A Lesson from a Kitten

But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

(Isa 40:31)

  I've talked before about my cat named Patches.  When she was just a kitten she would follow right at my heels.   But sometimes she got impatient with my slower pace and she'd see I'm headed in a certain direction and run ahead of me into the room she thought I'd enter.  Sometimes she was right.  Most of the time, though, she gets it wrong.  She stood in the room expecting me to show up, looking around and wondering where I was.  Then she'd me walking by the door and rush to catch up with me.

 I understand this behavior, because I do the same thing with God.  I want to go where He is going, but I get

Patches taking a rest

impatient with the pace he  set for me.  So, instead of following him, I try to figure out where he is headed and rush ahead of him expecting him to keep pace with me.  And, of course, most of the time I'm wrong.  He isn't headed there at all.  I'm waiting for Him to arrive and bless my work and he just walks on by and I rush again to catch up with him. 

 Like Patches, I want God to do things on MY schedule rather than HIS.  So, I rush ahead and usually get it wrong.  I don't understand the subtlety of God.  I may see him going in a straight line, when he suddenly turns to the left or the right and I've going the wrong direction.

 It's a sad thing when you realize you're no smarter than a kitten, but I guess what makes me different from the kitten is that God gave me to ability to know this.  So, what can I do?  Well, as our scripture says, I must WAIT. We often see this as a passive thing like waiting in line.  And particularly those of us who happen to be Americans hate lines or as our friends in the UK call them Queues.  

But perhaps a better analogy would be a military one.  Before being deployed, the troops will be called to a staging area and they have to wait there to receive their marching orders.  They are waiting on their orders from their superiors.  When we WAIT upon the Lord, we are not dozing, or letting our minds wander.  We are listening closely to hear him say, "Move Out" and let him tell us where.

 Lord, Today remind me to let you set the pace in my life. Amen