*originally posted in august of 2007. anna is now 9 (can you believe it?) but it's funny how even 3 years later, we can find ourselves in similar situations where the Lord is working to teach us to wait patiently on Him!*
for the last month and a half or so, my niece, anna, has been waiting on a surprise promised to her by my dad (her "poppy" as she calls him :). 6 weeks is a very long time to wait on a promised surprise for a six year old (good grief, who am i kidding? it's a long time for anybody!) but especially a six year old little girl whose brothers have already received their surprise. now, my dad wasn't trying to prolong the wait or anything, i know for a fact he was in search of the perfect surprise for anna. daddy wanted to give the kids (andrew, daniel, and anna) something from him that they could keep...something that would always mean something to them. the boys gift was a given...what else do you give 12 and 10 year old boys that they will treasure forever? knives. yes, that is right, my dad bought them knives (which are kept out of their reach, by the way). well, last week sometime, daddy decided that he would give anna a locket (all girls love jewelry, you know;); so, he made the trek this morning to the jewelry store. i wasn't there when he gave anna the much anticipated surprise but was later told that after she opened it, daddy asked her, "anna, wasn't this worth the wait?" and she told him that it was. after my dad left my sister's house anna approached my sister and said, "mommy, what does 'worth the wait' mean?"
i think there are lots of things in life that we wait for and some of those things we anticipate the moment happening so often that we miss out on all the stuff that happens while we're waiting. God has been working in my life in a specific area...patience...and i hate to admit that in the last few days, i've failed miserably. so, today, after i heard anna's story i started thinking about whether or not i'm making times of waiting worthwhile. am i enjoying and savoring the small moments that happen or am i impatiently sitting on the sidelines missing life and lessons as they're passing me by. don't get me wrong, waiting times are important times but i want to focus not on the end result but on the lessons to be learned...while i'm waiting.
"waiting times are growing times and learning times. as you quiet your heart, you enter His peace...as you sense your weakness, you receive His strength...as you lay down your will, you hear His calling."
1 comment:
Caroline is teaching me this lesson. Through so much therapy and help that she has needed I have sometimes found myself wondering if she will ever be like the other kids. In the mean time I think that I have sometimes missed the blessings that make her who she is because of comparing her to others. I know what you mean. While I am waiting on her to mature I need to really look at how special, funny, smart, sweet and inquisitive she is and not try to WAIT on her to be someone different. Good post my friend! Praying for you in many ways!
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