Wait ... And Run the Race

God really confuses me. I should probably try to quit figuring Him all out, but I just can't bring myself to that point. I know I can't put Him in a nice, little box and label Him ... but I have to admit that for years, I've tried to do just that.  I KNOW that a God small enough to put in a box is not big enough to meet our needs. We need Him to be so much more than that, but yet I try so diligently to fit Him in there! He continues to surprise and amaze me, and honestly, I like it that way. BUT, there are things that are still confusing to me.

Like when I felt like He was telling me the other day to "Wait, and continue running the race." Uh yeah, that made absolutely no sense whatsoever to me. To this girl, waiting is sitting there, doing nothing, being totally unproductive ... and running a race is the exact opposite!! In fact, I can safely say that I do NOT like to wait ... and that I would NOT like to run a race (if I ever actually did something like that). Yup, God's Word to me didn't make sense ... and I didn't particularly like either choice.

Of course, I had to sit and contemplate what He was telling me. The more I thought about it, the more it actually seemed to make sense. All through Scripture, God tells us to wait, and I've learned over the years that (for me!) waiting is letting God do His perfect work while I wait for Him to work. It's not unproductive. It's watching the Master do what He does best while the apprentice (me!) watches and learns. It's being protected. It's waiting for the best and bypassing the "that'll do" things. There are many things in my life that I'm waiting for ... many areas that I'm daily and fervently praying about ... many things that only God has control over and only He can work while I watch. So, this is the area where I wait (not always patiently, not always well, but always assured that God knows what He's doing and is in control) ... and, in the meantime, I continue running the race.

And life is a race, isn't it? We continue doing what we know we need to do ... we continue putting one foot in front of the other ... we continue searching for the goal line ... we continue training. We can't stand still because then life passes us by, yet when we run there's one goal in mind -- and that's to be where God is. And again, I don't run the race patiently or well a lot of times. I get tired ... I complain ... I feel sorry for myself ... but I also know that I can't stand still or go backwards. We've come too far together (God and I) in this race for me to give up now. When I get to the finish line, I want to be greeted by a "Well done, thou good and faithful servant" and know that the waiting AND the race weren't in vain, I was never alone, and that God was glorified through it all.

So, for today, I'm waiting ... and running the race. Surprisingly, it makes perfect sense.