Waiting on the Lord

After a busy Thanksgiving weekend, I’m ready for a breather.  One thing is for sure, it gives you a renewed appreciation for those who wait on tables in a restaurant, or have big families to provide daily meals for!  Everyone knows that preparing a big feast takes lots of time and preparation to be successful.  From the planning, recipe locating, food purchasing,  finding the turkey roaster, the actual cooking, and finally the clean up, it is indeed a labor of love…and I wouldn’t have it any other way.  The exhaustion I feel on  Sunday afternoon is well-deserved, and pleasant, knowing that everyone was sated and happy, because I “waited“ on them.  This verse, from Isaiah 40:31, is one of my favorites: “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”  When we “wait” upon the Lord, it means doing things, out of love for him.  Not unlike how we wait on our loved ones.  Sure it takes time and effort, but when we love someone, it is a joy to express our devotion through service.  If you read this carefully, God promises that he will restore the “waiter’s” strength when we expend it during times of service.   “Waiting” comes in different forms; the super busy times when we “run”, or are involved in many ministries, and the periods when we feel weary from merely “walking“, seemingly not accomplishing much for Him. Luckily God and my family, both don’t me to prepare a huge meal every week.  God doesn’t expect us to run all the time, either, and he wants to remind us that He blesses even our daily walk.  My husband and I love to visit Cancun, partly because the wait staff is always there to serve us. One of our favorite memories is of one of those waiters.  We would always thank him, because he seemed to know instinctively, when we needed something to make our meal perfect.  He in sincere reply would say, “It is my pleasure to serve you.” Today, as we improve our waiting skills, let us be like that Mexican waiter and find pleasure, and renewed strength,  in serving God.