Why Great Fathers Master the Art of Waiting, And How You Can Too
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If you wear the “Dad” badge, you’re also in the Waiting Club—no membership card required. From nine anxious months before birth to the slow crawl of a preschooler finishing her cereal, you’ll spend literal years in carpool lanes, bleachers, and late-night living-room vigils. At first it feels like life’s loading screen; but viewed through a kingdom lens, every pause is a discipleship lab.
Scripture is loaded with waiting fathers. Abraham lingered decades for Isaac, praying and pacing beneath desert stars. The prodigal’s dad stared down a dusty road “while he was still a long way off” (Luke 15:20). Even our Savior waited thirty years before launching a three-year ministry. God seems convinced that holy growth germinates in patient soil.
Yet those waits stretch every learning style. Detail-oriented minds twitch at lost productivity; big-picture dreamers brood on the future; spontaneous spirits itch for action; relational hearts crave conversation. Below are Seven Waiting Wins—mini practices that speak to all four approaches without naming them.
- Pack a Purpose Kit
Keep a book, a pocket journal, and a deck of question cards in the glove box. Ten-minute delays become story time for imaginative kids, note-taking space for planners, and conversation starters for chatty souls. - Pray the Stopwatch
Use the first red-light or bleacher lull to pray a one-sentence blessing over each child. Concrete thinkers count stops; abstract minds savor unseen impact. - Practice Presence, Not Just Patience
Put the phone face-down. Notice clouds, stray thoughts, or your child’s body language when she climbs into the car. Observation sharpens both analytical and artistic wiring. - Voice Your Investment
Say out loud, “I’m happy to wait because you matter to me.” Hearing that reframes the inconvenience for you and etches identity into your son or daughter’s heart. - Model Margin
Arrive five minutes early on purpose. Kids learn that unhurried people make room for interruptions—an antidote to a culture of perpetual hurry. - Queue Up Curiosity
While you wait, ask open-ended questions: “What surprised you at practice?” “What’s one thing you’d change about today?” Sequential learners process; random thinkers riff. - Anchor the Unknown in Trust
When a teen is late and the unknown gnaws, breathe Isaiah 40:31: “Those who wait for the Lord will renew their strength.” Share the verse next morning; you’ll model vulnerability and faith under tension.
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