Waiting ...

I am possibly the world's WORST waiter.  I HATE waiting.  I will go the long way around to avoid waiting in traffic.  I will flat walk out of a place if the lines are too long ... nothing is that important.  Today, I was in the lunch crowd chick-fil-a drive thru line and it was kind of long ... and what do you think happened???  They came out and made the line two cars deep by taking cars from behind me and putting them in front of me ... I was so mad I wanted to just leave. I HATE waiting.

Reading in Sacred Echo and Margaret says ... there are THREE parts to prayer.  Speaking.  Listening.  Waiting.  Hmmmm ... so it's not just me.  We're all doing some waiting around here.  Think about how much of our lives we spend ... WAITING.  Waiting to for a birthday, Christmas or vacation.  Waiting for the new school year or graduation.  Waiting for a new job, new baby, spouse.  Waiting to make a decision.  Waiting.  Even the whimsy of Dr. Seuss has the universal WAIT ...

The Waiting Place...

...[a place of] just waiting.

Waiting for a train to go

or a bus to come, or a plane to go

or the mail to come, or the rain to go

or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow

or the waiting around for a Yes or No

or waiting for their hair to grow.

Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite

or waiting for the wind to fly a kite

or waiting around for Friday night

or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake

or a pot to boil, or a Better Break

or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants

or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.

Everyone is just waiting.

Somehow this is an integral part of the life we live.  Why so much waiting.  I wish I knew.  But I know God is waiting.  Creation is waiting.  Ultimately we are all waiting for redemption - for the new Heaven and the new earth.  Maybe this waiting we live in is but just a glimpse of that BIG wait.  I don't really know.  But I am both encouraged and intrigued to find that the phrase "how long" is used 50 times in Scripture.  And it's original author ... not the usual suspects.  Nope, our Creator, himself.  It was first recorded in God's conversation with Pharaoh.

But as Margaret points out ... waiting inevitably brings us all to a place that's hard to live.  In-Between.  We are waiting on something ... so what do we do in the meantime?  Do we stay?  Do we move?  You're not here.  You're not there.  Your emotions swing between the reality, the hope, and the wait.  "The worst part," Margaret says, "about in-between isn't the uncertainty, discouragement or frustration. but that sometimes I think God likes it when we are there."  YIKES!!  I mean, its hard to think that God could possibly like the angst of in-between.  And I guess that, then goes where so many other things go to the idea that God doesn't always cause what He uses in our lives.  Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of days when I think God could really speed up some of those things on my "persistent prayer list" ... I mean, HOW LONG have I been praying for a husband???  Let alone many of the other prayers on that list???  And I know, the waiting leads me back to Him.  again. and again.  And maybe, just maybe.  The waiting is part of the listening.  I mean, we are an instant gratification kind of society.  Maybe its waiting that slows us down and becons us to listen.

We may spend much of our lives in-between ... all the more reason to be persistent in our praying ... and all the more reason to LIVE the life we're given.  It's crippling sometimes, the fears and doubts that creep in the wait.  But we've got to hold to the truth we know, the character of the God who loves us, and the belief that this is the only life we're given and to STOP in the waiting is just going to mean we miss it.  So as much as I hate waiting ... I also don't want to miss what God has in store.  Would sure be nice if waiting was more FUN!!

But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.

Micah 7:7