In Due Time

      

      Waiting just isn't fun! This has been a hard period of waiting for me. First, after the burst pipe, I had to wait for insurance appraisal, and I am STILL waiting for repairs to be done. The latter has been complicated by Covid. Though it seems like a month ago, Bill had what he thought was an allergy, UNTIL the fever started a week ago, and he tested positive for Covid. I bet most of you can relate, sadly. You feel bad in the first place, and then you have to wait 15 minutes for the darn test to give you results! So he waited and watched; I waited, apart, and prayed.

      I had been planning to meet repairmen at the lake, so here I was, exposed to Covid, and now in quarantine with two days' worth of food and clothes and vitamins; and of course my doctor didn't want me to go back home for more certain exposure. I cancelled the repairmen that morning while they were already headed my way. I texted my nearby friends to say "Don't come see me." Then I waited. And waited. And I'm still waiting, until Bill's fever subsides, then a week after that until I can go home. (Bless friends & family who've brought me food and left it at my door!)

      But I realized this morning that the time hasn't been wasted. Interestingly, I've been reading a book called Slow Brewing Tea, which describes a very anti-Christian man's thirty-year search for God. (Yes, I HIGHLY recommend it if you are looking for something provocative and deep with spiritual meaning.) With my often-foggy brain, along with the book's density of content, it has taken me nearly two months to finish, slowly brewing it, if you will, in my heart and mind. As I finished it yesterday, I was inspired to take up my Bible and begin reading it through, starting in Genesis. I've done this a few times before, but it's been a while. This morning I arrived at the story of Abram/Abraham and Sarai/Sarah. Talk about WAITING! At age 100 Abraham finally saw the birth of God's promised son to bless the nations. 

      Everyone acknowledges the fact that we've become a world of instant gratification. I grow impatient when I have to wait for my computer to boot up! But in this waiting period of illness and delays I am learning. Normally annoyed at being surrounded by messes, things out of place, I know there's no point in attacking the literal mess around me: books, pictures, bedclothes, and knick-knacks displaced by the flood can't be put back until their proper space has been repaired, painted, re-carpeted by the repairmen. But then I look forward to the blank canvas I'll have to carefully replace items which are necessary, good, beautiful, or simply sentimental. I can throw out the messy and unnecessary and create a new space of beauty and comfort! 

      Maybe that's what God is doing in our periods of powerlessness. This time of isolation I've been at peace, and I've felt His presence more than all the "busy" days. I've soaked myself in it, really, whether reading His Word, listening to beautiful hymns and praise songs, watching the birds and the ever-changing lake and sky, or simply resting in quietness with a vacant mind. I know that there's nothing I have to do or even can do to make myself more fit for His presence but empty myself and eagerly wait for my soul's Repairman to fill it "in due time."

"Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time."                  (1 Peter 5:6 NIV)

"He must increase and I must decrease."

John 3:30

 ✝️