Embrace The Wait

I have spent the past 3.5 days like a CRAZY woman, cleaning, organizing, sorting...doing LOTS of relocation of items.  I have done at least 25 flights a step each day moving things to their proper home and making a home for things that NEED a home.  I have filled our entire trash bin in those hours.  I am also now gearing up for the boys return this evening.  I have missed them, the house is so quiet.  I have enjoyed my time alone, I refuel well by myself, alone.   I have had take out, I have had lean cuisines, I may have even snuck ice cream one night by myself.  I have had Hallmark movies on while I wash winter coats, fold laundry, sort bins...I have listened to my music while editing photos uninterrupted.

...and now...I am needing to start reminding myself that it will NOT stay this clean or organized until next Labor day when they leave again and I do this ALL over...(yes honey I am counting on a 3rd annual trip next year and the year after...)  As I am trying to prepare my OCD, organizing self that THIS is NOT my reality.  My reality is I live in a house with 4 boys and one man.  None of them appreciate organizing, baskets and bins as much as I do.  And while most some days I can get really frustrated with the messes around the house, the piles of dirty clothes, the wrappers not thrown away, the clothes stuffed under beds, the socks that don't have a match....I LOVE being a wife and Mom.  I truly LOVE my reality, I am living my little girl dreams.

As I have been thinking about that this morning while I am trying to edit a few pictures and finish what I can today I read this devotion.  Love how timely God is...this is how I desire to live.

September 2, 2013 Embrace the Wait Karen Ehman

"I say to myself, 'The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.'" Lamentations 3:24 (NIV)

My three young kids were playing near her feet in her assisted-living home. "How busy things must be at your house these days. Why I'd give anything to be able to spend an ordinary day with my children all little again. What joy!"

What joy? What was my husband's 90 year-old grandmother talking about?! As a worn-out mom I wanted the kids to get to the next stages in their lives and fast! For one to walk, another to stop wearing diapers and the third to learn to read. I wasn't joyful. I was anxious.

Now that two of my three kids have graduated from high school, I know what Grandma meant. I'd love to rewind the clock and experience one more ordinary day with my babies. If only I could make time wait, instead of waiting on time to pass.

Even so, I still have a hard time applying this lesson in the wait. Each morning I wait in the school carpool line. In the afternoon, I wait for my son's football practice to wrap up. Sometimes the coach keeps the team after for a pep talk. Some days it's a lengthy one. And so I sit. The minutes tick by threatening to tick me off.

You see, I don't like to wait.

Just this past week I waited in line at the grocery store, sat in the waiting room at the dentist's office, and lingered at the airport, anxious to board my plane. I spent hours at the DVM (Department of Motor Vehicles) so my son could get his driver's permit.

While these types of hindrances are short-lived, waiting for the next big thing can take longer and be harder. We wait on Prince Charming to appear, our house to sell, our child to take his first steps, a better job, financial relief, or physical or emotional healing to come to us or a loved one.

Just like when my kids were young, instead of patiently embracing these harder times, I have a tendency to want to rush them. I long for my circumstances to hurry up and change. To fast-forward to the next thing. But Scripture teaches us how to make it through these difficult seasons.

In those waiting times, even when life is hard, God says to us, I'll be what you need while you wait.

God steps in to be our portion for that day. He is in the wait and we'll sense that if only we will look for Him rather than always looking ahead to the next stage of life.

He was my portion as a little girl while I daydreamed about becoming a woman.

He was my portion as a woman when I waited to become a bride.

He was my portion as a new bride as I longed to become a mom.

He was my portion as a young mom as I looked forward to easier days.

And He is my portion now as I am learning to look to God when my impatient heart waits for the day when my husband and I retire and can travel more.

The point of life is not to keep looking ahead, but to look to the Lord to be our portion at every stage of life. Will you seek Him as you sit and wait? It makes the lingering have meaning. And tethers our hearts to His as we use these times to pray and ponder His goodness. Yes, right in the midst of those in-between times. It even makes the waiting sweeter.