Hate to Wait?

I have been alternately described as  either very patient or insufferably impatient, depending on who you ask, at different times of my life.
Waiting isn't something I enjoy, never have, probably never will. However, for some reason, it's been a recurring theme in my life. I may share some of my patents on patience another time, but today I want to share something I stumbled on that spoke to me so clearly and even more beautifully at a time when I was at a very low point in my life. It told me that I was missing the point of the wait, that instead of enduring it, I should be EXPERIENCING it, embracing it, finding within it all the important lessons and learning them, arming myself to better face this drama called life. It broadsided me, how much I had wasted my wait, and I repented in tears as I resolved not to lose another second of the unique opportunity given to me.
Imagine if you walk into your dad's office, busy, stern-faced dad who hardly ever has time to toss a frisbee with you or listen to your tales of playground exploits, and you ask him for something, anything. if his answer was just a brisk yes or no, then you would turn on your heels and be off, maintaining the status quo. But imagine if this man who you haven't bothered to get to know beyond the fact that he pays your school fees, asks you to take a seat, to hang out a while, to wait, before he gts to your request. And imagine in that time he begins to ask how your day was, and if there were any other issues you wanted to discuss with him, or maybe he had some wise words of advice to pass on, but you were too busy impatiently looking at your watch, wishing he would hurry up and give you what you want, and you sadly missed out on this rare opportunity to spend some quality time.
Tragic, isn't it.
Well, that's what a lot of us do when we lay our requests at God's feet. Any answer other than 'yes' is blasphemy.
Let me share with you now, the words that woke me up;


Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried:
Quietly, patiently, lovingly God replied.
I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate,
And the Master so gently said, “Child, you must wait”.

“Wait? You say, wait! ” my indignant reply.
“Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!
Is your hand shortened? Or have you not heard?
By Faith, I have asked, and am claiming your Word.
My future and all to which I can relate
hangs in the balance, and YOU tell me to WAIT?

I’m needing a ‘yes’, a go-ahead sign,
or even a ‘no’ to which I can resign.
And Lord, You promised that if we believe
we need but to ask, and we shall receive.
And Lord, I’ve been asking, and this is my cry:
I’m weary of asking! I need a reply!

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate
As my Master replied once again, “You must wait.”

So, I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut
and grumbled to God, “So, I’m waiting…. for what?”

He seemed, then, to kneel, and His eyes wept with mine,
And he tenderly said, “I could give you a sign.
I could shake the heavens, and darken the sun.
I could raise the dead, and cause mountains to run.
All you seek, I could give, and pleased you would be.
You would have what you want
But, you wouldn’t know Me.

You’d not know the depth of My love for each saint;
You’d not know the power that I give to the faint;
You’d not learn to see through the clouds of despair;
You’d not learn to trust just by knowing I’m there;
You’d not know the joy of resting in Me
When darkness and silence were all you could see.

You’d never experience that fullness of love
As the peace of My Spirit descends like a dove;
You’d know that I give and I save…. (for a start),
But you’d not know the depth of the beat of My heart.

The glow of My comfort late into the night,
The faith that I give when you walk without sight,
The depth that’s beyond getting just what you asked
Of an infinite God, who makes what you have LAST.

You’d never know, should your pain quickly flee,
What it means that “My grace is sufficient for Thee.”
Yes, your dreams for your loved one overnight would come true,
But, Oh, the Loss! If I lost what I’m doing in you!

So, be silent, My Child, and in time you will see
That the greatest of gifts is to get to know Me.
And though oft’ may My answers seem terribly late,
My most precious answer of all is still, “WAIT.”