I recently discovered the musical, Hamilton. For those of you who are like me and want to dismiss it out of hand just because it is popular…please don’t. It really is just as amazing as people claim and well-worth listening to, even if you don’t like rap/hip-hop. The album gave me a new perspective on several situations in my life, but one song in particular resonated with me: “Wait for It.”

Now, I do not necessarily agree with all of the words in the song, but there are a couple of lines that I thought were particularly applicable to writers and dreamers like me. As Aaron Burr contemplates how Hamilton is advancing quickly through the ranks and accomplishing all of his goals while Burr seems to be stagnant, he sings out:

“I’m not falling behind or running late. I’m not standing still, I’m lying in wait.”

I cannot tell you how many times I have felt like I am being left behind or that I am not where I should be. This is especially true as I grow older and as the questions keep coming with a little less patience and a little less understanding:

“When are you going to get married?”

“When are you going to get a good job?”

“When are you going to get your own place?”

And of course, there is still my own burning question, “ When am I ever going to get published?”- as the rejection emails keep filling up my inbox.

It can be difficult to feel like you are accomplishing anything, especially when you look around and all of your friends seem to be to getting a handle on life and making a difference in their own little spheres. Or, on the flip side, when you are doing everything you are supposed to be doing and it still feels like none of your goals are being met.

But sometimes the solution is not to do more. Sometimes we just have to be patient. Sometimes we have to be still. Sometimes we have to wait for it.

And that can often be much harder than actually doing something. But when you finally achieve something that you have worked towards for years, it can be one of the most rewarding experiences in life.

Think about it: when has forcing something to happen ever worked out for the good of anybody? The joy of accomplishment is zapped out of the attainment when we try to get results prematurely and often other people are hurt by our ambition.

As the scriptures elaborate in Ecclesiastes 3, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven….a time to keep silence, and a time to speak….” There are seasons to charge ahead boldly and seasons to wait patiently as we seek the fruit of our labors.

So maybe you are not seeing the results you wanted. Maybe it seems like everyone else is moving ahead and leaving you behind. Maybe nothing is coming out of the work that you put in.

But maybe it is not time yet. Maybe it is time to give patience its moment. As Hamilton puts it: “We keep livin’ anyway. We rise and we fall and we break and we make our mistakes. And if there’s a reason why I’m still alive when so many have died, then I’m willing to wait for it.”

Keep waiting, dear one, you never know what is around the corner.