The rush is on. Get the turkey in the oven. Finalize the cleaning. Make that last-minute trip to the store, pick up Grandma, and get to church. Lots to do.

And Thanksgiving happens. You quickly clean up so that you can score the best Black Friday shopping deals, get back home, decorate the house for Christmas, and start baking snickerdoodles. 

Whoa, partner. Just a minute now. Slow down your Thanksgiving.

After the flood, Noah paused and “built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it” (Genesis 8:20). Noah’s behavior at that moment was built upon a patient, trusting faith that he displayed already on the ark. 

Water had covered the earth for 150 days. That’s 5 months of bad weather! And then it took another 3 months for the murky floodwaters to recede enough that the mountaintops were visible. Then 40 days later Noah opened a window in the ark and sent out a raven and then a dove that returned to him, indicating there was no dry ground. He waited a few more months. Finally, “God said to Noah, ‘Come out of the ark’” (Genesis 8:15,16).

All total, Noah occupied the ark for one year and ten days. 

Take time to thank God. Patiently trust that he may do his divine work over a longer period of time than you might prefer. Slow down your Thanksgiving. The waiting is actually worship too.