i will wait but i won't wait quietly...

another thing we need to do when we are waiting is to be quiet. this honking your horn at a light when it just has turned green is not waiting quietly but we all do it. and then what if we are the one in front who just got honked at? that is usually me. and then the battle inside of me. as one of the great thinkers of days past said, ''you know what i mean, vern?''

we have a tendency to run off at the mouth when we're irritated, when we're tense, when we're under pressure, when things aren't going our way and things aren't under our control. look at what james says, 5.9 (ms), friends, don't complain about each other. a far greater complaint could be lodged against you, you know.

right in the middle of talking about patience james talks about complaining. why? because it is hard to be quiet when you're frustrated. you want everybody to know about it. you want to grumble, mumble, moan, complain. we don't mind waiting if we can complain about it. i'll wait if i can gripe while i'm doing it. james says, don’t complain. the new english bible says, don’t blame your troubles on one another.

there was this lady who complained at her husband all the time. constantly. the guy died and she put on his tombstone, "rest in peace". then they went and read the will. he willed $5 to his wife and everything else to his secretary. she went back and changed the tombstone to "... till we meet again."

and then in verse 12 (niv) he says, above all, my brothers, don't swear.

do you ever want to swear while you're waiting?

what happens when you get uptight? when you're frustrated and things aren't going your way and things are beyond your control? how do you normally respond? typically, we take it out on those closest to us. we unload on our husbands, our wives, our children, and it's not even their fault. but we're frustrated and impatient. we displace our anger and focus it on those we love the most. james says don't do that.

lamentations 3.26 (ms) says, it's a good thing to quietly hope, quietly hope for help from GOD.

here is one of my life verses, habakkuk 2:3, this vision-message is a witness pointing to what's coming. it aches for the coming—it can hardly wait! and it doesn't lie. if it seems slow in coming, wait. it's on its way. it will come right on time.

do you have a dream, a goal in life, a vision-message that GOD's given you? GOD says it will come at the right time, in the right way. so wait quietly and expect it to come.

just an encouraging thought from the front porch...