12 Seconds

 

Have you ever been heating something in the microwave,

Waiting patiently,

Or maybe not so patiently,

When you got to the last few seconds,

And just gave up and opened the door early?

 

This happens all the time at school!

I’ll go to the microwave and see twelve seconds remaining,

Or four,

Or seven.

Some small number that represents seconds

That someone just couldn’t wait for their food.

 

I did it just the other day!

 

I suppose that in a school setting, every second counts.

We literally don’t have much time to heat our food and also eat it.

So saving a few seconds of heating time gives a few more seconds of eating time.

I know I’ve eaten my food cold more than once so I’d have more time to digest.

So I guess that makes sense.

 

But what about at home?

We open the microwave early all the time!

And there’s no rush.

There’s no reason not to wait for the final few seconds to impart heat into the food.

We just don’t do it.

We open the door and leave those seconds suspended in time.

And we create more steps for next time because we have to first clear out the wasted seconds

So that we can put in the new time and press start once again.

 

Why do we do this?

 

Why do we so often rush the process?

 

Why do we so often quit the process before it through?

 

Why do we so often wait impatiently when know that we are waiting for something good?

 

I don’t know.

 

Human nature I suppose.

 

I just think it’s interesting that we can’t wait 12 more seconds.

 

God, help us wait 12 more seconds.

 

Amen.