You Have Need of Patience

A little over a week ago, on one of the hottest afternoons of a spring that has given us a lot of very hot weather, I decided to insulate my attic.  I had known for several weeks that the attic could stand to be insulated, and it was bugging me that it wasn’t done.  And then, that day, I went out and bought the insulation, came home, and said to myself, “I’m going to insulate my attic.”  So I did.  I rested for the remainder of the evening (I wasn’t good for much else) but while I was at it I came as close as it was possible to come to actually enjoying it.

            Then there is my downstairs bathroom closet.  My handyman had painted it with Kilz to deal with the odor in it, but I didn’t want to put the shelves back in until it was repainted its original color.  So I was waiting for him to have time, and tolerating the pile of stuff that was sitting on the floor, waiting to go back into the closet.  Yesterday was the day.  I looked at it and I said, “I’m going to paint the closet.”  So I did.  And I enjoyed it.  Then I hung some window treatments in one of the rooms upstairs (something else that had been bugging me for a long time) while I waited for the paint to dry so I could reinstall the shelves.

            That is what God’s grace does.  You suddenly want to do it and don’t even care what obstacles are in your way.  They aren’t really even obstacles, anymore.  You just do it, and you enjoy it.

            But there is one teensy weensy little problem.

            Most of the time, you have to wait for a while.

            What made me think of this was a couple I know whose entire marriage has been pretty well loaded with tension.  Then I thought of marriage, in general, and concluded that this particular issue is a problem in almost every marriage I know of: people aren’t willing to wait.

            You see, because I live alone, I could not look at those tasks that needed to be accomplished and nag my husband about doing them.  He couldn’t nag me about doing them, either.  It’s just me, and I have learned to not nag myself about doing tasks.  I have learned that I may have to wait hours, days, weeks, months, or years, but when God’s time comes, it all comes together in a flash, and happens easily. 

            I have learned that if I am willing to endure the pain of waiting, the work itself is pretty painless.

            So girls (particularly), get off his back.  Take it to God.  Pretend it’s God you’re waiting on, not your husband.  (Uhm, it actually is God you’re waiting on.)  Then you can enjoy your man instead of resenting the fact that he isn’t getting your project done when you want it done.

            That’s a much better way to live.

If this message has been forwarded to you, and you would like to be added to Charissa’s mailing list please send your request to info@charissaschalk.com. Thank you.