Watching and Waiting ...

How well do you wait for something to happen or arrive? Impatience with the "not knowing" or "not knowing when" is hard to handle. I seem to be waiting a lot recently and am having to learn to be more patient in the waiting and unknowing. For example we are waiting for people who may contact us or not to signpost the next stage of our faith journey, I am waiting for others to talk some things through and possibly help with a local situation.

The thing about waiting is that you sometimes have time to think. What other things does patience mean to me, perhaps the patience of my dog, Fitz as he waits daily for that walk in the morning and the evening, always eager, always expecting, always ready - incredibly patient and faithful.

How eagerly we wait for news of a new job or wait for that planned holiday or that live event (a wedding, a baby, a visit from a friend), when that happens everything will be great, won't it?

There is something I recall about the Jewish people waiting between the last of the biblical prophets and the arrival of God's anointed, the one who would save them and restore their fortunes. But this reminds me that unless we keep looking then the signs of what we are waiting for, they become blurred, indistinct and even invisible, so that we miss what we are waiting for when it arrives.

Fitz is perhaps fortunate in that he looks for limited signs, certain shoes or boots coming out, a particular coat, the dog lead or poop bags being put into a pocket. He may of course mistake a sign but he is always ready when its the right one.

How about us, are we looking for God's signs and do we see them when he shows them? Easter is heralded by the small but delicious chocolate creme eggs, the bigger chocolate eggs, by the things like chicks and spring flowers, lambs in the fields, new life is all around us. But have we missed the real signs of Easter? The signs of what God has and is doing because he loves each of us, new life through Christ's death and being alive again, new life for us with him forever. When we open our eyes and hearts to God's signs, we will find them and him and begin to know the patience that comes from God (But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness).