Waiting

Waiting is a big part of this time of year: kids wait for Christmas morning to come, parents wait for Christmas morning to be over, teachers and students alike wait for school to end, workers wait for their holidays, shoppers wait for the sales and salespeople wait for their commissions. 

I'm doing a lot of waiting myself right now.  Waiting for the last few days of school to pass.  Waiting to find my niche in Thailand.  Waiting to see my family and friends next week.  Waiting to settle into a church.  Waiting to start at Nak Suu in January.  Waiting to go to Argentina next summer.  Waiting for friendships to grow.  I'm not very good at waiting.  Impatience characterizes me much more so than patience, I'm afraid. 

But I was reminded this morning in my Bible study of how important it is to wait on God. When I try to take things into my own hands, I mess things up, and sometimes in rather spectacular ways.  But when I wait on God, I find that not only is the result better, but that the process can have its benefits as well.  I was reminded today that God operates outside of time, that for him a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a day.  He is never early, never late, never too quick, never too slow. For thousands of years the Jewish people waited for the Messiah, and now we wait for his return.  We wait for the day when there is no more death or mourning or crying or pain.  We wait for every knee to bow and every tongue confess. We wait to see a gathering of all the nations praising God together.  But what a comfort it is to know that our waiting is not in vain. 

These last crazy days of the semester will eventually end.  I will in fact carve out my place here in Thailand. I will see my family and friends next week. I will choose a church and be able to settle in and connect there.  Nak Suu will start back up. July's trip to Argentina will come.  My friendships will continue to grow and deepen with time. And by then, I'm sure, I'll have a whole new list of things to wait for.