Patience does not come easy.

MN Public Radio Picture

As I watch another April snow shower blanket my Minnesota home and as I struggle to rehabilitate a sprained ankle, I realize how impatient I am. I yearn to be where I am not. I want quick fixes and instant answers. I want to run NOW. I want spring NOW.

Yet inside I hear a different voice calming my restless heart, a true voice calling me to wait patiently.

Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up on wings life eagles. They shall run and not grow weary (Isaiah 40:31).

Waiting is not a virtue in our American society. We hate waiting in lines, waiting for an event to start, waiting for a spouse to arrive, waiting for leaders to act. We think waiting is for wimps. After all we want ACTION heroes, not WAITING heroes.

Yet the Bible is filled with stories of waiting. Abraham and Sarah waited decades for the birth of a son. David waited years to become king. Israel waited centuries for a Messiah. When Paul begins his great description of love in I Corinthians 13, the first descriptor is “love is patient” (I Cor. 13:4).

As I listen to that inner, calming voice to wait, I realize that many things are at work. God’s Spirit is active, breathing new life into my spirit. I learn to live in the present moment, to be awake and at peace. These moments of awareness are intermittent; l slip back into self-pity. Still I wait, remembering an Objibway proverb,

Sometimes I go about pitying myself, and all the time I am being carried on great winds across the sky.

Spring will eventually come. I will at some point run again. But for now I wait on the Lord.

Lord Jesus, I wait with you.