Tom and I are sitting in an Amtrak Station.  We love to ride the train, but we have yet to ride an Amtrak train that arrived on time.  Today a culvert collapsed in Tacoma, damaging the tracks and making it impossible for any trains to get through.  So we are waiting for a bus to pick us up and take us to the train north of Tacoma.

I stink at waiting.  It is one of the reasons I knit.  I always have my knitting with me so that I have something to do.  This keeps me from pacing, getting angry, and – probably – attacking someone or getting arrested for creating a public disturbance.  I can calmly knit while Tom paces and creates the public disturbance.

Prayer is like knitting.  It gives me something to do while I am waiting.  A big event that seems to take forever to arrive – I pray that it will go well, that the participants will be blessed, that God will make it wonderful.  Something that I especially want to happen – I pray while waiting.

This may make me sound calm while I wait.  I am not.  God has three answers to prayer – yes, no, and wait.  And I confess that the waiting is the hardest one for me.  If God says yes – then move forward, have at it!  If God says no – then get over it, move on, find another way.

But when God says “wait,” oh how I struggle.  I want to ask “for how long” or “when?”  Patience may be a virtue and a fruit of the Spirit, but it is not one of my gifts.

Maybe the lesson God wants me to learn is in the waiting.  Perhaps I won’t be ready to accept his direction or correction until I wait.  My impatience may demonstrate a lack of faith and trust in God.  If I believe he is really going to take care of it, wouldn’t I wait with patience and hope?

Psalm 130:5-6 talks about waiting:

I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.  I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning.

This statue is in the train station where we are waiting.  It is called, “Waiting on the Train.”  May I learn to wait as patiently – and hopefully – as this little girl.