Patience...

Jake and I were talking last night and we started laughing about vacations we might want to take with Jacob (well Renee said "with all our kids" and Jake said "you mean Jacob). We were talking about how soon to tell them we were going say to Disney World. You know if we tell them too soon we will have to say over and over "Not today..." And just for the record Jake said we would just wake them up and say "Today we are going to Disney World". I just laughed because I know Jake would never be able to keep it a secret. So then I read this today on the Girl Talk blog and knew that I had to share it... Just a simple conversation Jake and I had and this is the biblical implications of those life lessons that we sometimes take for granted. What a special thing to be able to pass onto our children at a young age so they can understand how the Bible truly is living and active and useful in our daily lives even if we are just talking about Disney World!

Waiting With Liam

My middle son Liam can’t wait for his birthday to get here. He’ll be five. And he’ll get to go to Noodles and Co. for his favorite buttered noodles with Parmesan cheese. Actually, he didn’t quite understand why we didn’t go to Noodles today. I tried to explain that his birthday is still five days away. He keeps asking, though, not quite comprehending the delay.

Watching Liam eagerly wait for his birthday this week made these thoughts from Iain Duguid all the more relevant:

“Those of us who have very young children know how difficult waiting can be. We live through their annual anguish of waiting for birthday parties. Each day of the week—or, in some cases, the month—before their birthdays roll around, they wake up with the question, “is it my birthday yet?” Finally, the great day arrives, and you immediately have to convince them that 6:30 a.m. is not the ideal time of day for a party. By 6:45 a.m. they are thoroughly convinced that you don’t love them, and that all this talk of a party is nothing but a cruel hoax. At this point, you know it’s going to be a long day!

Don’t we often act toward God like little children? We kick and fuss and scream because we want what God has promised, and we want it now. Never mind that preparations need to be made and that other people need to be invited. But, like a patient and long-suffering parent, God bides his time, neither delaying nor hurrying, until everything is in place. Then—and not a moment sooner—he gives us the good things he has promised.”

Liam only has to wait five days for his birthday. You might have to wait five, or fifty years for a good thing God has promised. But just as sure as Liam’s birthday will come on October 1, so God will not fail to fulfill His promises to you. So let’s all learn along with Liam this week to wait…patiently.

“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him…those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.” Psalm 37:7,9