July 14

PATIENCE MONTH: DAY 14: “The work that God does in us when we wait is usually more important than the thing for which we wait!” ― Erwin W. Lutzer

When I need to wait for time to pass, life goes on and things come into my waiting time that are important for me to live through and experience.

Ego does not agree with this process, and wants only the time to pass, as if that would make life more worthwhile. Process is everything, although it does not feel like it.

When my husband died, I really wanted to move to the beach, where we had both planned to move when we began our journey together. We decided to stop for a few years in the place where we ended up buying a home and living. We did not know it was his ending place. We thought it was temporary. I did not need to stay there, but then I went to school for 6 years and got a bunch of degrees.

The process of the life I lived while I was there is way more valuable than the degrees, as it turns out. While I am grateful for education, it has little bearing on my life, other than it is there. The experiences, people, and life that took place were more important.

I was SO impatient to get out of that area, and it seemed like forever. Now I have been here, where I longed to be, for six years and it feels like a minute. Funny how waiting makes time stretch into a much longer memory. Funny, but true.

The work that has been done in me, here, in those six years, is tremendous. I have very little to show for the time, except the tremendous growth I have been allowed to embrace. Life is very, very full and interesting, but nothing like I thought I was coming here to live. It is so very different.

And none of it would be possible for me to live through and learn from, had I not stayed where I was for those six years prior to being here. The process has been amazing and wonderful, and, as is always the case in God’s world, perfect.

I have been cracked open, again and again, had the stuffing scooped out and new stuffing put in there. It keeps happening, and I keep loving it. Every time I think I am at a resting place with it all, something new comes along and more cracking and scooping and stuffing comes along with it! What a deal!

The Universe keeps informing me and teaching me. I feel filled up and useful and worthwhile in all of it. I really am having the time of my life!

And I never cease to be amazed at what is coming next…and next…and next. I am not impatient any more, at least nothing like I was. I am more inclined to savor and reap full flavor from each moment I can. They become more precious and rich every day. That is a good thing.

It is all a good thing. The work is going on, inside and out, and I am very grateful to sit still with it, more and more, and more.