The Waiting Game

I guess we all survived Black Friday without too much damage, although there were a few minor mishaps at Dave and Sally's house. Several of the next generation went shopping in the middle of the night and got locked out of the house upon their return. Nothing that a few discreet taps on the window couldn't fix, though! Several of us went to Starbucks at 7 AM and witnessed there was still a line outside Best Buy. I'm not a big shopper- after all, it's not Christmas Eve yet. Still, last week, KOHL'S very kindly sent me a $10 gift card so I ventured out to their nearby store as I concurrently gassed up for the drive back to Houston. I found two pairs of shoes on sale but could not find the matching boxes to the ones offered at discount. Turning to the ties, I found a 50% off ARROW tie that I liked. I should have mentioned I also had a 15% discount which would have made my bill after taxes approximately five dollars. I got in line which stretched all the way around the shoe department. In three minutes, we had not moved at all, so I considered my options. Perhaps wait in line for an hour for something I can probably get for less at a later date when it's marked down 90%..... or go home which at the time was Dave and Sally's. I chose option B and left with absolutely no regrets and no tie. What's that old proverb? You have to fish or cut bait? Well, I did one of them, just not sure which. Sometimes those old sayings confuse more than confirm a certain truth!

Waiting isn't bad. My rule for coming off basketball screens is, "WAIT! WAIT! WAIT!" We tell kids to wait their turn and in a more mature sense, we preach to them to, "Wait until marriage!" But we are an anxious species at times, wanting to speed up everyday processes. We switch lines constantly at the grocery store, hoping to save at most a minute or two and often costing ourselves more time. But waiting for the right moment in God's time is an eternal quality of faithfulness. Abraham waited to become a father. Zechariah and Elizabeth waited to become parents although it looks like Zechariah may have given up. David waited for God to give him the throne that Saul held rather than intervene with weapons forged by man. It's here you likely are waiting for me to quote Isaiah 40:31 so I will oblige! 
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. (KJV)
It's so much easier said than done. We run ahead like children run ahead of their moms and dads in their excitement to get to the park or the beach or the ice cream stand. Paul spoke several times of waiting for the Lord to return. Many of us seem in no rush for that to happen! But everything will happen in His time, a hard concept for us earthlings to grasp. Solomon wrote in Ecclesiates 3 that, 
He (God)has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
I hate to quibble with David's amzingly brilliant son but I perhaps I caught just a glimpse of eternity on Black Friday. It looks suspiciously like a loooonnnggg line of shoppers in the Kohl's on Rock Road in Wichita, Kansas in the day after Thanksgiving. I just couldn't wait.

Applicable quote of the day:
But the important thing about learning to wait, I feel sure, is to know what you are waiting for. 
Anna Neagle

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
www.hawleybooks.com
E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com