The last few days I have spent a lot of time waiting — waiting at the doctor’s office for my child or spouse, waiting for the tow truck to come when our van broke down, and waiting while my child is in her music lesson.

It becomes frustrating because I’m never waiting long enough to really start a project or get any significant amount of reading done, but it is long enough that I feel like it eats up my day. I do a lot of waiting!

We have even reached the point where specific rooms are called “waiting rooms.” These are rooms with the specific purpose of providing space to pass time. They are filled with distractions which include everything from magazines to televisions to fish tanks and toys for kids. We have rooms where you are supposed to wait.

Usually, to pass the time, I do some game on my phone — solitaire, a crossword puzzle or maybe catch up on Facebook. By the time I am done waiting, I’ve accomplished nothing except for filling the time with distractions.

As I reflect on the life of Jesus, I am noticing that He spent a lot of time between “events,” yet He never seemed to be waiting. Every moment was an opportunity to be present, to be in the moment. He always had His eyes open to the world around Him, ready to notice God at work.

Even when He was waiting at a well for His disciples to return from a supply run into town (John 8), He noticed a woman who He knew had very dark past. He was exhausted from traveling in the heat, but He engaged her in conversation. He was idle, yet he was not passing the time simply waiting.

By the end of the conversation, the woman’s life was transformed and the whole town had been introduced to God’s grace. This was all because Jesus refused to wait but, instead, felt the weight of the moment and was fully present in the now.

Once a moment is gone, we can’t get it back. It is gone.

This week, let’s all begin to notice how much time we spend waiting and simply passing the time. See what happens when you engage those moments and become fully present in the now. See what happens when you open your eyes to the world around you, ready to notice God at work. Rather than waiting and just passing the time, let’s all decide to feel the weight of the moment and live in that moment, rather than just waiting for it to pass.

Maybe we could even start calling those rooms “weight” rooms, rather than “waiting” rooms, as we train ourselves to be fully present in God’s amazing gift of now.