Spring in the Rocky Mountains is often mistaken for just an addition to winter; an appendix of sorts designed, it seems, to make us crazy! Many of us have lived here for years and know how unpredictable our weather is, yet we still get annoyed and frustrated with the “spring” weather. We wait impatiently for the warmth of summer after enduring the long, cold, windy winter. We long for the time when we can plant the garden, walk barefoot in the grass, or just sit outside without a heavy coat. Summer cannot come soon enough.
While watching the news one night this week, the forecaster used the word “unsettled” as he predicted yet another possibility of snow. That word caught my attention. Could this word, this “unsettled”, also apply to our relationship with God? For many of us, it does. Daily our faith is tested as we are buffeted about by the wind and storms of everyday life. Just like the snow in spring, we are annoyed and impatient with God for not answering our prayers soon enough, or often enough. Just like the possibility of warm weather, our prayers seem to go unanswered.
The problem seems to lie, as always, with us. We want the world to revolve around our wants, needs and desires. We are not thinking of what God wants or might be doing; we only see what we want. We are unsettled. Fortunately, unlike the weather, our “unsettledness” has a solution.
“Wait for the Lord. Be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” Psalm 27:14 I didn’t say it would be easy, but that is the solution. The Psalmist tells us to wait. Isaiah tells us that if we wait, we will be made strong and be lifted up “with wings as eagles.” (Isaiah 40:31) Regularly seeking God’s will through prayer and meditation on His word will go a long way to making us settled in the Lord. It won’t change our weather but it will change our hearts.
Helen Schindler
President
Wyoming American Baptist Women |
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