Baxter can’t tell time. I wish he could because he has no idea when it is time to eat. When he feels hungry he wants to eat. It doesn’t matter what the schedule for eating is. If he feels that his stomach is empty, he wants his craving satisfied, and he takes no excuses for why he isn’t being fed. He cries, drags the feeding dish, rubs up against my legs, and stares me down, all in an attempt to get what he wants. When I try to explain to him that he has to wait, he ignores my words. No clock is going to tell Baxter when to eat. His internal clock is the only one he reads, and when it is set on empty, he wants it reset to full. Baxter works on a three period day: feeding time, sleeping time, and getting ready to sleep or eat. That’s it. No explanations needed or accepted.
Although we can and do tell time, we sometimes act like Baxter when we are looking for something to satisfy our lives. We don’t want to wait. We want immediate gratification for our need, and we can’t understand when others can’t or won’t deliver it to us. We get impatient with ourselves or others, and we can become so focused on what we desire that nothing else seems to matter. Until we get what we are looking for, we are dissatisfied and frustrated with what we have. We get ahead of ourselves and lose a sense of the good and valuable things we have at our disposal now.
But sometimes we have to wait on God. He will not work on our schedule, but He sets
His own timetable for His blessings and grace in our lives. He knows us better than we know ourselves, and sometimes God’s delays later reveal a purpose and meaning we couldn’t grasp when we wanted our satisfaction and happiness. Waiting teaches us so many things. We learn that everything doesn’t have to happen at once. We can deal with our issues one at a time. We learn that it takes time to mature and gain insight. The quick fix or easy answer is sometimes shortsighted. We learn that waiting isn’t a waste of time. It is time to take in the bigger picture, to include more people in solving the problems, to test out the possibilities before we commit to one, to face things calmly and carefully. Taking time to reflect well on what we want is never time wasted. It is time to measure our desires against God’s desires for our true happiness.
Because he can’t tell time, Baxter is forced to act on impulse to get what he wants. Knowing there is time, we can place it on our side and use it to live better and more graciously. Take the time God gives us to know Him, ourselves and each other in His light, not to hurry through life but appreciate its meaning and savor its richness and bounty. Baxter, you don’t know what you’re missing!
