Gratitude 11: Waiting

This month I realized I had been waiting a long while for delivery of a particular online order.  Checking the tracking information, I discovered the package had been marked "out for delivery" eight days prior.  Traffic here can be bad, but 20 miles in eight days?  That would be traffic congestion worthy of the evening news.

The to-do list suddenly expands:
Writing e-mail to customer service...
Waiting for their response... 
Responding to their response...
Waiting for receipt of the new and diminished reshipment of the order, because one item has become unavailable since the original shipment...

In the end, my hopes for this shopping experience were only partially satisfied and partially disappointed.

We have done a lot of waiting these last few months, waiting for medical appointments, lab results, medication results, feeling better, answers, guidance... The same pattern occurs consistently:  some desires are satisfied, and some are disappointed.  You have no doubt experienced the same in your waiting for job interviews, doctors' calls, a spouse, a baby, a home, and all the other things "out there" we need or want.

Today in my memory review and reading in Isaiah the recurring theme was to wait for LORD.  Not wait for LORD to _____ [do what I want, meet my needs, fix this problem], but simply for Him.  While I don't pretend to understand all that means, it seems to communicate in part that, no matter the outcome of my lesser hopes and desires, He will show Himself.  He will be "a God merciful, gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin," and all the other unchanging qualities He ascribes to Himself in the Bible (Exodus 34:6-7).

Waiting for Him will not disappoint me.  He will not disappoint me.  He may disappoint my immediate wishes, and His "good" may not probably won't look like my version of "good," but it will be all right.  Better, even, though that may be hard to accept in the short term.  The "I AM" will show Himself.

"I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him."

(Isaiah 8:17)

O LORD, be gracious to us; we wait for you.
   Be our arm every morning,
   our salvation in the time of trouble.

(Isaiah 33:2)

~hearing "Thy Word" on the radio and remembering in an instant the sign language we learned for church choir tour (more than 20 years ago) and the people who learned it with me
~Ebony getting jealous of my attention to the butterflies and charging across the yard to chase them off (with limited success)
~learning that a dozen butterflies taking flight at the same moment sound like dry leaves rustling
~beautiful morning skyscapes this last week

~"one of these things is not like the others" among the butterflies

~positive news from in-office tests Thursday
~no difficulties with IV or contrast dye for Friday's medical test
~opportunity for faith to grow in the waiting for the Lord in remaining results
~husband's grin, anticipating reactions at the office to his very scary "Tony Romo in a sling" costume
~access to good medical care and ability to pay for it
~a new Jan Karon book for delight and diversion
~the first fleece jacket and fuzzy socks weather of the season
~four generations of my family represented at my nephews' soccer game this weekend
~digital photography to see there when I can't be there
(Gratitude journal #1600-1613)