Not Right Now

Matt Wilson has written a song entitled ‘Not Right Now’, and I thought about what that means…not right now.

I’ve heard that phrase hundreds of times, primarily from mothers as they put off a child’s request.

“Can I have a cookie?”

“Not right now”.

“Can I watch television?”

“Not right now.”

“Can I learn to drive?”

“Not right now.”

And then we hear it from the universe.

“Can I have this job?”

“Not right now” is whispered back to us.

“Can I travel the world?”

“Not right now,” says our obligations.

“Can I retire?”

“Not right now,” our investment officer counsels.

Usually I want to scream, “Then when?”

Not right now doesn’t mean never, it means…not right now.

But, being the patient soul that I am, I want it NOW. I don’t want to wait. I want instant gratification, and that means now, no putting off, no postponing, no delays.

Oh, if only life were programmed that way.

Social media has not helped our demand for patience. In fact, it has propelled us into wanting the future instantaneously. We don’t want to linger over an answer, or anticipate an outcome. We really don’t want to, as my dad was prone to say, ‘hold your horses’. Who has a horse these days anyway?

It isn’t just the internet that has aided our desire for fast results. How about the microwave oven? I can have a meal on the table in 5 minutes, with just one microwave. Most foods can be piping hot with a push of a button and a quick countdown of 45 seconds.

We’ve become accustomed to speed, quick, fast…now.

I think about my grandparents who courted by snail mail correspondence. They wrote to each other for many months before they ever met, being ‘introduced’ long distance by a mutual friend. Can you imagine what it was like to wait for days to hear from someone who might be your future spouse? No Skyping, no texting, no emails, no phone calls, no cars (yep, it was before cars). They had only pen and  paper to learn about each other. Pen, paper and a good grasp of spelling and grammar!

But they knew how to wait. They knew about ‘not right now’. It didn’t mean Never…it just meant ‘not right now.’

And by waiting, I came along. Not a bad return on their time, if you ask me!

(As a side note: if you don’t know Matt Wilson, I encourage you to get one of his albums. He is a singer/songwriter who is a master pianist, a wordsmith, and an entertainer extraordinaire. He performed recently at the Bugle Boy, and I recommend you spend an evening with him the next time he is near by.)