Endings Are The Best Part

…and I will raise him up at the last day. John 6:40

We live in an “on demand” world.  Movies on demand, drive through meals, pharmacies, groceries and dry cleaning just to name a few.  We can order practically anything under the sun and have it on our front porch in two days, so waiting and being last aren’t usually part of our daily routine.  I’m constantly on the search for ways to get things done faster and more efficiently in order to save time so I can cram more stuff into my day.

As I worked my way through this Gospel, I got excited reading about what will come to me, what Jesus will do for me, where my faithfulness will lead me.  It’s such a hope filled collection of  verses.  I need to see Jesus, believe in Jesus and know that my faithfulness is what he’s asking of me. St. John lays out some beautiful steps to eternal life in this short Gospel but then comes that ending; the last day.  I have to wait until then?  What??? 

My fast paced mind wondered if I could speed things up a little because I don’t like waiting and who knows when the last day really is anyway!  As I prayed with this reading a while I remembered my Grandma who taught me how to make the perfect Angel Food cake from scratch when I was  little.  She would smile and remind me that beating all those egg whites took time and baking it took time and cooling it upside-down on a coke bottle took time.  She would pat my impatient hands and say, “Great things happen in the waiting!”  So, I will keep believing, hoping, praying and wanting him ferociously while I wait for that last day!  
To each day I need to add the words, “Loving Father, please use you gentle hand to slow me down.  Grant me a spirit of patience as I notice the ways you are working in my life and help me prepare to be raised up on the last day!”​

A Seed To Plant:  What are you hurrying with?  Where are the areas in your life God might be calling you to slow down and wait for him to work?