DAY 45 -- The Other End Of The Stick

Bonnie made a comment that I totally agree with.  She said that this waiting is part of our mission.  Filling out the paperword, submitting it, getting medical attention, all of these things, even the waiting for the interviews are all part of our mission.  If is as if we are serving right now. 

When we used to go away for the weekend, go on a vacation, or just go do something out of the ordinary, Bonnie insisted that the planning was almost more fun than the actual doing.  Planning a weekend away from home, from kids, from work, from those things was a great "high" for her.  She loves to plan, organize, cross every t and dot every i.  Everything has to be planned, organized, and "spritually" created before we can go.  I quietly watch her do her preparation, enjoy her efforts, and be excited as if we are already doing it.

Well, I guess this preparation for a mission should be the same thing.  The preparation is part of the serving.  Filling out papers, going to doctors, getting interviewed are all part of the mission.  It is as if we are already serving our mission.

Though it seems that a day cannot go by but we discuss the "why's" of this, the reasons of that, and especially the waiting.  But if this is part of our mission, we just need to chill, sit back and watch miracles unfold.  I can recall many times in my life, in our lives when we have done all we can do, and now it is time to just sit back and wait and leave it all in the Lord's hands.  He knows what He is doing.  We do not. So we live by faith, knowing that He knows that we know that He knows.

That is a lesson for us to learn and remember, especially in the coming 18 months.  We do all we can do, and then leave it in His hands.  It should be comforting. We do all we can, pray and tell Him we have done all we have been inspired to do, and then wait.  If there is anything more we should do, tell us, but we await His direction, His decision, His action.

I have heard it said that when you pick up one end of a stick, you also pick up the other end.  By filling out paper work, by doing the preparation, we are picking up one end of the stick.  The other end of the stick I think is stuck in the mud and won't come free.  It will one day, but until then, we have to be grasping onto our end of the stick. 

What will the other end of the stick teach us?