By Brenda Cannon Henley
Waiting is often times not easy for all ages. I clearly remember waiting for certain life events during the span of years I have lived. When I was 14 or 15, I wondered if I would ever be 16 and be taken to the Georgia Department of Motor Vehicles to test for my driver’s license. That was such a big day in the lives of my friends and myself.

I knew I could drive and had been doing so for several months. I had, in fact, already bought my very first vehicle and spent hours keeping the 1956 Chevy clean and spotless. My precious Uncle Roy Long took me to the designated location and allowed me to drive his brand new Ford on my birthday, December 23rd. His auto was black and white and beautiful and I felt so special.

I am pleased to say I passed my test, both the written and physical, including the dreaded parallel parking event, and was so pleased with the outcome. Today, I am happy when one of my children or grandchildren offers to do the driving.

Like most young ladies, I waited and wondered if and when I would meet my Mr. Right and be married, get the perfect house with the white picket fence, and then have children, perhaps a career, and become a contributing member of society.

Many of my dreams came true, but I learned most things worth having require some amount of patient waiting. I have the type personality that sometimes struggles with waiting. I am much more of a “let’s get it done now” kind of person. I despise true laziness or unwillingness to work for what you want or need.

Years ago, my preacher who was also my boss for oh so many years, one day said to me, “Brenda, you are a hard worker. You make your plan after careful study, and then you work your plan till the job is done.”

At that moment we were standing out under the portico of the new church building where I had carefully placed big, black, plastic garbage bags and was carefully painting a huge (think old telephone booth size) wooden box in which my Super Church guest would be rolled into the old auditorium to be identified by the students.

Someone else had promised to paint the box, but the task had gotten lost in the hustle and bustle. I was not a happy camper that this someone failed to do his one job and did not seem concerned about his lack of cooperation. The Preacher wanted to know why I was painting the box dressed in good working clothes at 10:00 PM at night. I was painting it because it had to be done to be dry for church the next morning.

Dr. Hutson taught me a valuable lesson that night that I still use almost every day. He said very earnestly, “Brenda, you are going to have to learn that some people can only give 30 percent toward a need or a project. Others may struggle with a mere 10%. You give 100% and get frustrated when teammates don’t work as hard, stay as long, give money, or accomplish as much as you’d like.”

He was right. I didn’t like waiting for jobs to be done and done right. He explained that staff, employees, and volunteers had to be appreciated for what they could give and that I had to be kind and quiet while they learned and grew. He told me to work about taking the contributions from each and add up the 30, 20, and five 10s to make my 100 percent. I focused on doing that in the next years and we all came out better for his teaching.

I have given a lot of thought to the idea of waiting in life, and for this Christmas Season, I am wishing for you, our faithful readers, the patience it takes to remain happy and blessed while you wait.

“Wait on the Lord. Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord.” (Psalm 27:14)

Brenda Cannon Henley can be reached at (409) 781-8788 or,
[email protected]

[Dec-21-2021]