Finding Life in the Waiting

I have lived a life of waiting. Probably even more so as the wife of a professional athlete turned professional coach.

Waiting for the next call-up. Waiting for two lines on a pregnancy test. Waiting for healthy babies to be born. Waiting for our first house. Waiting for my husband after ballgames. Waiting for stability. Waiting for health and healing.

I used to get stuck in the waiting. And to be honest, I still can if I am not careful. It’s easy to put off living until the perfect conditions align. It’s easy to use waiting as an excuse to never get started. But the truth is, we will always be waiting for something, and if we never learn how to live in the waiting, we will get to the end of our lives and wonder where all the time went.

And so I wait.

And in the waiting, I live to the best of my ability.

I still don’t have stability, and with a husband in professional baseball, I probably never will. But I can tap into that by choosing to freelance from anywhere, homeschool my kids, and use my gifts to connect other women in professional baseball who feel the burden of instability too.

I can choose to give thanks for the roof over our heads, wherever that may be, and truly believe that “Home is wherever I’m with you.”

Home is Wherever I'm with You

I can chase my dreams, live out my passions, and focus on today. I can model for my kids what it looks like to do meaningful work in the midst of uncertainty.

I can even learn Spanish. Yep, lately after ballgames, when I’m in the truck waiting for Jeff to finish up, I have been working with the Duolingo app to learn Spanish. I am finding life in the waiting, even in an old truck behind the baseball stadium. Estoy descubriendo la vida en la espera , incluso en un viejo camión detrás del estadio de béisbol. (Ok fine, I had to google that translation. I’m still a newbie.)

What have you been putting off while waiting for everything to be just right? What if you got started right now on this imperfect day in this imperfect place?

What if you found life in the waiting?

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  • Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine August 19, 2015 at 1:37 pm

    Your posts always resonate with me so much! This was so beautifully said and so true!

    • Alysa August 19, 2015 at 4:04 pm

      Thank you, Rebecca!

  • Laila @FrontRowMama August 19, 2015 at 4:00 pm

    So this is really speaking to me right now. There’s a lot of unknowns in my life right now. I’m praying everyday that I’m modeling for my son how to turn to God in the midst of uncertainty. And then he reminded me the other day, “It’s okay, you can try again tomorrow”.

    • Alysa August 19, 2015 at 4:04 pm

      Aren’t kids the best? I love that.

  • Kandice August 19, 2015 at 4:31 pm

    I’d like to think that when I “wait” I am being patient… what a great reminder that even patience needs a little nudge every now and again. Thanks for the encouragement.

  • Lynnette August 19, 2015 at 5:23 pm

    I am not good with uncertainty, but I love your take on it. “I can chase my dreams, live out my passions, and focus on today.” Sometimes I also get stuck in the waiting and forget to LIVE instead of worry about how everything will work out, especially if things are outside of my control. There have been many times when I have had to leave things in God’s hands while I try to carry on amidst the uncertainties…but it is never easy. Today I am going to try to be truly present. Thank you for your thoughts.

  • Erika August 20, 2015 at 5:16 pm

    This spoke to me on so many different levels – thank you for sharing it!

  • Jill August 25, 2015 at 1:56 am

    Thank you for this. I feel like I’ve been just waiting for my life for the last 10 or more years. I put off my life, dreams, and goals for my kids and husband. They never asked me to, it was just too much to schedule me time around them. My daughter started taking horse riding lessons and absolutely loves it. I made a decision to take lessons with her. It’s something I’ve been wanting to try and finally did it. I love it and am working on a plan to own a horse of our own someday.

  • Gabrielle August 25, 2015 at 1:03 pm

    What beautiful words. I’ve been longing to hear this as I, too, am waiting for all the right conditions and answers to reveal themselves to me. Maybe we find them in the spaces between–in what we choose to pursue while we let life sort itself out.

    Ah, you’ve inspired me 🙂

  • Lindsay - Pen & Paint August 26, 2015 at 1:09 am

    I love seeing this! There are so many things I’m waiting on because I’m busy focusing on what I can’t do rather than what I can do. Thank you for the reminder and perspective.