Waiting

My daughter is learning a lesson about waiting. Two weeks ago, her best friend gave her an Explosion Book. For those of you like me, who are not crafty and have never completed one page of a scrapbook, let alone a whole project, an Explosion Book isn’t a book that blows up in your hand. No, it is a scrapbook that is folded up into a neat square, which can be large or small depending on the size paper you choose. It is actually a great way to share memories with family and friends, so when my 8 year old received this wonderful gift of memories from her short but intensely beautiful friendship, well she wanted to do something lovely for her dearest, bestest friend.

She sat around for a day or so bemoaning the fact that she is not her friend, that she never makes anything beautiful, and wishes that she were someone else. I told her that she is lovely, and doesn’t need to be anyone else because if she had a different mother she wouldn’t need to wish she was someone else, she would be making explosion books all the time.

So, the following day, I took her to the craft store, wishing all the time that I was my daughter’s best friend’s mother. I found some plain, paper picture frames, and we bought scrapbook paper, a special cutting tool, stickers, letters, and crafting glue, praying all the while for the Lord to miraculously give me a crafting moment.

In the car, my daughter said, “Mom, you are the best mom ever.”

Little did she know that she would be waiting for her “scraping moment” three weeks later.

We brought everything home and started our project of transforming a plain picture frame into a meaningful piece of art. We got started, but I told her that we would not get done that day. That she would have to wait because there were many things planned for the next few weeks. She was greatly disappointed, but handled it well.

As the week passed, I told her sometime the way she was feeling is just like I feel when I am waiting for the Lord to answer me. Sometimes I ask Him for something, and He gives me a small part of what I asked. Then days, weeks, months or even years go by and finally He completes what He started to do in and for me.

Our heavenly Father is not too busy to answer me, but the timing in my life is not always right for what I have asked. He uses the time of waiting to grow me, to increase my ability to depend on Him, to make me patient and help me out grow my have it now, two-year old mentality, and at the same time never lose my trust in Him, because He never fails to give me all the good He has for me.

So too, I will finish the project I have set aside for my daughter. The timing will be right, and it will be a learning and sharing moment far better than had I rushed the project simply to satisfy her youthful pride. She will grow in her ability to trust me because I will carry out what I promised her, but she will also learn that she cannot have everything the moment that she wants it. That her loving mother will give her all the good she has for her, but sometimes she will have to wait.