Yesterday, our son, Parker, flew home for the holidays.

Eventually.

As it turned out, a flight that was supposed to arrive in Charlotte at 11:39a didn’t actually touch down until a little after 4:30p. I lost track of the number of times his flight out of JFK was delayed after the third frustrated text.

But when he opened the car door and threw his luggage in the back seat, all the delays and frustrations vanished because he was home.

Delays are hard to deal with, but when we value what we’re waiting for, delays are worth it, and even have a purpose.

The Lord does not delay his promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance. (‭‭2 Peter‬ ‭3:9‬ ‭CSB)

One of the reasons the flight delays were so frustrating was because there was no information given. Waiting seems pointless in the face of not knowing why. But what if they were fixing something on the plane that would ensure our son’s safe arrival? We’d say delay as long as you need to!

God isn’t slow or forgetful of delaying His promised return for no reason. He knows that every day He waits is another day for souls to be saved. And when we understand that, the delay feels less like a delay and more like a plan. Schedules and timing can get jacked up and cause us unwanted frustration, but knowing that He is still coming can make the seeming delays bearable.

After all, His arrival will definitely be worth the wait.

Contrary to pop culture, you really can’t do anything you want.

I want to fly. Not going to happen.

I want to dunk a basketball. Very doubtful.

I want to win the Boston Marathon. Qualifying for and finishing would be possible with a lot of work. Winning the whole thing at my age? I feel pretty confident in saying it’s impossible.

For a lot of us, just reading that last sentence makes us bristle. What about faith? What about Jesus telling us that nothing would be impossible to the ones who believe? He really said that!

He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (‭‭Matthew‬ ‭17:20‬ ‭NIV, emphasis mine)

I think that we interpret His bold statement incorrectly when we see it as a promise that there are no limits to what we can do. Jesus wasn’t promising a limitless life, but a life that isn’t less because of limits. He spoke those words to men who would later be martyred for following Him. Men who had more than a mustard seed of faith in Him, and who probably wanted to see the mountains of torture, prison, and death moved.

And yet, the promise of Jesus was that even those hard places that seemed to impose limits on them couldn’t stop the Kingdom that was growing in and through them.

I want to challenge you to think about your circumstances differently. Sometimes thinking outside the box — dreaming as if we had no limits — only leads us to frustration when we continually bump up against the limits of what we can do. Need an example? Imagine me after an afternoon of endlessly trying to dunk a basketball! I’d end up tired, sore, bloody, frustrated, sick of basketball, and feeling like a failure.

But what if I thought inside the box instead? What if I determined to be the best basketball player I could be, within the limits of being older and only able to jump about 3 millimeters off the ground? Those limits could push me to become the best shooter, passer, and defender possible because I would stop wasting my efforts on what would never happen and start putting my efforts into what could.

Instead of fighting the impossibilities, I’d be feeding the possibilities.

That’s what happens when we invite Jesus and His “nothing is impossible” power into our boxes. Thinking inside the box leads to a life that the box will no longer contain.

One final note, and then I’m done. Recently, The B99 was able to hear Katherine Wolf speak at a women’s conference. I won’t go into Katherine’s story, but due to circumstances beyond her control, she’s lived the majority of her life in a wheelchair. But when Wendy talked about Katherine’s message, it was obvious that everyone at that conference saw the overwhelming power of God through her more than they saw the wheelchair. The power of God in Katherine Wolf met her in her box and outgrew her box. Again, the goal isn’t to live a limitless life, but rather to live a life that isn’t less because of limits.

Today, let’s think inside the box, and show the world a power that is not limited by the things that limit us.

Would you agree that all of us have been living in perhaps the most overwhelming season in recent history? Each day seems to bring a new challenge or unexpected news that just gets added to the pile of things that we haven’t been able to process because we’re still processing the thing that came before that.

Overwhelmed may be the most overused understatement of the last two years, and yet, it’s such an accurate depiction of what so many of us feel.

So, we share encouraging mantras with each other about the hustle and the grind and how early birds get worms (which for me is a great reason to stay in bed because worms are disgusting!). The end result? We just get more overwhelmed at the thought of doing anything, let alone more things.

It’s in moments like these that I always put my pants on, and I would suggest that you do the same.

When thinking about everything overwhelms you, it’s good to simply focus on doing one thing. For me, it’s taking off the pajama pants and putting on actual pants. That one simple act almost always jumpstarts a few more simple things like making the bed or brushing my teeth, and a few of those strung together says to that overwhelming pile, “I’m here. Let’s begin.”

If you’re facing a season that is overwhelming you, try putting your pants on. You’ll start the day with a win, and you’ll probably end the day with a few more.