Bugumikiriza-Patience
"You just need to be a little more patient please."
I find myself saying that phrase so much to the little ones at the after school program I work at. This is also usually when I have to remind my myself to be a little more patient with them and their seemingly endless questions. And lately I've been hearing this phrase too.
I keep on thinking about all that I have to wait for, and I become so, so impatient. I start to act like one of my little 1st graders who keep asking when they get computer time. I think about how I have to wait to go to Uganda, I have to wait to graduate, I have to wait for the 'right one', I have to wait to move to Colorado. And it can be so hard to be patient and to wait. But that is what we are told to do.
You must be willing to wait without giving up. After you have done what God wants you to do, God will give you what He promised you. Hebrews 10:36 (NLV)
God has been nudging me telling me that I need to be a little more patient. This is a hard pill to swallow sometimes, because I am always looking forward to things I could be or will be doing. But all of this reminds me of my first trip to Uganda.
One of the most common phrases that our leader, Becca Gardner, had to keep reminding us of was "hurry up and wait". In Africa, people go with the flow. They are in no rush, and do things as they come up. So it took some adjusting for me to be late to something, or to wait around to start. But no one was ever angry we were late, or frustrated that we changed their schedule. They graciously and excitedly welcomed us. And our days still kept moving. So now, I can hear God telling me to "hurry up and wait" and that I need a little more patience. And I've realized, when I am patient, that amazing things will happen.
While I have my plans and want them to happen now, God has His plans too, and I just have to wait a little bit longer. Because in the waiting God is still working. I learn new things or have new opportunities to show Christ's love right where I am while I wait, and when I am impatient and look forward too far, I miss what is right in front of me.
So, while I am so excited to leave for Uganda in less than THREE MONTHS (woah), I will be patient. I will experience what is here and now. I will live my life as He lays it out in front of me. I will "hurry up and wait" because amazing things are happening.
Joyfully His,
Alex
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