The Waiting Space

"Hear, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances that I am addressing to you today; you shall learn them and observe them diligently." - Deuteronomy 5:1b

Dear Friends in Christ -

It happens on a fairly regular basis that my 5 1/2-year-old son asks me for something and, in the few seconds of space while I'm still deciding what to give him, he throws a fit. Then, of course, if I was going to give him exactly what he wanted right that minute, I have to give him a consequence first. When he learns to wait, the quality of his little life will improve significantly.

I wonder if there's a similar dynamic going on between us and God. In the Scripture passage we read yesterday, we heard Jesus himself encouraging us to ask God for things. And he pretty much promised that God would answer and that we would 'receive.' But yet, we often don't feel like we 'receive.' Why is that?

Well, perhaps it's because we don't wait. And if we do wait, we don't wait long enough. Let's face it, most of the stuff we ask God for is significant, and maybe God needs time to be with us, to pray for us, to prepare us to receive. But instead of believing in God's goodness and waiting patiently for His loving response, we stomp off in our own direction. When God gives you what you asked for, will you still be around to receive it?

Because God is the good, wise parent that He is, He has given us something to do in that waiting space: to learn and observe the Commandments diligently. Doing this is not our ticket to get what we want; it's our way of being faithful to the One who is faithful to us, especially in the waiting spaces.

Struggling to be faithful in the waiting spaces,
Janet+