When our Nelson was three years old, he noticed the table set for dinner and climbed into his junior chair, hoping for something to eat. I was busy dishing up four bowls of fruit when he began to whine. “I’m hungry! I wanna eat now!”
“Pretty soon,” I said. “When Papa gets home.”
As his complaining escalated, I became irritated he wouldn’t wait and told him to go find something to do away from the kitchen. But before he did, he asked three weighty questions.
“Do I have to obey you?”
“You should,” I said.
“But do you have to obey anyone?”
For the sake of the analogy, I said, “Yes. Papa.”
“Then who does Papa have to obey?”
I could see where he was going. “Jesus,” I said.
There was a pause, and then he said, “Well… I just heard the Lord Jesus tell you, ‘Give that Nelson a bowl of fruit’!”
It was good theology, but he still had to wait.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The older I get, the more I see that life is full of unpleasant waiting. This morning during my prayer time, every situation I prayed over was something I’d been praying about for a long time. In some cases it’s been decades.
God isn’t asleep at the switch, and he’s not ignoring me. To the contrary, every one of my prayers has been heard and answered. But almost every answer has been, “Wait.” There’s a valid reason, though. As I’m asking the Lord to do things in the lives of others, he’s also interested in doing things in mine. And insisting I wait is effective toward that end.
He is also “setting the scene” for the best possible outcome, one that belongs to him.
Thirty years ago when our first three children were three, five and seven, they begged to have their own gardens. We’d had a 50 x 60 ft. kitchen garden in previous years, and although the kids had sporadically participated, Nate and I had done most of the work. They did help husk corn for dinner and pick beans to boil, but of course that was the fun part, the grand finale.
I liked the idea of their own small gardens. It would be a good way to teach the difficult concepts of waiting and delayed gratification. We turned over a strip of dirt on the south side of the garage and divided it into three sections. After a trip to the local nursery for seed packets and a few plants, they proudly stood in front of their handiwork for photos.
During the weeks to come, my nagging them to weed and water grew old for all of us, but they did have mild success, maybe 30%. As for the other 70%, it was just too hard to labor all summer while waiting for produce.
When it gets hard to wait, especially to see a harvest of spiritual fruit in myself or someone else, it’s helpful to remember God’s description of life’s brevity. Because once I’ve left this world as Nate has done, I don’t want to look back at all I missed and say, “Oh, if I’d only waited!”
“Since the world began, no ear has heard, and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him!” (Isaiah 64:4)
Thanks for your insight this morning.
Thank you Margaret. I am on a season of waiting. Waiting for Didier’s visa to come back to the Statesd, waiting for my family to be reunited…sometimes is hard and hopeless but then life surprises with little treasures of encouragement, like your blog 🙂 God bless you!
Wow, that Nelson was sharp as a tack even as a three year old!! Impressive ability to grasp a logic chain- math must be in his genes. 🙂
Don’t you wish sometimes that a thousand years was more like a day for us and not the other way around, and that we could see with so much more rapidity the redemption and resolution of things? The Bible does seem to be filled with long spans of time on God’s part and finger tapping on ours. 100 years to build the ark, 40 days Moses was up on the mountain, provoking the people below to take matters into their own hands, not to mention the years he was being seasoned for his ultimate task of leading 40 years of wilderness wanderings. 400 years of silence between the testaments. Even Jesus was 30 years in the wood shop, and now it’s been two thousand years waiting for His return. Kind of makes you think about how long eternity is since the Lord of eternity is not at all antsy.
Tantalizing bowl of fruit- I can delay gratification no longer and am heading up to create my own food rainbow for breakfast!
Love,
Terry
The 4-year old daughter of a young mother I know came to her mom and said, “God and I just had a talk.” “Oh?” said her mother. “Yes – I asked Him if I had to take a nap today, and He said I didn’t”. (Big grin). They learn to work the system so early in life.
Marni, you are on a roll these past weeks! I couldn’t resist posting on this one.
I remember a sermon that Colin Smith gave a few years back on this very subject and he said that waiting is one of the most beautiful displays of love that there is. He powerfully illustrated the loving family member or friend that waits next to someone sick or injured in a hospital bed.
I’m sure that the Lord views our waiting as worship, just as he does our suffering for His sake.
In James 1 it says that “testing of our faith produces patience, and patience will have it’s perfect work that you may be complete and lacking nothing.”
Its encouraging to know that in our waiting we are being made more like Him, whether we realize it or not.
That’s funny. i have been telling people you gave me the fruit. i guess not… great story either way.
Today,I read this blog again and Luke’s comment screamed at me. It made more sense and blessed me double. There is so much insight gained by reading these blogs and comments. Thank you for blessing me today.
Nelson was a bright one wasn’t he–at 3 no less! We had a “kitchen garden” when the kids were little–I did most of the work–so much for the lessons of work, water and watch! This year, the first time since I was a fairly young mother, I have my own “kitchen garden” to water and watch–the tomatoes (4) are going crazy and the greens got away in our heat, but I am still amazed at what God does with the little seeds I planted. Hmmmmm will those spiritual seeds do as well??? I am praying so.
Blessings dear Margaret! I have been doing wedding planning so have not kept up with your blog very well these last few weeks–kids begin to arrive on the 10th and the wedding is on the 22. John is officiant and doing the counseling for Beck and Josh. We are praying for a spiritual breakthrough for them both!!
I am in a season of waiting while the life insurance claim is processed. It would be easier to make some decisions if I knew when that would come. However, God is teaching me the importance of waiting for Him to give direction, open doors, provide, etc. Thanks for the reminder.