I have never been very good at waiting, but it seems pretty clear to me by this point in my life that it is one of those tools the Lord uses to inform me of areas of character He has not yet fully sanctified.

 

I can’t even recall my earliest waiting experience, but I know there were all the usual ones most of us relate to. Waiting for Christmas morning, waiting to get a grade on a test, waiting to hear if I were picked for a team or a part in a play, waiting for summer vacation, waiting to go see the movie I anticipated…. and the list goes on.

 

Sometimes when we are young, we are also waiting to grow up so we get to do all those things we think are better than the things we get to do now.

 

 We tend to try to rush life along when we are young. We want to experience that first car, first date, first job, first apartment, and so much more. Maybe life as a child or teen seems to drag along because we are too often waiting on what we think will be better ahead and never savor the now of childhood.

 

My dislike of waiting highlights my impatience, my self-centered existence, and my wavering faith and trust to name just a few things.

 

As I got older, I still felt like “I can’t wait” when I was waiting on a child to be born, waiting on a decision about a new job, or waiting to hear my husband was on his way home from being overseas. That feeling began to be tempered, however, as time and experience taught me that the news was not always what I hoped for, the opportunity did not always manifest itself, and prayers were not always answered in the time or way I wished.

 

God truly is sovereign! He is ever looking out for our best and how to shape and mold us to look like, be like, and do things more like Him. I don’t think any of us can imagine Him pacing impatiently around heaven because the news He is expecting has not yet arrived.

 

 Some seasons of waiting are especially difficult. Things like waiting on medical test results, homecomings for service members, waiting for some injustice to be made right, and news of a job when we are unemployed are not easy no matter what our age or season of life.

 

Scripture often reminds us to wait. How often has someone quoted Isaiah 40:31 to you in your season of waiting?

 

“…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 40:31 (ESV)

 

In a hard waiting season, the words may feel much less comforting than the person who spoke them may desire them to be.

 

How I wait and likely how you wait is very much affected by a great many variables including, but not limited to:

 

• The meaning or value of the thing or one we are waiting for
• Our perspective on whether we anticipate something positive or fear something negative
• Our past experience with waiting
• How we view God’s goodness toward us as well as His faithfulness and trustworthiness
• How much we own of God’s love for us

 

As I was reflecting on this today, I tried to turn this around and look at it differently. When I did, other perspectives came to mind that were not there before.

 

• How long did God wait for me to accept Him and make Him a priority?
• How long has God been waiting on His church to love Him above all others and to be prepared as His bride for His return?
• How long has God waited for me, you, or any of us to recognize the truth about Him, the truth about ourselves, and what He desires?

 

These questions begin to adjust my perspective and remind me that He does not see or experience time as I do or you do.

 

He always and forever looks at things through an eternal lens with an everlasting perspective.

 

That brings me to repentance for my impatience for so many temporal things, temporal answers, and temporal desires.

 

It also reminds me that my eagerness for His return is the one desire that should temper all else and remind me of His goodness toward us. It causes eagerness in the waiting because of the confidence in that goodness and faithfulness.

 

Will it also influence my living while I wait?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the midst of gift-wrapping, cookie baking, company, and all the trappings of Christmas, thousands of people stood in line for the opening of the latest Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens. Even before the movie was released theaters had sold out early for showings as a result of the enthusiasm for the return of our favorite characters.

 

Many times movie sequels don’t live up to our expectations or hopes, but as all box office records for this movie are shattered, there is little doubt that viewers everywhere are once again caught up in the exploits of Hans Solo, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, R2-D2, and C-3PO.

 

It has been a bit more than thirty-eight years since we first met these characters and now a whole new generation is flocking to theaters to see it while their parents and grandparents talk about the excitement that the first movie generated.

 

Yes, I saw the movie, as did my children and grandchildren. Yes, we talked about May 1977 when we waited in line for an hour to see the first movie.

 

This is the seventh movie produced by George Lucas and enriched by the musical score of John Williams. By summer of 2017, an eighth movie in the series will be released. We’ll need to wait to see how the response goes for that one.

 

You may not be a fan of the movie and may not have seen it. I am okay with that and won’t spoil anything for those of you still planning to see it.

 

What captures our hearts in the stories we love best?

 

 There can be many reasons any one of us might give, but as I revisited this historic series with children and grandchildren I think we love it because of the major theme that is played out through each of the movies in the series: the battle between good and evil, light and dark.

 

For as long as stories have been told, such stories have become some of the best loved stories. In another era, we saw the theme play out in numerous movies and TV series where cowboys and outlaws rode across the big and small screen alike. Even though that era is long gone, theme songs from some of those still live on. (Ask my grandchildren about The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly and you will hear an immediate rendition of the familiar theme.)

 

Somewhere inside of us we have a strong desire to see justice served, to see good triumph over evil, and light to prevail over darkness.

 

 It may not be as obvious as it once was when times may have appeared simpler, but if you look for it you will see it still exists.

 

My youngest grandson has his eleventh birthday today and there is a story about him that immediately comes to mind to illustrate.

 

A number of years ago, he, his two sisters, and older brother were out for a walk in their neighborhood. Suddenly, some neighborhood boys began to shoot hard berries through their Nerf guns at his sisters. None of them had resulted in damage, but this grandson was none too happy about what was happening. He believed immediately that something should be done and told his older brother so. His older brother assured him all would be well if they simply ignored these bullies.

 

That did not sit well with this grandson. Even though he was the youngest and smallest, he took off running and chasing the neighborhood boys and yelling that they had better not hurt his sisters. It was a moment of triumph! The very boys creating the trouble fled before his ire. Justice was served.

 

It isn’t the first story where the youngest and smallest defeated an enemy. We all love the story of David and Goliath and the courage and resolve David exhibited as he launched a stone into Goliath’s head to fell the powerful giant.

 

One of the reasons we have had so many movies made of Bible stories is their depiction of epic stories of battles between good and evil, darkness and light, quests for justice, and desire for a hero to emerge. Perhaps it is that echo within us that draws us to other stories with such themes played out on large and small screens over many seasons and years.

 

What we forget too often is that every day of our lives we are caught up in just such a story! We have a role in an epic war and battle-by-battle we inch our way closer to the closing scene, the final battle, where the King of Kings brings ultimate justice to those who have resisted His love, mercy, and grace for thousands of years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today we not only turn the page to a new day and new month, but also a new year. If you are reading this, you have been given the gift of life and time once more.

 

What will you do with this gift?

 

Each of us will choose how we spend it and sometimes forget that how much we are given is unknown to us.

 

It can be easy for us to complain about time. Some say they have too much time on their hands while others say they never have enough time to do all they want to do. I get that! I have experienced both at one time or another, but more of the latter.

 

I have reached the conclusion that even though there are “must do” things in every day whether it is work, household chores, or other assignments I have agreed to, I am still the one who is to steward the time. I make many choices about what my days and weeks look like. Many of the “have to do” things reflect my priorities, my values, my preferences, and my passions.

 

They also reflect consequences of other choices I have made. What kind? What I chose to do with education and how that impacts the choice of my work and even location. Yes, things can happen outside of my choices. There are forces outside of my control that act on me. I can become ill through no fault of my own, but I can also become ill because I did not steward my physical health by good choices about sleep, food, and exercise.

 

Each day we receive a blank page. What am I writing on it? What will you write on yours?

 

 What we write each day weaves many threads together that becomes ‘our’ story. That is likely most evident in a new year when we set goals for the year ahead, resolutions for what we want to do differently in order to be different.

 

What will you write?

 

 The key to that answer is whether we recognize we are each a part of a much larger story, God’s story. It can be easy to forget that. We can get caught up with the notion that the story is about us rather than remember He has created each of us to be a part of a much larger story than we could ever create and that it is His story.

 

Even so, He gives us a lot of leverage in how our part of it will play out no matter what our role may be.

 

A long time ago I heard a graduation speaker share this:

 

“If you love life, do not waste time because time is what life is made of and what you are is God’s gift to you. What you make of yourself is your gift to God.”

 

The memory of that statement has remained etched in my mind. When I was younger, I thought I needed to fill up my days to not waste time. Now I recognize there are many ways to fill up a day and the speaker didn’t mean to cram each day’s schedule to the brim. I believe he meant that each day should count whether I was working, appreciating the beauty around me and being in touch with the One who created it, or handling the duties that might come to me as a wife and mother.

 

I don’t take time for granted.

 

 So, today as we turn the page on another day, month, and year, what will you choose?

 

Will you gain new insights in the role the Lord has invited you to play in His story?

 

 Will you value your role whether it seems large or small?

 

 Just remember. Each day you are given the opportunity to add a few lines to His story. He loved you that much and invited you to create with Him and to therefore bring honor and glory to Him about all others.

 

 What will you write?