In The Waiting Room

You’ve been there. At the hospital. Awaiting a procedure. You know some of what is to come.

If it goes well, I’ll be here overnight. If it is as they expect, I’ll have therapy for a few weeks. If it’s worse than expected, then I may go to a rehabilitation hospital, but we don’t know which one. The bills, yes, those are inevitable, but I wish they came faster.

What you know. What you don’t know. What you hope. What you fear. Each of those guests are with you in the waiting room. 

It feels like our world is in such a waiting room right now, doesn’t it?

We know some about COVID-19. But we hear conflicting reports. We know we should wear masks and social distance. But not everyone feels the same way. We receive updated guidelines from the authorities. But we don’t know when things will get more normal.

Yes, it feels like we’re in the waiting room.

So, what do we do in the meantime? How do we pass our time in the waiting room?

We work, as our job allows. We think, as our minds focus. We hope, as our hearts arise. We pray, as freely as breathing. We talk, as willing with loved ones. We plan, as best we can with what we know today. We live life, as those with a future and a hope.

You can find joy. Doing what you can rather than fighting what you can’t.

Even in the waiting room.

Tweeting Patience

Driving to work one recent morning. Thinking through things in my life. My Scripture reading. The sermons I'd listened to while running. A few relationships that were challenging me. Some situations that were trying me.

Thinking it all through. Prayerfully.

And then an original aphorism came to mind.

Ever forget patience is a virtue? Only to be reminded why.

Oh, that's good. Concise. True. Noteworthy.

Tweetworthy!

Almost to work. Can't write while driving. Won't tweet while driving. But I don't want to forget. So I role it around my brain a few more times until I'm parked safely.

Grab my iPhone.

Slide the screen.

Tap Twitter.

Get nothing.

Dead.

Stalled.

What?! You're Twitter. Not Facebook! You're supposed to be fast.

Why so slow?! Stupid thing! I wanna tweet this great, original quote about patience & you choose NOW to be slower than molasses in January?!

AGH! Let. Me. Write. My. Quote. About. PATIENCE!!!!!

Ohhhhhh.

Impatient... me. About... patience.

Forgetting: Patience is a virtue.

And reminding myself why.

The end of the matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride. Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools. Ecclesiastes 7:8-9

Note: I used the cute, blue bird above due to his peronality. He is Ollie, the Twitterific bird. Twitterrific is a really great app for Apple devices that makes Twitter extra terriffic. 

Ask to Act

How often do we try too hard?

Seek to do too much our own?

Fall guilty of not fully trusting God with the big stuff?

Control versus surrender.

Fear versus faith.

Expedience versus patience.

Leading versus following.

When the need is bigger than our ability.  Larger than our resources. Grander than our imagination.  Then we must call on God.

If we are disciples, Jesus is our Master.

Our place is to follow.  To rely on him.

Stop trying.  Start praying.

Our job is to ask.  His is to act.

Traffic Light

Pine Lake.

Old Cheney.

Highway 2.

48th.

40th.

33rd.

27th.

Southwood.

Every cross street.

With a traffic light.

On my way to work.

Where I stopped.

This morning.

At.

All.

Of.

Them.

Gave me time to think.

How often, when I wanna zoom through life my foot on the pedal going my direction with no plans but my own in mind, does God have a traffic light?

To.

Slow.

Me.

Down.

Psalm 139:16 says, "All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."

God created you.  He knows you.  He loves you.

Seek Him.  Trust Him.  He will answer.

Next time the traffic light of life turns red, don't speak out in frustration, don't tap the steering wheel in impatience, and certainly don't run it, but stop to ask God what He wants you to know.

Dancing Patience

My dear daughter, ballerina princess that she is, dances around the living room.  No music playing that we can hear.  She moves blissfully to the song in her soul.  Beautiful.

My dear son, bulldog determined as he is, recites his Awana memory verses.  Words leaving his lips correctly, yet disconnected from his heart.  He erupts impatient to the distraction of his sister.  Ugly.

His Scripture passage, James 1:19, states, "My dear brothers, take note of this: everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry."  It was under the topic, "I can be patient with other people."  Ironic.

This vignette is not recounted for you to conclude I have one precious child & one mean child.  No, far from it, my kids are kids.  They have their moments like all of us.

He could have danced with her.

He could have ignored her dancing.

He could have refocused on his own task.

He could have thought about what he was saying.

He could have... you can imagine your own ending.

This vignette - dancing or erupting, joyful or hateful - where patience was spoken yet impatient irony acted is retold to make us each think.

What do I do when my buttons are pushed?

What do I say when my limit is exceeded?

Where is the irony between my words & deeds?

How do I handle unexpected challenges?

How do I respond to difficult circumstances?

Dancing?

Erupting?

Joyful?

Angry?

Patience has been called the chief Christian virtue.  Toughest earned.  Hardest exercised.  Foundational to faith. Hallmark of maturity.

Dancing.  Patience.  We could all use a little more of both.

My dear brothers, take note of this: everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, & slow to become angry.  James 1:19