THE LONG SLOWNESS

Life at times can feel like it is in slow motion. This seems to happen the most when we are most in need of some change or dream to come true.

The more we sense that good is coming, the more anxious we can become. Sometimes if we know the change will take a while it is easy to get frustrated and wonder why the time needs to be spent waiting?

Timing with the Lord is never by our clock. God doesn't do things according to our schedule no matter how much we wish he would.

That is part of the challenge of the life of faith. It truly can be the only thing we can do in some cases. Just to trust to the Lord and wait upon him to move with his hand to bring about change.

While one waits, we can always struggle with trying to understand what benefit comes from the wait. Our mind can erupt with countless questions and possibilities.

But in all our speculation and pondering, we still must trust to the Lord for the timing to be complete. That is never as easy to accomplish as we desire.

Then too we come to that point later where we do get the chance to look back and see the wisdom of a given period of waiting. Those times can be cornerstones of faith for future moments when we have to wait again.

Remembering during a long drama of demand upon our patience can be really difficult. For some nearly impossible.

I've never been accused of having lots of patience. So for me, any waiting can be agony. It hardly inspires me day.

But I'm comforted at times by the Lord's mercy. How he manages to give me strength to cope with such waits.

The biggest problem in terms of waiting is that as a test of faith, it grows more difficult with each new challenge. Thus more patience is needed with each new test.

In my case, right now, I'm face with the biggest challenge to my faith in terms of changing coming that will definitely make a major difference in my life. Yet, God has also touched me in a special way. I have found myself, despite the depth of my longing, actually having a peace about it.

I can't say that will be the case tomorrow. But for now, I'm just clinging to the vision to come. It gives me a reason at times to smile that I didn't have before.

Which for me is a special blessing in its own right.