Waiting

While normally being a patient person, this was just too much! I had been visiting my grandchildren in Montana for a short time and I was more than ready to head back to Missouri. How dare the airlines cancel my late afternoon flight to Denver connecting to Springfield!

So we go to Plan B, but my travel agent couldn’t seem to find a Plan B. Flights were oversold and no, I did not want to wait another day! So, late in the morning my son Jim and I decided to go out to the airport and see if I could get on standby somewhere, anywhere to connect.

We arrived just moments before a plane left for Denver but it was oversold so I asked to be put on standby anyway. I was 4th down the line without much logical hope of getting on the plane, but I could pray. God knew my hearts desire. For some weird reason only God can explain, instead of being called 4th down, I was the first person called for standby. And I was on my way to Denver!

There was one small difference, instead of arriving in Denver at 7:10 PM to catch my flight to Springfield at 7:45 PM, I now arrived in Denver at 2:15 PM with five hours to wait! What to do while waiting? Some people I’ve known get very frustrated if they have to wait and end up exhausted. So I had a choice to make since it was too far to walk to Springfield from Denver. Would I get frustrated or make use of five hours of free time.

I think I heard some deep chuckles going on up in the recesses of heaven for I realized that I had been wishing for some extended time for writing instead of trying to find a moment here or there to work on my current book and here was a free gift of time, albeit an enforced five hours with nothing to do. I can’t even remember when I have had that much time to do as I pleased.

How many times of our lives have we been forced into a time of waiting? Waiting for things to change. Waiting for our miracle of healing or restoration. Waiting for life to get back to normal. Waiting for a door of opportunity to open. Waiting for the relationship to get better. Waiting, waiting, waiting. We don’t like waiting. We want movement, we want action, we want progress. But God says waiting can be good, because that’s when we have a choice to make of how we are going to wait. In every circumstance we have the choice of getting better or becoming bitter. Better or bitter. The only difference in the two words is the “e” or “i.” In the word bitter, it is the “I” that makes all the difference. When we get the “I” out of the word and end up with Better, we are on the road God has for us.

I’ve found if I can change the focus from waiting for what I want, to waiting on the Lord, it helps me with the waiting time. Try it. You’ll see. It’s much easier to think about waiting on God than it is to be patient with your circumstances. Waiting on the Lord gives you the sense that something is going on – only you just can’t see it now. Then you end up waiting in eager anticipation to see what God is going to do.

It reminds me of the verse in Psalm 130:5-6, “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His Word I do hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning.”

If we learn to wait on the Lord, whether in the airport or in our life, God promises as we wait on Him, and put our hope in Him, we won’t get tired, weary and anxious.

Prayer: Lord, we get so tired of waiting – we want things fixed and fixed now. Yet, I’m reminded even when we want a situation fixed, maybe it’s the people You’re concerned with more than the circumstances. I don’t want my impatience to get in the way of all You desire to do in me or others. Help me to keep my focus on You and remain in peace in my waiting time. Amen.