the weight of the wait

When I was little, my grandfather had a little jingle he used to sing that went, 'take an old cold tater and wait.' Although this song never made the Billboard charts, it has a lesson that we all could hear more often: be patient. Throughout the Bible we see over and over stories where God moves at His timing and according to His will (for example, Job), where He tells us not to be anxious about anything but to pray about everything (Philippians 4:6), and where He promises us that those that wait on the Lord will rise up, not grow faint or weary (Isaiah 40:31). Yet, as often as the Lord repeats Himself to this subject, we still act like little kids in a candy store--making a ruckus, reaching where we're not supposed to, and throwing a fit if/when we don't get what we want. Although I think that God is certainly in the 'wants' business--that is to say, He sometimes blesses us with what we want-- more often it seems He is in the 'needs' business. In reality, with hindsight being 20/20, what we want is not always what we need. And that's where the patience comes in: waiting for His perfect plan.

The topic of patience and waiting on God has been the story of my life recently. I'm entering into my senior year of undergraduate studies and I have a lot of options on my plate. Do I go to graduate school, do I travel the world, do I do missions, etc., etc.?...so the topic stays in my mind. Today specifically though--proving that patience is not my biggest strength--I was painting a lamp and picked it up too quickly, getting paint on my shirt and arms and almost ruining what I had put so much effort into. That's how I think life can be too--moving too quickly can destroy a lot of time investment and work on both your and God's part. If we move early and don't wait for the paint to dry, we can quickly see the evidence of our fault, but with life it is not always as immediately evident. If we are impatient in raising children, that may later on in life have consequences. If God tells us to live a life of singleness for a while, and we get impatient and get married, that could certainly have consequences. Maybe a loved one is sick or in trouble with the law...perhaps we have family problems, and we move into panic mode instead of sitting back and praying for wisdom on what to do, healing, etc., we can do irreversible damage that sometimes makes the situation worse.

So as I watch and wait and pray for what God would have me to do in the next year, I will try to have patience. I encourage you to also do so in whatever stage of life you may be going through, or whatever problems you may be facing. God has a plan for this. There is a purpose. Seek it.

I leave you with this--Galatians 5:22-23, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law." If you are a Christian, this is the fruit you should be bearing...are you?