Worth the Wait

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A woman emailed me that she has been waiting so long to get married and doesn't even see a glimmer of hope on the horizon. She is doing her part, but is not seeing results. Every one of her friends is married with families, and she feels left behind all alone. She asked for Chizuk to continue on. How are we supposed to view this? This type of waiting is not just limited to Shiduchim. People are waiting so long for a Refuah. Others are waiting so long to get a job, while many parents keep waiting for their children to return to Torah. So much of our life is spent waiting-waiting for something we want. Prolonged waiting is painful, but it is calculated by Hashem with precision.

Rav Lugassi related that waiting is like investing with Hashem. All the time spent waiting earns a profitable return. He gave the parable of a man who invested other people's money. He was a successful investor and always insured that his clients would receive large returns. One day, his son came to him and asked if he could invest his money with him as well. "Sure," the father replied, "I will make safe and profitable investments for you." One day, after two years, the son asked his father if he could take all of his money out to buy a new car and upgrade from an apartment to a house. The father replied, "Listen to me. When my clients want to withdraw their money, I don't try too hard to dissuade them, so that they shouldn't suspect me of having a personal interest or of not being able to pay back their money. However, you are my son. You should not take out your money now. The market is booming and your investments are going to skyrocket." The son took his father's advice and became excited thinking of all the money he was going to make. Meanwhile, all of his friends were buying new cars and houses, while he was the only one with an old car and an apartment. Yet he was happy, because he knew in the long term that he was going to be best off.

So too it is with everything we have to wait for in life. Today we are earning interest. Although it is not something we chose to do, it is Hashem looking out for us. We will surely see all of the great things that resulted from the waiting. Hashem has the right time for each of our investments to mature. Only then will we appreciate the time spent waiting.

A young man told me that in 2001, when he was six years old, his family took a road trip and, Heaven forbid, they were in a car accident. Baruch Hashem, everyone was okay, and after all the insurance claims were settled, they were all awarded a certain amount of money. His money was locked into a CD account that would mature when he was 18 years old. When he turned 18, the bank sent him a letter saying that he had one week to withdraw the money or it would be locked up until he became 21. By the time he got the letter, it was too late to take out the money. Last year he met his Zivug and was ready to get engaged. His family doesn't have much money, and he had to pay for the ring himself. He went to a jeweler and found exactly what he wanted. The only problem was spending all of that money. That very night he received a letter from Chase Bank that his CD had matured and was ready for withdrawal. To his astonishment, the figure in the letter was the exact amount quoted to him by the diamond dealer, just a few hours before. Hashem had the money waiting for 15 years, accruing interest, until it reached the perfect sum at the perfect time.

All of our Yeshuot will come at the perfect time. In the meantime, it is good to know that for every moment we have to wait, we will be paid back many times over.

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