Life is a Theme Park

In a couple of days, I think Victoria and I are going to experience the early signs of “Empty Nest Syndrome.” Currently all my children are home but at the end of the week, Calysta goes back to Los Angeles to finish her senior year at college, Zion goes to Boston for a five-week summer intensive and Zealynd goes to New York for a five-week dance intensive – OH MY! But not all is lost; we still have Zayne at home this summer! YES!!

With the soon to be “emptying” of my home, I decided to take the family to Bush Gardens to spend quality time with them and overdose on riding roller coasters! We had a lot of fun… we laughed… we enjoyed each other’s company…and in the midst of everything I learned a valuable lesson.

Bush Gardens has various roller coasters and rides. We had our sights on seven of them. We weren’t leaving until we conquered them all! We rode the Cheetah Hunt, SheiKra, Gwazi, Congo River Rapids, Kumba, Montu and Stanley Falls. And this is what I discovered…

I noticed that our lives are no different than a day at a theme park. Like the rides in a theme park, we spend 95% of our time waiting, waiting, and waiting again in anticipation and mental preparation for a 5% of thrilling ride time.

I did some simple numbers yesterday. Lets talk minutes… We were at the park when it opened at 10:00am and left when it closed at 7:00pm – a total of 540 minutes. We rode seven rides that consisted of approximately 14 minutes. The average wait time was about 40 minutes per ride, which totaled to 315 minutes. The remaining 211 minutes were consumed by walking to the rides, eating and other personal necessary things.

Here’s my point. Our lives consist of waiting, learning, preparing and waiting again for moments of effectiveness. The crazy thing is that we’re defined by those moments. And it’s in those moments where purpose is executed and significance is achieved. If you can handle the wait time, you won’t be disappointed. Don’t quit. Don’t get discouraged. Life is a thrill ride. ENJOY the moment… but the real secret is enjoying the waiting.