I have been waiting. Waiting for a very long year to be over. Waiting for my marriage to heal. Waiting for a job, a new home. Waiting for forgiveness, grace and redemption. Waiting for anger and bitterness to no longer be part of me. I have been waiting for the sun to come and stay, for winter to be over. I have even been waiting for my tulips to bloom. You would think by this time I would be the master at the waiting game, or if anything I would be a patient person. Instead I am just tired.
A friend sent me a text this other day from Romans 8:22-28:
All
around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain
throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around
us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within.
We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of
ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not
diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are
enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us.
But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our
expectancy.
Meanwhile,
the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside
helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t
matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our
wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know
ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before
God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love
for God is worked into something good.
Now to be honest I read it then went on with my day. Later that I night I realized I never replied to the text. I read it again and then again. I thought it was a weird verse at first glance then one little part in the middle stuck out. " That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant woman."
I am waiting -- waiting for a small light at the end of the tunnel. I was waiting for my tulips to bloom and yesterday they did. During our 30 degree weather with rain and sleet, the pink, red and yellow peeked out. Now I don't have to wait for the little things because I do know deep down that there are things all around me in bloom. I just have to be more thankful for the small things while waiting in life. Haha such a cliche thing to say. But right now that is what gets me up in the morning. That is what gives me hope. That is what gets me excited about change.
