Waiting on God

Good morning!

I hope you are able to sense the powerful love that the God of the universe has for you today - and every day!

Are you a paitent person? Are you able to wait more than 30 seconds for a web page to pop up or a text to be returned? Do you get frustrated when it has taken someone an hour to return an email or even a phone call? Do you take joy in the journey or the result?

For those of you who know me, patience is not my strong suit, although I must say I am getting better at it. God continues to smoothe out that rough edge in my life...but, I wish He'd hurry up and do it!

As I have journeyed with God and waited upon Him, I have become more and more aware that God wants me to find joy in the journey more than finding joy in the results of my life. Often, for me, impatience engulfs me when I am not getting the results I desire. I forget that the journey has joy in it as well and, if I forget that, the results are not as sweet in the end. While I may enjoy achieving goals and getting results, it is the journey that defines how great the results end up being. It is in the journey that God teaches us our greatest lessons.

From Merton's Palace of Nowhere by James Finley, Finley writes, "Merton once told me to quit trying so hard in prayer. He said: 'How does an apple ripen? It just sits in the sun.' A small green apple cannot ripen in one night by tightening all its muscles, squinting its eyes and tightening its jaw in order to find itself the next morning miraculously large, red, ripe, and juicy beside its small green counterparts. Like the birth of a baby or the opening of a rose, the birth of true self takes place in God's time. We must wait for God, we must be awake; we must trust in his hidden action within us."

Our impatience oftens propels us to want to be more than what we are outside of God's timing...or wanting others to be more than what they are outside of God's timing. As Isaiah 40:31 shares with us, "Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not grow weary; they shall walk and not faint."

Don't try to get somewhere in life faster than God needs you to. He needs you here and now and He desires to use you here and now. He will offer you the strength you need. He will reveal to you the purpose of your life today. Enjoy the journey...wait on God...the result will be a better, truer, you.

Holy God, thank you for patiently loving me, especially when I try to get ahead of You. When I get impatient God and I want more from my life, slow me down and open my eyes to the incredible blessings you want me to experience today. Take away my bent towards impatience and keep my awake as I wait for You and trust what You are doing in my life. In Jesus' holy name I pray. Amen.