Winnie the Pooh and Plussing the Queue: Seasons of Waiting

The number one complaint I hear from adults about Walt Disney World is the time spent standing in lines. (Interestingly, I've never heard a child return from a trip to Disney and mention the lines at all.) A few years back I started to hear a new goal Disney Imagineers were working toward: "plus the queue."

Plussing the queue means adding some type of fun activity to the line for an attraction so that waiting becomes an experience in itself. I first experienced this in the line for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh in the Magic Kingdom. Now, while waiting to board the classic ride that brings to life A.A. Milne's beloved stories, park guests can also interact with various elements from the Hundred Acre Wood: Tending to Rabbit's garden, buzzing along with Pooh's bees, or uncovering Tigger from a wall of virtual honey. The first time we went through, our children didn't want to leave the line to get on the ride.

The reality is that we all spend time "waiting in line," not just at theme parks. I'm thinking here not only of those times when we are literally in a queue at the Post Office or in a traffic jam, but also of those extended transitional seasons when we feel like life has been put on hold. Often the story goes something like this: we experience a spiritual awakening, followed by a strong sense of a dream, a vision, or a calling from God. Naturally we assume the calling is something that will happen right away. But instead, something happens to block our progress. For reasons we don't choose and can't control, we find ourselves caught in a tension: Unable to move forward due to circumstances, but unable to shake the feeling that this really was what God called us to do.

Gradually what I'm learning is that these Seasons of Waiting are a vital part of spiritual formation. "Let perseverance finish its work," writes James, "so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." Waiting is not opposed to God's call on our lives: it is God's training program, a divine school for developing the character we will need to successfully complete the mission when our time finally comes.

But there is something more than character development going on while we wait in line for life to happen—something deeper. What these Seasons of Waiting are ultimately about is learning to practice the presence of God. In waiting, we come to know that God isn't out there, somewhere, in our future, when we're in the pulpit, or on the mission field, or launching our own business, or whatever it is that we associate with God's presence. God is here, in the waiting. And if we don't learn to enjoy that presence now, we never will.

Which brings us back to our friend Winnie the Pooh. No one is quite so good at waiting as the Bear of Very Little Brain. “People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day,” said he. And of course, the key to Pooh's success is that he understands the whole purpose for his being is not to get somewhere or to do something, but to be with someone, namely Christopher Robin.

So wherever I am, there's always Pooh,
There's always Pooh and Me.
"What would I do?" I said to Pooh,
"It it wasn't or you," and Pooh said: "True,
It isn't much fun for One, but Two
Can stick together," says Pooh, says he.
"That's how it is," says Pooh.
–from "Us Two" by A.A. Milne

So the next time you find yourself stuck in line for a Season of Waiting, you can complain about the wasted time, or you can "plus the queue." Interact with those around you. Enjoy doing nothing. Learn character. And most of all, learn to practice the presence of God. Waiting isn't much fun for One, but Two can stick together. And there really isn't anything at the end of the line more important than that.