The space in between...

Earlier this week, I found myself stuck in traffic on my way home, and the waiting frustrated me.  It was my day off, and I felt like I had spent my whole day waiting in lines, waiting in traffic…just waiting, waiting, waiting… Now I really didn’t have anything to complain about.  In fact, I made it home earlier than I expected.  However, even a small amount of waiting can frustrate me.  It seems like such a waist!

In this week’s scripture passage, we are told of the virtues of patience.  Very few people get exactly what they want, and even fewer get that right when they want it.  This can be pretty annoying. However, the Bible says that God uses the space in between.  The Israelites had to wait 40 years in the wilderness before they had the wisdom to become a nation.  In the New Testament, a Pharisee named Saul was blinded, and he has to wait 3 days before his heart opened enough to hear the words of forgiveness and healing that he so desperately needed.  Even Jesus spent 40 days in the desert waiting, listening, and praying for God.  In each of these cases, the individuals couldn’t just jump to the happily ever after… They had to wait, listen, and grow in the silence.

Today I wonder what would happen if we opened our hearts and listened for God.  What if we stopped focusing on the end goal, and we opened our hearts in the moments of waiting? Perhaps these are the moments God is using to help us grow and live to the best of our abilities…

Blessings!

Brian