I painfully waited in a long line at a local Starbucks, ignoring the stressed out lady awaiting her coffee fix, the snuggled middle school couple more interested in each other than their reason for being in line and the clanging of steamers. Grumbles filled the green triangular-shaped ceiling of the coffeehouse.

Fifteen minutes later, while staring at the floor counting the small crumbs of what seemed to be the remains of a blueberry scone, I compared this moment to the idea of patience.

I observed the few customers who were wearing the triumphant smiles akin to those of mothers leaving the stores at the end of Black Friday after checking everything off their children’s Christmas lists.

Dr. Charles Stanley of In Touch Ministries speaks to the satisfaction experienced in these Starbucks costumers when he says, “Our willingness to wait reveals the value we place on the object we are waiting for.”

While the people in line had a long wait, the moment they received that ideal coffee drink composed precisely in a way that entertains their palate, their wait was forgotten. Suddenly, the satisfaction of their present situation erases even the memory of the previous wait.

As a Lakeland student, waiting for a grade, a paper to be returned, a job response, or the simply the objective outcome of acquiring that hardcover folder holding some of most important papers we will ever receive, can be challenging.

Nearly every task a college student performs requires waiting for short or long periods of time, so the saying “it will be worth it” can never become unimpressionable to those hearing it.

Most people put emphasis on when something is started or completed, but what about the meantime?

The meantime is when waiting is tested; therefore, remembering that the potato chips for dinner nights, the shower-less mornings and what seems like an eternityof small sacrifices show the value we are putting in this educational opportunity as Lakeland College students.