Wisdom in the Wait

I'm pretty sure in the womb the Hoes men sign a contract stating they will be slow decision makers.

Call it wisdom if you must, but living with it can be annoying. From the beginning, Chad has said "let's sleep on it" anytime a big decision comes up.

Wait patiently for the LORD. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the LORD.
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭27:14‬ ‭

Moses answered, “Wait here until I have received instructions for you from the LORD.”
‭‭Numbers‬ ‭9:8‬

Mostly we used this for financial decisions, or say things like taking another kid (3 adopted kids and 2 foster kids later this is a thing for us!). This really was/is for the best. Chad's leadership kept us waiting in a position of obedience to the Lord.

I wish we'd learned early on to not just apply this to the BIG stuff. We took Ephesians 4:26 literal. It says "don’t sin by letting anger control you. Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry." That meant late nights circling some topic that didn't even matter until one of us waved the flag and called it. Then we had to spend time apologizing and mending our hearts.

We thought the point of a disagreement was to bring the other person to our side (they call this "winning" in some circles). You take two stubborn babies of the family who don't know how to communicate their hearts with the legalistic approach to Eph 4:26 and you get a disaster. Chad and I would be arguing long after the sun set.

Somewhere in year 14 of our marriage we started realizing nothing good happens between our arguments after 10 pm. Chad and I learned sleeping on a non urgent topic was wise. Truth be told we weren't angry until we actually dove into the "conversation."

Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.
‭‭Lamentations‬ ‭3:23‬ ‭

So we set up some boundaries. Heavy conversations close to 10 pm get to be held off until the next day. We surrender our anger to Jesus and trust that there is wisdom in the wait.

Maybe it's because I'm the pup at the dog races waiting to be unleashed, ready to GO, that I've found waiting to be annoying, yet I see such fruit in it! I value and trust that leading, but I still roll my eyes when Chad says the notorious "let's sleep on it" now it's accompanied with a smirk on my face.