Waiting in Peace

         

"Waiting on the Storm" by Sandra Lee Baron

Lessons on Learning To Wait

           As noted in my last blog, I am learning to wait.  Two weeks later, I still  have my kidney stone and all its irritations.  I am waiting.  The doctor has decided I need surgery to remove it.  This is scheduled February 27^th.  However, I will continue to wait on Jesus’ timetable.  I know He knows my circumstances, and because I trust  Him , I can wait, hope, enter a new plan, and keep my eyes on Him, which I define as trust.

            It has taken many years to learn to wait in peace.  I am an impatient person and want to create the best painting on my first lesson.  Whatever I create, I push for success.  I remember when I learned to sew. My mother gave me a piece of fabric and a shirtwaist pattern. She said, “Read the directions carefully and cut precisely.  Do it in that order.” She left to work the midnight shift in her nursing career , and I was on my own.

            I opened the pattern carefully and trimmed it as I had seen her do many times.  I tried to read the instructions, but some parts were unclear, others seemed out of order, and one section had arrows pointing on how to lay the pattern on the fabric.  I put those aside.  They were too tedious.  I laid the pattern on the bright navy fabric. I turned it to fit like puzzle pieces, pinned, and cut.  I began by threading my bobbin with a navy blue thread.  My mother had taught me how to use the machine and how to make aprons.  That was my previous experience, but it gave me confidence.  I just sewed that night and followed my gut feelings on how to assemble.  Every once in a while, I'd glance at the instructions.  I followed the visuals on how to insert sleeves and gather the skirt onto the waistline.  So, I assembled and sewed. After ripping out the gathers in the skirt and resewing the bodice to the correct side of the skirt,  I was so happy with my first creation.  I put it on, swirled around, looked in the mirror and decided to mark the hem. 

            I tried and tried to get that hem even, but because I had not followed the directions and cut the skirt on the bias, it just did not hang well.  So, I settled and hemmed it the best I could.  I added buttons, pressed seams and the hem, and hung it on a hanger.  I thought that was so much fun.  It wasn’t perfect but it was my creation. I reached into my mother’s sacred fabric stash, neatly folded on a shelf and chose another piece.  I felt a pang of guilt but shoved it down and started another shirtwaist dress.  This time I looked more carefully at the layout process.  I aligned the pieces on the bright cerise cloth as the directions suggested.  I cut and assembled much faster because I had experience.  I finished in two hours and marked the hem.  This time the hem was even and hung attractively.  However, as I sewed on the buttons, I noticed in my haste I had put the buttonholes in backwards.  I had not read the instructions carefully as my mother had recommended. I gained a little more confidence, and lots of experience in ripping out buttonholes. 

              I have read the Bible every morning for forty plus years. At first, the directions were blurry because  I  read hastily and chose not to meditate , discover, or read carefully.  I had ragged hems a lot of years.  But, God waited patiently.  As a young mother, I gained experience, speed in doing things several tasks at once, but I still made mistakes that reminded me of my backward buttonholes that I made at sixteen. God waited as I unraveled each buttonhole.  

          As I built my career in teaching, I learned to wait on students until they took the  time to read directions and follow them instead of just jumping in and doing things their own way.  I waited for them to find their confidence and begin to write to express their joys or hurts. While reading their essays, I smiled at their mistakes, marked some, and wrote encouraging comments about their content at the top of their papers.  I learned to wait until they learned a concept before I tried to teach a new grammar rule and apply it.  I waited. It took many years for me to understand that waiting brought new truth, fulfillment, and peace. 

            Because of my impatience, I cut a lot of patterns out incorrectly.  Because I wanted to do it my way, I made some serious mistakes. Because I didn’t want to slow down and meditate, I missed some insightful truths on living in peace. However, Jesus has waited for me almost seventy years. 

            I’m still not a patient person.  The difference in that sixteen year old who made her first dress is that I  read the direction manual carefully and meditate how God's words apply to my life that day.  I know He is with me even when His timing is not mine.  I have learned that I can wait and still know peace.  So, I close this blog waiting, hoping, knowing, and loving Jesus.