Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

I can get Uncle Ben's Brown Rice in 90 seconds.


It's amazing, isn't it? Have you ever tried to make brown rice from scratch? It takes 45 minutes. I can get it in 90 seconds.
Uncle Ben is just one of a long line of instant products out there on the market. I can get "mashed potatoes" by adding milk, butter and stirring. I can get a cake by adding two eggs, oil, and cake mix. Soup? Just pop open the can. Cookies? No prep required, simply slap that pre-made dough on a cookie sheet. I don't have to wait for bread to bake, or cut up vegetables for a stir-fry, or even think of what to put in a salad. It's already baked, frozen and mixed.


The instant phenomenon isn't just a food thing. I can communicate with anyone in the world through the internet instantly. I can turn on the TV and be saturated with information and entertainment instantly. If I don't want to wait for the commercials, I can now fast-forward through the four minute of marketing to what I want to watch, now. I go to the store for instant savings and I scour lines everywhere to find the shortest so I can check out now.


Some may see this world of instant gratification that we've built as a positive thing. I'm not saying it's all bad. Sure, I like to have things now. I don't like to wait around. But why is that? It's because I have lost the ability to wait. My expectation is to get things NOW, an expectation that has been built from years of living in a culture where faster is better, and we're working on getting quicker every day.


In my humble opinion, it's not always a good thing. This fast-forward mentality has made us impatient people with a skewed view of what is important. We have lost the ability to wait patiently, and we are willing to sacrifice quality for time. This compromise is having detrimental effects.


I saw a child recently in Target who wanted some Easter goodies, and he wanted them NOW. After several "no"'s, he did what many children do - he broke out into a knock-down, drag-out tantrum that shook the walls of the store. Screaming, kicking, his message was clear. He wasn't getting what he wanted NOW, and he was expressing his frustration accordingly.

Does it remind you of anyone? How did you last react when your internet connection was slow? Or when there was a long line at Starbucks? Or how about when you called up the bank and had to go through the automated voice-recognition system - "I'm sorry, I didn't get that. Please say your 12-digit pin number and the date of your last transaction..." "I'm sorry, I didn't get that. Please say your..."


The expectation for our world to be lightning fast is taking its toll on our stress levels.


The APA's national survey recently examined the stress levels of the public. The "2009 survey finds that 75 percent of adults reported having experienced moderate to high levels of stress in the past month, and more than half said that their stress levels increased in the past year." What does thing mean? Well, for many American is means higher blood pressure, headaches, weight gain, weight loss, loss of sleep, weakened immune systems, constant colds and infections, depression, anxiety, and a lesser quality of life. 


Which brings me to the greater of the two evils - lesser quality. Americans, as a general rule, have sacrificed quality for speed, and that is wrecking havoc on our health and our lives.


When was the last time you cooked a meal from scratch? Or invested an impossible amount of time into a creative project and saw it through to the end? When was the last time you sacrificed time for quality?


As I mentioned before, it's so easy to get instant food. But how can they make so many things instant? Preservatives. Additives. Extra fats added for flavor. Extra sugars. Extra salt. A lot of your instant options have the shelf-life of the cardboard box they're in. Or how about take-out? I'm fairly certain Burger King isn't in the back room lovingly plucking fresh produce from their indoor garden to make your burger and fries. Their money is made on the ability to give you what you want now, and that means cheaper, lesser-quality food laden in extras so you can't tell what it is.


Why is homemade bread such a luxury? Because of the amount of time it takes to make. Once you've made the dough, you have to knead the dough for 10 minutes, then you have to let it rise for two hours. Then you have to divide it and let it rise for another hour. Then you have to bake it for an hour. Then you have to let it cool. Hours, and hours, but I challenge you to show me a store-brand bread that tastes as good as fresh, homemade bread right from the oven.


It's the same with the different processes of life. When I was first learning how to sew, I was appalled at the amount of time it took to make a pair of PJ pants. I had this concept that I could cut once, sew one line, and BOOM! I would have the most comfortable, perfectly sewn pair of PJ's ever. What I found instead was a long, tedious process. It took me two days of hours and hours at a time, and ended up looking a little misshapen. DAYS! I could have gone to the GAP and gotten a shirt that would look like a real piece of clothing, not some jumbled of material and thread! Why was I wasting time my time?


Because those things we invest time into shape us, grow us and develop our skills. The meals we take pains to make from scratch are generally better for our bodies and health-giving rather than nutrient-deficient.


If you gave a child a calculator in elementary school and showed him how to add, he would always get the right answer in an addition problem, but he would never know why. His mental development would be stunted. It's harder to learn math - I hated it. I kicked and screamed at every turn, but I would be lacking critical skills without it. Students will say, "Why do I have to learn algebra? When am I ever going to use this?" I can tell you I have never used Algebra in the "real world", but I would not be able to look at life and make intelligent reasonings without it.


Please understand me when I say instant is not bad. Some days, that instant rice is going to be the blessing of my day. But what is the instant mentality doing to me?  I need to make sure my instant world isn't making me into a stressed, tasteless, unhealthy, stupid individual. I've already felt the effects.


So what can we do? Rebel a little. This week, take one thing in your life with a hard road and an easy road, and choose the hard one. Make mashed potatoes from scratch. Plant seeds for your garden rather than going to the nursery and picking up the pre-grown varieties, and study how to germinate. Grind your coffee beans rather than picking up a pre-ground variety. Read the newspaper rather than watching the news on TV. Bake your own bread. Exercise your brain, your talents, your legs, and look for where your instant is causing your life quality to diminish. I know I will be.

"I don't have time for that", you may say. We all have the same 24-hours, 7 days, 12 months. It's your decision how you use them. Why spend it stressed? Why have a lesser quality of life than you can? God has given us each day to embrace, enjoy and grow into.

It's time to put down the instant and experience life at a different pace. After all, good things come to those who wait.