Reflecting on Psalm 37 , verses 4 & 7 stand out.
４Delight yourself in the LORD
and he will give your the desires of your heart.
５Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him.
詩篇（しへん）、聖書（せいしょ） の ことばについてをかんがえています。
４主をおのれの喜びとせよ。
主はあなたの心の願いをかなえてくださる。
７主の前に静まり、たえしのんで主を待て。
It's been a long journey to get to the point I'm at right now, preparing to serve God by teach TCKs in Japan. The desire to pursue this ministry started back in 1996 and the preparation process has taken 13 years! Sometimes it has felt like a long cold winter where "cabin fever" has set in and I restlessly await springs arrival.
This week I found a poem a college friend had given meover 10 years ago, which gives words to some of the thoughts/feelings I've had along the way about waiting. And reflects the some of the lessons God has been kind enough to show me.
ーーーーーーーーーーーーーー
Wait - Author Unknown
Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried
Quietly, patiently, lovingly God replied.
I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate,
and the Master so gently said, "Child, you must wait."
"Wait? You say, wait?" my indignant reply.
"Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!
Is Your hand shortened? Or have you not heard?
By Faith, I have asked, and am claiming your Word.
My future and all to which I can relate
hangs in the balance, and YOU tell me to WAIT?
I'm needing a 'yes', a go-ahead sign,
or even a 'no' to which I can resign.
And Lord, I've been asking, ad this is my cry:
I'm weary of asking! I need a reply!"
Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate
As my Master replied once again, "You must wait."
So, I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut
and grumbled to God, "So, I'm waiting . . . for what?"
He seemed, then, to kneel, and His eyes wept with mine,
And He tenderly said, "I could give you a sign.
I could shake the heavens, and darken the sun.
I could raise the dead, and cause mountains to run.
All you seek, I could give, and pleased you would be.
You would have what you want -- but you wouldn't know Me.
You'd not know the depth of My love for each saint;
You'd not know the power that I give to the faint;
You'd not learn to see through the clouds of despair;
Youd not learn to trust just by knowing I'm there,
You'd not know the joy of resting in Me
When darkness and silence were all you could see.
you'd never experience that fullness of love
As the peace of My Spirit descends like a dove;
You'd know that I give and I save . . . (for a start)
But You'd not know the depth of the beat of My heart.
The glow of My comfort late into the night,
The faith that I give when you walk without sight,
The depth that's beyond getting just what you asked
Of an infinite god, who makes what you have LAST.
You'd never know, should your pain quickly flee,
What it means that "My grace is sufficient for Thee."
Yes, your dreams overnight would come true,
But, Oh, the loss! If I lost what I'm doing in you!
So be silent, My child, and in time you will see
That the greatest of gifts is to get to know Me.
And though oft' may My answers seem terribly late,
My most precious answer of all is still, "Wait.' "
Photo: taken in
Gunma Prefecture on the road to
Manza Onsen Hotel
We had a lovely day together - making pesto pizza, decorating a cake, singing, bouncing on beds, playing school, drawing pictures of friendly monsters, and climbing the stairway (up and down and up and down). Other than my mistake -of not reading the can carefully at the grocery store and buying kuro mame (black beans) instead of olives and not realizing the mistake until I opened the can- (ooops!) it was a lovely day! =0)
Master Chef - Eating tomatoes with one hand and adding cheese topping with the other.
お誕生日おめでとう、ボウンちゃん！
楽しかった！生まれてくれたありがとう！
