Waiting

Photo Credit:  missmayberry from morgueFile.com

Most people don’t like to wait.  For anything.  We don’t like to wait for the car in front of us at a green light, late co-workers, our turn at the doctor’s office, airport security, test results, internet glitches, grocery store lines, for our significant other to get ready, OR…

How long the average guy or gal will wait for something before they take action or completely freak out differs from person to person.  For some, it’s less than 5 seconds.  For others, it could be hours.

This past weekend, we celebrated our 143^rd Annual St. Joseph’s Church Picnic.  Our local community center was full of the delicious aroma of fried chicken, brisket, sausage, potatoes, green beans, desserts, and money.  Seriously.  It always blows me away at how incredibly generous people are.  They were buying game tickets for their children and grandchildren, raffle tickets left and right, silent and live auction items, and everything in between.  AND, our priest’s cake sold for a whopping $6,200!  I’m certain that Father Bentil’s cake had gold-dipped-coconut in there somewhere.  Soooo awesome!  The day was wonderful in every way and amazingly successful as well.

The day before the picnic, I was able to witness the beauty of teamwork.  It was so encouraging and uplifting to see the many helping hands and eager hearts diligently at work.  There were men, women, and children of all ages bustling around.  Tables and chairs were being set up, food was being prepped, and the various areas were being organized so neatly, like a brand-new box of crayons.

Through all of the rhythmic work, I kept glancing over at an elderly gentleman sitting at one of the tables.  I smiled.  He smiled.  I kept getting things done and moving around like the other worker bees.  He looked calm and peaceful, just sipping on his cup of water.  I wondered off and on who he might have come with.  This sweet man was the epitome of patience.  While his family members worked, he sat quietly, just observing everyone’s steady pace.  I smiled.  He smiled.

Time flew by with a hop-skip-and-jump and I realized that we’d been there for four hours already.  And…so had my patient friend.  About that time, my husband was setting out some placemats on the tables in this man’s area.

It was 2:00 pm at this point and the gentleman leaned over to quietly ask my husband, “Can you tell me when they are going to start serving the food?”

Oh.

My.

Goodness.

My husband reluctantly shared with this man that the picnic was the NEXT day.  MERCY, MERCY, MERCY!  Bless his heart!  Ugh.  The next day, I feverishly looked for my friend at the picnic because I wanted to buy him a plate.  I never saw him, but I sure do hope that he returns next year…on Sunday.  I want to thank him for his shining example of the precious gift of patience and I want to buy that man some food!

Waiting.  I’ve never seen anyone wait with such grace.

Here’s a funny that my friend, Mikey, sent my way:

A man scolded his 5 year-old son for being so unruly and the child rebelled against his father.  He got some of his clothes, his teddy bear, and his piggy bank and proudly announced, "I'm running away from home!"

The father calmly decided to look at the matter logically. "What if you get hungry?" he asked.

"Then I'll come home and eat!" bravely declared the child.

"And what if you run out of money?"

"I will come home and get some!" readily replied the child.

The man then made a final attempt, "What if your clothes get dirty?"

"Then I'll come home and let mommy wash them," was the reply.

The man shook his head and exclaimed, "This kid isn’t running away from home; he's going off to college!"

Yes, and after talking to all of my mommy friends with kiddos in college…this is the truth!  Some moms and dads can be found waiting.  Waiting for that call of joy that their child passed their first college exam.  Waiting for that tearful call because their son dearly misses momma’s cooking and daddy’s checkbook.  Waiting for that Facebook post of their homesick daughter smiling with a new friend.  Waiting for that strange-empty-nest-feeling to go away.  Waiting.

I’ll close by saying this - I’ll never forget that gentleman sitting at the table and I hope I don’t soon forget his model of patience.  If a human being can be that patient, I can only imagine how patient our loving God is with us. 

I envisioned God sitting there waiting – waiting for us to pray, waiting for us to forgive someone, waiting for us to use our gifts and talents, waiting for us to love like Him.

How long will we keep Him waiting?

Have a wonderful week, Sunshines!