medicines, and he went door to door selling his therapies. In the midst of tinkering and experimenting, he hit upon the idea of mixing fruit flavoring with granulated gelatin. His wife promptly named it Jell-O, and Wait had one more product to peddle. Unfortunately, the initial sales of his jiggly snack were not as strong as he hoped, so he ended up selling his Jell-O rights to Orator Woodward for the paltry sum of $450. Woodward was a savvy businessman. He knew the value of marketing, and within eight years he turned a $450 investment into a million-dollar business. Today, not a single relative of Pearl Wait receives one penny from the one-million-plus boxes of Jell-O sold every day. Why not? Because Wait couldn’t wait!

Prayer

Heavenly Father, grant me patience to wait upon You and for You to work Your will. In Jesus’ Name, Amen