Never keep a lady waiting?

3/26/12
For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith, But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting. ~T.S. Eliot

Who coined the phrase "never keep a lady in waiting" anyway?

So my devotional today is focused on Waiting, Trust and Hoping. Trusting and hoping are not really challenges these days, I've learned to trust in God since I was laid off last year, and I am always hopeful. My hopefulness is like one of the kids, squeezing my eyes tighly shut and interlacing my fingers as I silently repeat to myself "please God, can I have this, please, pretty please, oh pleeeeeeeeeeeazzzzzzze?!?!" I don't always get it, but it's fun to do and I'm always reminded that maybe it just wasn't the right thing for me...just as a gentle parent tells a child the reason why they can't have that lollipop right before bed...

OK, fantasy, I know. Well, I have learned. I have come a LONG way since my youthful (and lethal) Latina and New Yorker anxiety. It all started soon after I arrived in Florida and realized that a Florida (Publix) grocery store experience was unlike a New York grocery store experience. You actually had to make eye contact with the cashier and chat with her before you could purchase your groceries. Some people would say that's a lesson in patience. I'd say it was a lesson in learning "how" to wait.

The devotional said "WAITING , TRUSTING, AND HOPING are intricately connected, like golden strands interwoven to form a strong chain. Trusting is the central strand, because it is the response from My children that I desire the most. Waiting and hoping embellish the central strand and strengthen the chain that connects you to Me. Waiting for Me to work, with your eyes on Me, is evidence that you really do trust Me. If you mouth the words “I trust You” while anxiously trying to make things go your way, your words ring hollow. Hoping is future-directed, connecting you to your inheritance in heaven. However, the benefits of hope fall fully on you in the present. Because you are Mine, you don’t just pass time in your waiting. You can wait expectantly, in hopeful trust. Keep your “antennae” out to pick up even the faintest glimmer of My Presence.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.” JOHN 14 : 1 Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD. PSALM 27 : 14...."

Today’s phone call was from the HR recruiter checking for a pulse…so to speak. To see if I was interested, what my salary range expectation would be, title expectation, etc. "They" are waiting for Finance to approve the headcount, the title and salary and "They" hope to know something in the next few days/weeks.

Nothing like waiting … patiently. I love how the devo says “You can wait expectantly, in hopeful trust.” I know He’s got the plan, no matter what it is. So I proceed… in hopeful anticipation yet knowing that wherever I end up, it’s going to be right where God wants me to be, and where he’ll meet me... What a lesson in self control versus control of everything. Waiting teaches you that you never had control, otherwise, you wouldn’t be “waiting’.   J

So I sit and wait, all the while, learning to trust even more.

~Chick