Waiting
We are still in the waiting phase of our house-selling process. A couple looked at it last weekend and came back for a second viewing Monday night. This is usually a great thing; it means they're getting more serious. The problem is that the man loves it, yet the woman has reservations about the storage space. I hope that she will realize in time that all houses built before 1950 have a shortage on storage capabilities. It was a lesson I had to learn myself, and something I had to learn to work with if I wanted the romance of living in a historic home.
So, we're waiting to hear back on their decision. Waiting produces strength, and it also forces you to find diversions elsewhere to deflect your attention to something other than the situation at hand.
I am always the last person to get my food whenever we go out with a large group to a restaurant. I'm not joking. Nine times out of ten, I am the absolute LAST person to get my meal, and it's usually because they totally LOST my order entirely. Add to that the fact that I eat insanely slow, and you usually have a group of people who are impatiently staring at me to finish so they can either leave or order dessert.
Waiting for my food isn't so much a problem because I'm so hungry....it's mainly an embarrassment issue. I am sitting there, trying so hard not to look like a pitiful, lost puppy as every one of my friends receives their meals in record time, and I am forced to cling onto my drink of water with lemon for something which can occupy my idle hands. Everybody makes comments like, "Oooohh, Meg, you still don't have your food?" as they shove another forkful of salad or steak into their mouths. I just smile "sweetly" and shake my head.
I'd like to think that I would be getting free meal coupons all over town because of the way the restaurant kitchens have forgotten me so often....but I don't. I usually just get a silly smile, an apology, and then the same treatment as everyone else gets. Yet I don't get mad about this. Life isn't fair; I'm glad it isn't.
When we wait long and hard for something, we, as humans, expect a hefty bonus for our time and trouble. We have a "they owe me" mentality that makes us bitter and resentful. Sometimes we just have to wait. There is nothing over our head flashing "President of the United States" that will push us through the waiting lines at the DMV any faster. We are no better than anyone else; we must wait with the others.
Why do we become so frustrated when God's answer to us is sometimes, "Just wait"? I think it's because we think we're entitled to things as we asked for them, and we're entitled to them RIGHT NOW. God never promised us things on our timetable. Everything He does, even causing us to wait long enough to make us squirm a little bit, is for good reason. We exit the situation a little wiser, a little more patient, a little gentler-minded.
He is so good.
"'I don't think the way you think. The way you work isn't the way I work' God's decree. 'For as the sky soars high above the earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think.'" Isaiah 55:8-9, The Message
So, we're waiting to hear back on their decision. Waiting produces strength, and it also forces you to find diversions elsewhere to deflect your attention to something other than the situation at hand.
I am always the last person to get my food whenever we go out with a large group to a restaurant. I'm not joking. Nine times out of ten, I am the absolute LAST person to get my meal, and it's usually because they totally LOST my order entirely. Add to that the fact that I eat insanely slow, and you usually have a group of people who are impatiently staring at me to finish so they can either leave or order dessert.
Waiting for my food isn't so much a problem because I'm so hungry....it's mainly an embarrassment issue. I am sitting there, trying so hard not to look like a pitiful, lost puppy as every one of my friends receives their meals in record time, and I am forced to cling onto my drink of water with lemon for something which can occupy my idle hands. Everybody makes comments like, "Oooohh, Meg, you still don't have your food?" as they shove another forkful of salad or steak into their mouths. I just smile "sweetly" and shake my head.
I'd like to think that I would be getting free meal coupons all over town because of the way the restaurant kitchens have forgotten me so often....but I don't. I usually just get a silly smile, an apology, and then the same treatment as everyone else gets. Yet I don't get mad about this. Life isn't fair; I'm glad it isn't.
When we wait long and hard for something, we, as humans, expect a hefty bonus for our time and trouble. We have a "they owe me" mentality that makes us bitter and resentful. Sometimes we just have to wait. There is nothing over our head flashing "President of the United States" that will push us through the waiting lines at the DMV any faster. We are no better than anyone else; we must wait with the others.
Why do we become so frustrated when God's answer to us is sometimes, "Just wait"? I think it's because we think we're entitled to things as we asked for them, and we're entitled to them RIGHT NOW. God never promised us things on our timetable. Everything He does, even causing us to wait long enough to make us squirm a little bit, is for good reason. We exit the situation a little wiser, a little more patient, a little gentler-minded.
He is so good.
"'I don't think the way you think. The way you work isn't the way I work' God's decree. 'For as the sky soars high above the earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think.'" Isaiah 55:8-9, The Message
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