"Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary, his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary and young men shall fall exhausted, but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint." ~ Isaiah 40:28-31
When I was a young married woman with three little girls, bath time was a daunting and time consuming thing for me. Having three little ones under the age of four was a non-stop adventure of cleaning faces, combing hair, brushing teeth, etc. to make them presentable for the day. It was like a graduation when they could finally take their own bath/shower without my help. I had waited for this moment. Fast forward a number of years and remembering the sheer joy of washing a chubby little brown baby because I didn't have to think through teenage logic. My brain was fried and tired with the thinking through of the teenage mind and I looked forward to the time of mindless bliss in the scrubbing of a wiggly baby boy in the tub. Then to be waiting for that same little boy to quit jumping, hopping, twirling around when you are trying to homeschool and just get through the day.
It seems that we, as humans, spend a lifetime of waiting. You know: waiting to grow up, waiting for the bus, waiting to finish school so we can get on with life, waiting for that perfect someone to fulfill all our dreams, waiting to have kids, waiting for the kids to grow up, and on and on it goes. I think perhaps that I have wasted a lot of time just waiting. I don't mean that all the things of life are a waste, far from that. I have enjoyed many of these moments in life. But what I'm wondering is if I have wasted some of these moment in anticipation of the next. There is something to be said about the here and now that we miss. A good number of things in life are hard so we think that if we can make it through this moment the next one will be better. And then the culture bombards us with the "new" and "exciting" next thing so we live our lives missing what we have now because it will be better when we get to the next moment or have that new thing.
There is an understanding, a definition if you will, that "new" means exciting, thrilling, epic, etc. Whereas "old" is worn out, tired and needing to be replaced. In the natural world many times this is true. But what I'm thinking about is our dissatisfaction with the now because we are always looking for the next best thing. If I realize that God is always working what am I missing right now if my gaze is ahead of this moment waiting for God to move in the next. Ann Voskamp, in her book One Thousand Gifts, says this, "When I'm present, I meet I AM, the very presence of a present God. In His embrace, time loses all sense of speed and stress and space and stands so still and holy. Here is the only place I can love Him."
In watching the movie, The Hobbit, this last week I was reminded of the verse above when at the moment of sure death the party is rescued by the giant eagles. I even felt a sense of peace as the group were soaring high in the air away from the enemy. Waiting on the Lord is still waiting but different somehow. When I am in the present, waiting on the everlasting I AM, I find peace and a sense of calm. There is no hurry to get on with the next best thing or moment because He is the best thing and with Him is the best moment. My cares, worries or sorrows fade into the background and it is there that He renews the strength that He gives. Each day is a new day when I consider His mercies and this provides for me to be exactly where He would have me ~ in this moment.
Teach me Lord, teach me Lord to wait.
