Hurry. Hurry. Wait.

We were making our final descent toward the airport in Amsterdam. Depending on what time our watch was set to it was either way too early in the morning or ridiculously late at night. Our flight was an hour late leaving Detroit, and with only an hour and a half layover we had a lot of ground to cover in a short amount of time.

Oh yes, and there was a language barrier.

The "kind" International Delta employee (can you even use those two terms together?) awaiting the passengers at our gate informed us that our flight was already boarding and we should run because they don't hold planes for passengers, and no she didn't know what gate the flight was departing from.

So we're running through the airport trying to find someone who will help us. If you know anything about the Dutch and their hospitality then you won't be surprised when I say we finally found a machine that gave us all the information we needed. So we ran around in circles, because the Amsterdam airport is a bit confusing, and it was early in the morning/late at night, we were sleepy, and hungry, and hey look! They have McDonalds! But still there's no time.

We finally find our gate and there's a huge line of people waiting to go through "security" (and I use that term lightly). We have enough time to all take turns using the restrooms which were placed oh so conviently at the end of the line before taking off on our next flight.

Hurry. Hurry. Wait.

It's the term our family has coined our missionary motto. We rush around as fast as we can to get to an airport line, or prepare a lesson for Sunday School, or finish painting a room, or even just get ready to leave the guesthouse in the morning, only to wait...and wait...and wait some more.

The Houser's missionary motto applies to a lot in life doesn't it? Have you ever found yourself going through cycles in life where you rush around to get something done? Maybe it's saving money to buy a house, or preparing your family for a new baby, or getting your degree so you can find a good job. And in all the hustle and bustle and focus of just getting to that time takes you away from actually enjoying the moment. And then suddenly you find yourself in a waiting period. The housing market plummetts. The baby is taking his or her dear old time coming into the world. Or you have the diploma in your hand just as the job market takes a dive.

Hurry. Hurry. Wait.

Maybe it's a missionary thing. Maybe it's an American mentality. Or maybe it's just the way life goes. But so often we tend to want to rush through whatever season of life we're in to get to the next one. Or we have to hurry to meet this deadline, or hustle to get achieve that goal. And then we get to the waiting time. We reach our destination. We finish the project. We finally made it, but we don't take time to enjoy it. There's something else that needs done. Somewhere else to hurry to. So we lose patience in the wait.

As you go about life and we prepare for this trip, with all it's hurry hurry waits up ahead, I encourage you while challenging myself and my family:

Take time to enjoy the hurry. And don't rush the wait.

- Aly