Patiently Waiting, or Wasting Time?

While waiting for a 2 minute video to download on my mobile phone I decided to patiently wait and give it time.  But when the downloading time was longer than the video itself I decided to stop trying and just delete the message from my phone and maybe later watch it on my computer.  Another time about four years ago when I moved to my new apartment I had to catch a bus to the train station.  The bus stop is only a 2 minute walk from my building and I arrived a few minutes early before the arrival of the next bus.  It was late, yet I waited.

Well it never came and it was time for the next bus, and the temperature was cold and wet.  The second bus was late too (and there was no transportation strike – ‘greve’ en Francais, for if there had been, I could have investigated the times on the internet or possibly walked to the “gare” – station – a 30 minute walk), and I didn’t know what to do.  What if I walked away and the bus arrived, and I would be too far away to run back to it? (That has happened to me too.)  How late would the buses be? Was it normal for this bus line and company to be unusually late?  Was this a sign of what I had to look forward to and expect living in this new city?  I continued to wait.  After 35 minutes in the cold, the bus finally came.  By this time I was no longer waiting alone, but I had waited the longest.

So how do we decide when waiting is profitable and when it is a complete waste of time?  I’m sincerely asking this question because I don’t know.  For instance, if you’re waiting for someone to meet you and they are late, and you don’t hear from them, how long should you wait?  How can you decide whether to wait or to leave?  What if you call them but they don’t respond to your phone calls?  You don’t know if they’ve lost their phone, or if it was stolen, or if the battery died, or if they had an accident and cannot respond.  So how long do you wait, and how do you decide when you’re being patient and when you’re wasting time?  That’s just a few possible scenarios.

In our American culture, or at least my family culture in America, we did not wait too long for things to happen to and for us.  We were taught that idle hands were the devil’s workshop and we needed to be “doing” something at all times.  So we, or at least I sought jobs to make money that I may acquire what I needed and wanted thus not having to wait and depend upon others.  Even God, because being invisible He’s slower than anyone I’ve ever met.  At least concerning me.

One of the things I hate most in life is waste, and wasting time has to be the number one on my list of “things I hate most”.  I like for every moment to be filled with something constructive and productive; I like for every moment to count.  This doesn’t mean (anymore at least) that I have to be “kill-myself busy” but it does mean that I should be able to answer the question “why are you doing that”? with an answer of productivity “because . . .”

In the Bible, in the book of Genesis, Abraham and Sarah had to wait a long time to receive, or to catch the bus they were promised, by God, would come.   He never told them when the bus would arrive, at least not for 24 years He didn’t.  Can you imagine waiting for the bus for 24 years and it never comes, or the one you need to catch never comes, or the one you do catch turns out to be the wrong one and it takes you a route far away (Shrek II) and out of the way of your destination, and you have to spend time and energy (bus tickets and money, and you have to go to the bathroom – this is not America, and you’re hungry because 4+ hours have passed since your last meal, and you’re already late for your rendezvous, and your feet hurt from fatigue from standing on and off the bus because it was packed like sardines so it didn’t matter that you wore your Reebok orthopedic walking shoes.  You now need to invest in standing shoes.)?  Humph.

Anyhoooo, another couple (in the New Testament) had prayed for years for a bus to come their way, and they never received a promise or indication that their prayers would be answered according to their request.  No one answered their telephone calls.  The phone just rang and rang.  It would have been better if an operator had answered and said “this number is not in service.” :-)  So they finally “let it go”.  Then one day in their old age, while they were minding their own business and doing their daily and civic and religious duties, the hubby received an unscheduled visit from a representative of the bus company.  Zachariah was told that a bus line was going to be created through his neighborhood stopping right in front of his house, so he would never have to miss it because the driver would blow the horn upon arriving and would wait for him and/or his wife to descend.  It was a “special services” bus line.  Hmmmm.  His waiting paid off?! You might ask or exclaim, but really, what choice did he have?  He was trapped by his “job” (and lineage assignment) – the priesthood, so he was not able to take a second wife while his wife was living, or a concubine to fill in the “missing children” blanks of their life.  He lived in a perpetual state of waiting, never knowing if his heart’s desire would be fulfilled.

In our “do it yourself” society and “create your own destiny” world, and “your destiny is in your hands” existence, we believe it is ludicrous to wait that long and pray without a sign to an invisible Being Who is not only NOT hearing and listening, but Who might not answer the prayer according to the desire.  We live in a “why wait, when and if you have the resources to make things happen for yourself?” society.  We no longer believe it’s necessary to believe in invisible resources when we’re surrounded by so much man-made amenities.  We don’t really need God like that anymore, do we?  Even those of us in Christendom have problems believing and waiting on God.  I should know.  That’s why I can write this article with sincerity.

So what do you/we do?  I don’t know.  I cannot tell anyone what to do for his/her life because I don’t know what your tomorrow holds.  I don’t know what my own tomorrow holds. :-)  I don’t know God’s purpose for creating you and what He will, and will not allow to happen in, with, to and for you.  I am not one of those to make blanket statements using Bible verses to make people believe God will or will not do certain things for them, without seeing the bigger picture concerning His purpose for their lives.  I’ve done that for years and it has not worked for me.  Some of us get to choose and some of us don’t.   I’m having my own challenges dealing with learning my own purpose for being on this earth, and thus why I have to be so different from everyone else.

If you’re a true believer in Jesus Christ then you have to do what your beliefs in Christ will govern you to do according to His written and revealed will.  If you’re not a believer in Christ - and what I mean by ‘believer’ is: one who not only has asked Jesus to come into his/her heart as Savior, but who is everyday surrendering themselves to God’s will and choices for his/her life, allowing the Lord to be the governor even against one’s own desires and drives.  (It is not easy if you are one full of dreams like I have been.)  So if this description does not fit you - then you can knock yourself out doing your life the way you want.  Nevertheless, there are consequences on both sides of the fence.

The Christian life is simple and not complicated, but it is not easy because we have to daily choose Someone else’s will for our lives over our own will.  When we are finally consumed by His love and sacrifice for us, and we agree with Him – saying what He says and learning to think as He thinks, then choosing His will won’t be hard at all (for we will be one with Him in our heart), and waiting won’t be, or won’t feel like a waste of time.  So how do we know if we’re patiently waiting or if we’re wasting time? 

Well, unless we have a schedule to guide us, or some other form of specific communication, all we can do is wait and see.  When you’ve done all you can do to “rectify” the situation, investigate and educate yourself; when you’ve gone as far as your resources will allow you to go, all you are left with is waiting.  In Abraham and Sarah’s day, and Zachariah and Elizabeth’s time, when it came to wanting to have children, they did not have clinics to help them.  (And they had the financial resources to cover all the bases if those clinics had existed.)  Abraham’s culture allowed him to have multiple wives and concubines and maids to have children, but doing so did not fulfill the promise God gave him and his wife.  God told him that his own wife, Sarah by name, would have his promised child.  So all he could do was wait for the right bus to come and take them to their destination, no matter how long he would have to wait.
 

If you have a promise from a credible source, then your waiting won’t be in vain, and it won’t be a waste of time if you use it constructively.  Even if they’re a little bit late, either they will eventually show up, or they will “contact” you, somehow, some way.  Waiting is only a waste of time if you come away from it having learned nothing new that you can use for living.  “They that wait upon 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 [NKJV]

Peace.     

More Fabric Softener Please! :-)

I remember back in the late 70s when fabric softener sheets made their debut in our house.  My favorite brand became “Cling Free” right away because they were not made of perfumed paper but of spongy sheets. J  And of course they smelled oh so good.  I was hooked.  But as time passed, and not too much time I might add, the amount of product in the sheets decreased and also the fragrance did not last in your clothing as when the sheets first hit the market.  Yet the price did not reflect the decrease of product in the sheets.  Pas du tout.  I felt like I was being cheated so I switched to liquid fabric softeners, and I fell in love again.  Ah, love affairs.  LOL!! 

Well you know what happened there too because perhaps it has happened to you.  You find a fabric softener you like for the right price and all is well for a while.  Then new names pop up with new fragrances and you get the roving eye and nose, and gradually your favorite is not the only one you love. J  You now have multiple lovers in multiple colors, sizes, and shapes.  So you make your rounds, sometimes buying more than one at a time because there are just too many to settle for just one at a time.  Ahem.  Then the prices rise and the sizes shrink, and now it’s more economical to buy refill tubes.

So, with these tubes you are instructed as to how much water to mix with the concentrated liquid, which means you now control the strength of the product.  Hmmm.  Not a bad idea eh?  More softener please.  Maybe some people will take this to mean if they add more water than instructed they can make the liquid last longer, and you would be right.  But would the results be as satisfying?  Watered-down fabric softener makes for . . . You get the feeling don’t you?

On the other hand maybe some people would use less water in the mix thinking this will make the clothing softer.  This too may be correct, but of course the product will not last as long as it is supposed to and you will be refilling more often than you had planned.  Not really sure if it’s created to work best that way, but hey, not sure it would hurt either.  It’s your call bien sur. 

Well, I’m of the old school that if you’re going to read the instructions at all, you might as well follow them to the letter.  So I usually mix the right amount of water with the concentrate.  But I noticed that without the usage of a clothes dryer, air drying ones clothing, even when using fabric softener in the right amount does not always result in soft clothes.  This is absolutely no fun.  And en plus, where is the fragrance that caught my nose and desire causing me to two-time my previous fabric softener choice?  So I decided to add an extra cap or two of fabric softener, but then I forgot about it. 

While folding the towels I noticed that they were softer and I wondered how is this possible?  Then I had a duh-aha-voila-eureka moment.  I had added more fabric softener.  Hmmm.  And the fragrance was there too, which made my normal chore of folding clothes fun again.  Fabric softener truly can make washing, drying and folding clothes a fun passing of time.  It doesn’t have to be a boring chore, or a chore at all.  But something else happened while I was savoring the feeling and fragrance of clean clothing.  I heard Holy Spirit say “This is what YOU need, more softener in your soul.  It will change your character.”  Wow!!  Ouch too.  LOL!!  Talk about a eureka moment.

As I moved in closer to receive this great revelation from Holy Spirit, He said to me that time with Jesus, day in and day out is like adding fabric softener to the fabric of our characters.  The texture of me (and you) becomes changed and easier to “wear”, like lamb’s skin. J  You get the picture don’t you?  Romans 12:2 states,  “. . . be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” [Emphasis mine.]  Can you say “Transformer?”

I Corinthians 13:4-8 describes for us the many facets of God’s nature and personality – Love.  God IS Love, and Love is patient (God is patient), Love is kind (God is kind), Love is . . . etc.  Also Galatians 5:22-23 gives flavor to our Lord (“oh taste and see that the Lord is good”)[Psalm 34:8] calling His character traits “The Fruit of the Spirit”.  We know that we become like the ones we spend the most time with, whether we socialize with them in person, through books, through the internet and television, etc.  We take on the mannerisms of others and they take on our mannerisms too. 

You notice how two strangers can meet, spend some time together, fall in love and then marry.  Then after a few years they begin to look like each other, talk like one another, maybe even walk with the same gait especially if they have taken many long walks together.  They may even finish one another’s sentences or say the same things at the same time because they are thinking alike.  They can feel when the other one is upset or happy even when they’re not in the same room or city; Because their hearts have become one.  The textures of their personalities have become intertwined changing their original single way of being, creating a whole new tapestry, but yet somehow still maintaining their own uniqueness.  Yes, this is spiritual for sure.  Heart to heart, mind to mind, soul to soul. . .  And this is what God desires to have and be with us.  One.

I noticed that the more time I spend not just reading God’s Word but letting His Word read me, I see me like I’ve never seen me before. J  I begin to see me like God sees me, the good, the bad and the ugly.  The good He uses to encourage me that I am not a bad person and that He loves and accepts me just as I am, so when I see the bad I don’t become depressed.  And whoa when the ugly rears its ugly head that I don’t give up, throw in the towel and call it quits.  The Lord is not about just identifying what’s wrong with us, but He’s about revealing to us Himself in us, who and what we are to become in and through, and by and for His Son Jesus the Christ, the Ultimate Soul Fabric Softener.  See, when we are impatient and unkind to ourselves, we have really rough personalities.  We can smile all the time and say nice things in a sweet voice, but there is always an edge to our disposition which is cutting and biting, and sensitive people can sense it (and see the bite marks in our personality) and they may even move away from us in advance, because they don’t know when we might strike. 

When we are impatient and unkind to ourselves it means we lack . . . Love, Which is patient, Who is kind. . .  I know that’s kind of tight, but it’s right.  When we don’t exercise the Fruit of the Spirit towards our own selves (love, joy, peace, longsuffering, patience, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, temperance) then we have not been very nice to ourselves, which means we will not know how to be nice to others.  We are “softless”.  J  Just rough not only around the edges, but throughout our entire personalities.  We can’t give to others what we don’t have. We cannot take others where we’ve not been.  We cannot teach others what we have not learned.  And we cannot give until we have received. 

God desires for His love to be a reality in our lives, not just an abstract principle we read on a bumper sticker or lapel pin, and not just something we say to people when we don’t know what to say, “God loves you.”  He wants us to know exactly what it means (feels, sounds, tastes, smells like) in our everyday reality and interactions first with ourselves, then with our families, friends, coworkers and the world beyond our world.  But this can only happen as we continually make time for Him as our priority 24-7.  He cannot be secondary and His Word cannot be an option. 

To be honest with you, I did not know how mean to oneself one really is when he or she is impatient.  Maybe we react impatiently towards others on a daily basis, but that means we’ve first been impatient with ourselves.  Life is so much more calm and peaceful now that I am exercising patience with myself (and eating the other Fruit too).  No more internal stress, less injuries, and the roses smell oh so nice. J  I didn’t have to water down the fabric softener to make it last longer because there’s a never ending supply from where that comes.  Jesus never runs out.  Neither did I have to use less water to get the softness I desire.  I can follow the instructions to the letter and still get what I need and want.  (And no static cling!!)  All I have to do is add more fabric softener, and enjoy the feeling being soft brings.  You can never add too much of the Ultimate Fabric Softener, Jesus Christ.  So go ahead, pour Him in and see what happens.  I’m sure you will love the results.

Peace.