I was meant to be somewhere tonight. but lately it seems as though my plans don’t always go according to..well..the plan. Unfortunately, tonight was one of those nights where the plan failed a bit and I ended up not managing to make it to said event. But when I got home and charged my phone, a ping from it revealed a lovely message from a lovely friend simply saying ‘waiting’. And as I read it, I felt overwhelmed by the feeling of love that flowed from that message. that my friend would wait for me, without so much as an idea as to when I’d turn up or why I was running late. It wasn’t a message asking why or when; it was a message to free me, to allow me to feel that my presence was missed and worth waiting for. It was a message of love. And in that I saw the living image of God, of a friend who waits for us; even when we are feeling fed up by the circumstances in and around our lives. The ones that happen just before we are due to meet with him, making it so hard for us to be on time; or show up at all.
I see a God who cares if we’re not there, because actually He knows your name; and he DOES care about you. Your not being there? He feels the loss. There is an empty chair waiting next to God. and so he waits. others come too, they find their way to God too. and they, too, learn that you are on your way so they wait for you, too. Not to hurry you or anything but because they, too, feel the same as He does. so they wait, together. For you. So, unaware, you go about your business, thinking and feeling like no one really sees or notices whether you are here on not. unaware that not far away from here there are those who are waiting for you. You matter enough. So they wait. Do you know that the God in heaven, most powerful creator of the Universe, nott only knows your name, but waits, day, after day, to have a chat with you? To have a meal with you; to have you know Him- because He knows YOU. And he longs to be kind to you and shower his compassion on you.
Isaiah 30:18
“The LORD is waiting to be kind to you. He rises to have compassion on you”.