Anticipation

Today, Friday, I paint.

When some people say this, we automatically think of Mary Cassat or Georgia O’Keefe. That’s not what I’m doing. I’m painting a room. You might remember during the monsoon this summer, we had flooding in our house. Not a gusher – not roofs caving in like some of you. But we had flooding into our back room addition, coming in through the foundation and ruining carpet. Truth be told, the carpet wasn’t that great anyway. It was on my list to replace. But it wasn’t FIRST on my list to replace. Nevertheless, we pulled up carpet, fixed the leaking problems, and then decided we may as well rip up the tiles I hate and remove that built-in entertainment center that was weird. So, we borrowed sledge hammers and hacksaws and ripped out tiles and drywall and studs. And then we waited.

We got a bid to do the work we wanted done, but we didn’t like it. So we sat back and talked more. And we waited.

We decided to ask my father to do the work, and we made plans for him and my mother to come for Thanksgiving and Christmas and the New Year, and we talked about what he would do and what we would do. And we waited for that time to come.

We moved a bit of furniture back into the room. After all, it may echo terribly but the concrete isn’t that bad and the television still works and where else would we put it all? And we waited for November.

Finally, our wait is coming to an end. We moved the furniture back out of the room. The carpet installers are coming today to measure, and we will schedule installation for next week. The drywall mud has dried. Today, we paint the room, not the pale brown color that was all the rage in home decorating for the last 20 years, but a soft white and a midnight blue. We hope that by the time you read my blog next week, our room will be finished. Carpet will be installed and furniture will be moved and our wait will be over.

It seems like it’s been forever. It’s only been months, actually, but it feels like forever. We have lived with extra furniture in the front room and extra furniture in the lounge and extra furniture in the guest room and drywall and tile dust everywhere. We didn’t know if we should invite anyone for Thanksgiving because we didn’t know what the state of the house would be and whether we would be embarrassed to have people see our state of disarray. We have lived in limbo while we have waited.

We don’t like to wait, do we? We want instant results. We want to be done. We want to move on to the next thing.

But wait, we must. All of us. We all wait. Some are better at waiting. Some are more patient. But we all wait. We join Israel who waited for its Messiah. A mother who waits for her child to be born. An inmate who waits for his court date. A high school senior who waits for graduation. A patient waiting for results from the biopsy. A child waiting for Christmas morning.

God, give us the wisdom to wait patiently. Fill our lives with comfort as we wait. Help us encourage those who wait.

Grace and peace,
Pastor Lynn

Psalm 27:14
Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!

Psalm 37:7
Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!

 

WORSHIP SCHEDULE
(Please note, masks are required during all services as well as inside all St. Mark’s buildings.)
Join us for worship:

• 8:30 a.m. Traditional service with choirs in Sanctuary and child care in Rm 15
• 10 a.m. Modern worship service with Praise Team in Fellowship Hall
• 10 a.m. Traditional service with choirs in Sanctuary
• 10 a.m. Youth and children’s Sunday School and child care
• 10 a.m. Livestream premieres on YouTube and Website

To access our pre-recorded service:

• From the main menu on our website click “Worship.”  -OR-
• Go to YouTube and search for UMC St. Mark’s Oro Valley or use this link.