Waiting,,,,,

I have never been a fan of waiting.  I can do it...and have become quite good at it, but it is not may favorite activity.  I have always felt that waiting wastes time, but I have been reminded (yet again) that this is not necessarily so.  There are times in our lives when waiting is a necessary evil.  The anticipation of a slow cooked roast can be torture as the scent of roasted beef wafts through the house.  Shortening the time, however, provides a less than satisfactory results.  A well brewed cup of coffee is infinitely superior to instant; and the long wait for home-made bread to rise is well worth the effort.

I am reminded today that some things just take time...God's time.  Forcing a bud open before it blooms only destroys the rose; the beauty is lost.  So we wait. 

Today's waiting is in the hospital.  Here in the ICU next to my sister's bed the waiting has been a different experience.  What are we waiting for?  We are not certain...we are waiting for God.  Not that He hasn't arrived...He has been here all along.  We are not waiting on His grace and mercy, for they are boundless; nor are we waiting on His loving arms to reach around us, for they have been holding us up for ever so long.

We are waiting for God to reveal His miracle.  We have already been told it is coming, we just don't know the form in which it will come.  Tonight we trust His perfect will and bask in His grace; His love; His endless, powerful presence. 

I have witnessed His miracles before.  Sometimes they amaze and delight us; other times they arrive in forms we didn't anticipate, or even want.  But they are miracles regardless.  

So we wait...in the center of a peace that passes all understanding.