The Alternative to Patience

Have you ever felt God calling you to something big? Somewhere to go or something to do? Maybe it's a task that seems impossible or something that would take you years to accomplish. Has a God-given goal come to mind? Most likely an incident of some kind has come to your mind. As you think about that incident let's consider a few common courses of action that people use all the time.

First, we can take a shortcut. A shortcut is most often the course we will take if it is available to us. After all, if God makes us a promise or gives us a goal, wouldn't He want us to achieve it as quickly as possible? Doesn't that make the most sense to our way of thinking? But our answer to the question isn't necessarily God's answer. God most often makes His promises to us years, even decades, before He brings them to pass. And He doesn't usually tell us why He took so long! But it is when we play around with things and try to manipulate them into conforming to our thoughts and desires on the matter that things get confused and out of order. It is when we try to "help" God fulfill His promise that circumstances become all twisted into knots, and we find ourselves out of God's will and standing directly in the way of all the blessings He has in mind for us. Remember the journey is often the majority of the blessing. There are often big rewards in the waiting alone, such as faith and wisdom that we can only gain in the time spent waiting on God.

Second, we can simply give up and quit. How many of us want to wait 10-15 years for the blessing? Time is such a human short fall and in light of that we often just quit and walk away and try not to think of it any more. Can you imagine listening to God's promise and then just saying, "No thanks, I don't want to wait that long. Surely there's another blessing just as good that won't take nearly as long." That would be a tragedy.

Third, we can wait patiently and trust God for the blessing in His time and in His way. This is quite clearly the best option available to us but it is sadly the course of action we most often avoid.

What if someone were to offer us a million dollars, payable in 10 years, what would we most often reply? "No thanks, I want it now or never?" Of course not. That would be pure foolishness. Why is it, then, that we say this to God. He has incredible blessings in store for us if we'll just be patient and wait upon the Lord to bless us in His perfect timing. The best option we have is to rest and watch and wait upon the Lord.

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Our company left this morning and although we hated to say goodbye we now find the quietness of the house very comforting. The problem I have is they love to talk and because I don't hear well I have to struggle to stay current in the conversation. That and the TV has to stay on every minute of the day and night. But we love them so much. Now, Lord, see them safely home. It's a long drive for them to make.

John was very helpful while he was here. He fixed the passenger's door on the bus and now I can open and close it myself from the inside and outside and it won't try to fall off. He also fixed the right front area where the turn signal comes out. That area was all rusted and the signal light was just in there temporarily. Now it's all fixed. And, finally, he discovered our gas leak was not in the tank. It was the gas line itself that had a hole in it. So they replaced that and now we can put gas in the tank and not have to worry about it leaking out. So at least now we have one vehicle in shape enough to go across the river and do our shopping every month. It was so nice of John to do all that for us. We were going to see if he could fix the lock on the driver's door on the cad, but there just wasn't enough time. The thing is that John can fix anything. He's like my hubby in that regard. Present him with a problem and within minutes he's figured out a way to do it. I admire anyone who can do that.

We grilled burgers for dinner last night and ate down in the yard on the table. It was so nice sitting down there. It was fairly cool by the time we ate and there wasn't a single fly or bug to bother us. John had put chunks of blue cheese in the meat mixture and it made the meat juicy and delicious. We only had two days to worry about and we made spaghetti for Saturday and they picked up the things for Sunday's burgers but they still spent $184 on groceries. I don't know how they possibly spent that much either! Of course they bought a lot of snacking foods that we wouldn't have bought like, cheese, salami, smoked oysters and clams, dips and chips, pies and sweet rolls, and everything needed for breakfast (I had forgotten about breakfast) but I thought with us taking care of Saturday the kids wouldn't have to spend as much as they usually spend when they come up here. All I can say is those were expensive burgers! But there was a lot of food they took back home with them too. They had bought eggs, bacon, margarine, etc., and they took it back home with them and used our eggs and things. They also slipped us a $20 to cover the cost of the motor home's A/C while it was parked out front. I was very grateful to see that because I had, quite honestly, worried about the extra expense that was going to run us. When you are on a tight, fixed income every little thing matters.

Cathie had brought up boxes and boxes of photo albums and they all sat there at the table for hours looking at all the old photographs. It was really funny because my family was trying to identify the people in a 1940-era photograph that my cousin had run across. And our emails were going back and forth between California and Texas, Georgia, and Missouri. It was just funny that we were doing that at the same time M and the kids were doing the same thing. There must have been three dozen emails over that one picture. I couldn't get over all the pictures of me in Cathie's albums. Back when I was young and skinny. Oh, I miss those days.

My cousin, Betty, slipped on some wet concrete and broke her ankle in several places so if you would please pray for her I would really appreciate it. Betty is a strong Christian that is always doing things for the Lord. She goes on several missions a year. Last year they went to Russia, and New York, and I can't remember where else, but I'm afraid this is going to slow her down for a bit. She is in the hospital and will undergo surgery tomorrow there in Georgia. My ankle/foot that I sprained so badly awhile back still causes me problems. I can just imagine what she's going through. The thing is she had to wait 5 hours in the ER without getting anything for pain! Poor thing!

My daughter-in-law took it upon herself to order a wig for me. Bless her heart. I had just planned on using my bandannas and do-rags unless my hair wasn't going to come back in. I just hope she didn't spend too much money on it. She came over yesterday and showed me a picture of a woman with gorgeous hair and asked if I like the hair. I had the feeling she was thinking about ordering something for me so I told her not to buy it that I was fine with what I had. But I was too late, it was already bought and shipped. It's coming from Hong Kong so I don't know how long it will take to get here. And I hope it's already styled because it is really cute in the picture. I don't know what color she picked out for me but hopefully it's close to my natural color. I have done very little coloring of my hair all my life. I used to keep highlights in it but my hair grows it all out so fast and it's $60-80 each time for highlights so I gave up on that years ago. And then about 15 years ago I thought I'd color my hair the same color just to give it some texture and body since my natural hair is limp and baby fine. Well, my hair ended up with more texture and body but it also ended up orange instead of the color on the box which was as close to my natural color as I could get. I don't know how they can sell something with a color that isn't the color advertised. You see, I didn't understand that you can't go by the color on the box. Don't ask me why not but I only discovered that fact after I tried to color it and bright orange was just not my color. So I had to call my hairstylist and ask what I needed to do. (I was lucky she felt in the mood to help me because I hadn't gone to her to color it in the first place.) So I ended up having to go a shade or two darker than my natural color but I was so grateful to get rid of my orange hair that I didn't even care that it was darker than I wanted it to be. The closest to my color is Medium Ash Brown. I hope the wig fits me and everything. I don't think she's even aware that they come in different sizes and I have a very small head. I rarely find a hat small enough for my pin head.

M is down for a nap and I stopped and laid down and rested for 20 mins and then decided I better get this post finished or I'd end up losing it to a power outage or some such disaster. Well, I know this isn't much of a blog but it's Monday, after all. Can't expect much out of me on a Monday. Especially a Monday following a weekend of guests. Especially these guests. I have never seen visitors just come in and take over all the rooms, food, TVs, etc. They just spread out and take over. In no time they've got their stuff scattered throughout the house. And this time they almost had a disaster because Cathie forgot her laptop. We called John's cell phone the moment we found it but we had to just leave a message. As luck would have it they were still gassing up here in town and they got our call but the voice mail didn't work for some reason but they were able to know we had tried to call and they knew there would have to be a good reason for us to call them so soon after their leaving so they decided to come back by our house to see what we wanted before heading on out for San Francisco. Then M tried calling them again and got an answer and they were already on their way back to see what we wanted. Cathie had not yet realized what they had forgotten. But they really lucked out because the company they work for has a couple people flying in today from Chicago for a big important meeting tomorrow and all the price quotes, etc., are stored in the lap top. Whew! I'm just so glad I noticed it on the floor there by my desk, thank you, Lord. Someone would have had to drive all the way back up here (about three hours each way) for it before that meeting in the morning with the clients from Chicago!

I will be busy part of this week working on the funeral and reception for a dear sister in the Lord who went home to be with Him just a couple days ago. She had been talking on the phone to someone at the church about something and she happened to mention that she hadn't been feeling well. They tried to call her back after awhile and she didn't answer her phone. The church secretary's husband was on his way home from up the mountain so she asked him to swing by Diana's house and check on her. He found her dead on the floor in the laundry room. She was 78 years old but was as active in the church as anyone, and in her secular life too for that matter. I had no idea she was that old. I thought she was about my age, 60. Diana was our church librarian, prayer chain coordinator, and 3rd & 4th grade SS teacher. She was always doing something. Well, we will miss her but she's at home now getting to taste the sweetness of heaven before any of us do. Can you just imagine the incredible delight she must have felt when she first saw the Lord? Wow! Sometimes I can hardly wait. But she is enjoying her eternal life and basking in the glory of God. I don't know when the rewards are due to be handed out to the saints but I'm sure she'll get plenty whether they were immediately given to her or whether she has to wait until some time in the future to get them. I seriously doubt she'll mind waiting if she has to. I find that as I grow older I also grow more confident in the future promises for all of us. Won't it be glorious to see her again with a perfect heavenly body standing there to greet us into heaven when the time comes?! There will be so many there for us to hug again. I certainly don't have a death wish but I look forward with great expectations toward that day in my future when I will see the Lord face to face as well as all those who have gone before me into the blessed promises of our Lord and Savior. God, through the apostle Paul, promised us that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

The weekend was hot and still. But today we haven't even hit 100 degrees yet and there's been a nice breeze blowing all day. It's making for a nicer day for us. Do you realize August is more than half over? When I realized that this morning I almost fell off my chair! Seems like August just got here and September is around the corner! Fall is almost here. I want to enjoy winter this year and I'm going to do all I can to do that. I keep thinking fondly of wearing my scarves and gloves again, bundling up against the cold. Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas are coming straight at us as fast as they possibly can! Seems like I was just wishing for Spring. Where does all the time go? Time is a funny thing; either it goes by too fast or it lumbers along too slowly to fit our schedules. Timing is rarely ever just right for our likings. But I will be glad to have the summer heat over with and get back to a quiet house. The roar of the cooler is trying on my ears. It just makes it so much harder to hear conversations. I pick up the low frequencies so much better than the human voice. For me it's a lot like trying to converse while standing under a waterfall. But I will definitely miss the sense of openness, just open space that enlarges our worlds when we don't have to keep things closed up tightly against the cold weather. And the clothes of summer: shorts and sleeveless tops, bare feet, etc., will be greatly missed. I'm not even sure if I'll still be able to fit into my jeans this year. I think I will. At least I don't feel like I've put on any more weight; but keep your fingers crossed for me. I haven't tried on my long pants for months now. Wouldn't it be nice to discover I've actually lost a few pounds?

We're going to have burgers again for dinner tonight. There were six patties left over from dinner last night and John split them with us, so I won't even have any dinner to cook tonight. We've got a lot of potato salad to eat. M made up a big batch and we barely made a dent in it while the kids were here.

I was able to stay caught up with my devotionals while there were here. I wasn't sure I would have the time and opportunity but I found that if I went out onto the deck I could usually have enough privacy for them. I also finished Acts, read all of Romans, and have started First Corinthians in the New Living Bible (NLB) while they were here. I just love that translation. It is the most readable Bible I've ever had the pleasure to read. It's so casual that it is truly like reading a letter from a dear friend. It accomplished what The Message tries to do but fails so miserably. The Message is just too casual; it has too much slang in it. I found that I couldn't take it seriously. I would recommend the New Living Bible to everyone. It's just fun to kick back and read. I still prefer my NIV for studies but the NLB is so wonderful for casual reading. I find that I am always doing at least one study at a time and that's fine. But I feel empty if I'm not reading it at the same time too. I am constantly reading and rereading the New Testament. I know the Old Testament deserves my attention too and I've read it several times, but there's just something so special about the NT. It's all about Jesus. I've read the NT so many times now I can remember where to find certain things. Quotes from Romans sound like quotes from Romans. Hebrews sound like Hebrews. Philippians sound just like they belong in the book by that name. I've been able to put flesh on the bones of the NT, something I haven't always been able to do. But it makes it nice when there's something I want to look up but have no idea where to find it. I think about it a little bit and I'll get a "feeling" of where it belongs. I just finished reading Job and the prophets a couple months ago. And last winter I read all the other books in the OT so I feel I'm doing pretty well with it. I did some reading of Watchman Nee's writings yesterday while they looked at old family photos and, as usual, I was blessed. I marked some quotes in my book (Secrets to Spiritual Power) and one of these days I'll post some. He is so good!! If you haven't read The Normal Christian Life by Watchman Nee you really need to do it. I have read it several times as well as a couple of other books. He's about on the same level as Oswald Chambers in style and content. You kind of have to pause every few words and let his writings soak into your brain. Or at least I do.

I know this hasn't been much of a post but I'll try to do better as I progress through the week. Also while they looked at photos I was able to finally get myself a schedule written out for doing my household chores. It's just a matter of taking all the things you want to do in a week and spreading them over the course of the seven lists, one for each day of the week, and then incorporating all the monthly chores spread out too. It's hard to explain but if I'm true to it and follow my schedule, my house will always be clean. And spreading the chores out over a matter of days, allows me much free time. I try to schedule enough chores for each day that will require me to work no more than an hour to an hour and a half. I used to have this all made out on 3X5 cards and kept in a file box. (I mean I had everything scheduled into my lists. Car washing. Garage cleaning. Leaf raking. You name it, it was on my schedule. This schedule I just made is much, much less thorough and encompassing.) All I did yesterday was simplify it to just seven days instead of doing a whole month at a time. You know, on Mon, Wed, Fri I vacuum everything, on Thursdays I scour the baths, on Fri I mop and wax, etc. And I did that for all my chores I need to do to keep my house clean. Anyone can do an hour of housework a day! For monthly chores I just enter it and label it. For instance I vacuum under and behind my refrigerator every month so on Mon (a day I had already planned on using the vacuum) and I entered it with a note to do it on the "first Mon of the month." To factor in something I only wanted to do every other month, I wrote it down and then added "even months" or "odd months" and something done just twice a year I found a time slot for it and then wrote "Jan and July" or whatever. That way I can have every task assigned to a particular day and I know if I will just do those few chores every day my house will stay clean and all those "do once in a while" chores are factored in too. There's no more forgetting to do something important. I've probably got you totally confused by this time and I apologize if I have. But it's a system that works incredibly well for me, if I stick to it. I successfully used it for years but it was custom-designed for a particular house I lived in and it was very, very thorough and when we had to move away, I never did update my chores file. I always wanted to and always meant to but it was just one of those things that kept getting pushed to the back burner. This chore list isn't nearly as detailed and is not structured around this particular house. It will work for me no matter where I live.

I want to thank all my readers for leaving comments and encourage those who don't normally comment to please do so even if you just comment with one word. That would let me know you've visited my blog and I will know you're too busy to leave a comment. We all love to get comments. Okay, this is going to be it for me for today. This has been the latest in a day that I think I've ever blogged. I will go ahead and publish it and will come back and edit it later so if you get to it before I get back to it, there may be any number of mistakes and I apologize.