Waiting

Waiting has never been a popular word. Delay is an experience one frequently reads about in positive terms. But, times of waiting comes to everyone.

• The best athletes in the nation must wait for their name to be called on draft day.
• The accused in court pace and wait while a jury decides their guilt or innocense.
• Early adolescents must wait to qualify for the all-important driver’s license.
• Expectant parents cannot believe how long takes for their baby to arrive.
• And, nearly everyone expecting a refund from the Internal Revenue Service is intentionally delaying their check.
• If we chose a line – anywhere – bank, toll booth, super market check out, we get caught in a wait cycle.
Men endure waiting, standing like whooping cranes shifting their weight from one leg to another. Ladies smile – and seethe under their breath. I’ve noticed, and felt the hot air canceling out the air conditioning. Do I have a witness? Is there an “Amen!” in the house? Come on, fess up!

More than two months ago I began preparing a vegetable garden, my first since the mid 1980's. Tiller, mulch, humus, manure, spade, hoe and other words were reintroduced into my vocabulary. After all the preparations were made, seeds were sown and plants in place, I waited, and waited. And, now, radishes, bell peppers, lettuce, tomatoes, beans, cucumbers and zucchini, lots of zucchini are ready for the dinner table. Germination and growth cannot be rushed.

The prophets promised Messiah hundreds of years before the shepherds heard the glad announcement by the heavenly hosts. “ ... when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.” – Galatians 4:4-5
Joel prophesied generations before his words were fulfilled. But they were, on the Day of Pentecost. Peter recognized that the expected time had arrived and declared to all who heard, “Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:” – Acts 2:14-18 We are still experiencing the promise today!

And, we await the fulfillment of still another promise. “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.” – 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18

Waiting may not be easy or convenient, but is always worthwhile when we are expecting the fulfillment of His promises. Now, I should hear a loud, “Amen!