The photograph above is my cat Lika admiring a christmas cactus my son and daughter-in-law gave me about three years ago. You can see the small pot and the plant was not very large. Below is how it looked this year when it bloomed in April.
Waiting for it to grow and bloom again took patience....and lots of care and fertilizing. It bloomed other years as well, but this past Spring was its best show yet. This is rather like life itself: waiting teaches you patience and, if you take care and nurture your soul and the souls of others, it will blossom into a thing of great beauty. Peter Marshall has said, "Teach us, O Lord, the disciplines of patience, for to wait is often harder than to work."
I used to be very impatient and when I wanted something, I wanted it NOW. That is pretty typical of people today. The good Lord has taught me to have patience by allowing circumstances to get pretty dire at times; I have learned to wait on the Lord and to look to Him for guidance and direction.
Psalm 27:14 ...... Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.
Milt. Lennart Karl Gottling "Hula Skirt"
Milt. Andrea West "Hop"
I remember several years ago I had over 50 rose bushes and I would wait patiently for the buds to open to view the beauty of the fully opened blossoms. Only thing is, I lived in an area where there were many deer that would roam the suburb and it didn't take them too long to discover my tasty rose buds. What a disappointment to wake up to after they feasted on them overnight. I did not know when I planted the roses that deer took a fancy to them. So sometimes waiting can be full of frustrations in this imperfect world. Of course, I have been struck by much more serious circumstances than this about the roses, but I do not want to comment right now about the hard times. Isaac Newton said, "Trials are medicines which our gracious and wise Physician prescribes because we need them, and He proportions the frequency and weight of them to what the case requires. Let us trust His skill and thank Him for His prescription."
"If the Lord Jehovah makes us wait, let us do so with our whole hearts; for blessed are all they that wait for Him. He is worth waiting for. The waiting itself is beneficial to us: it tries faith, exercises patience, trains submission, and endears the blessing when it comes. The Lord's people have always been a waiting people." - Charles Spurgeon
"Biblically, waiting is not just something we have to do until we get what we want. Waiting is part of the process of becoming what God wants us to be." - John Ortberg
True believers have also waited expectantly for the Lord's return and now more than ever, it will be soon. Hurts and heartaches are easier to bear on this earth when you realize soon there will be no more sorrow and God will wipe away our tears when we arrive in heaven. Now is the time to get right with the Lord. That is one thing you do not want to wait for. Accept Jesus as your Savior now before it is too late.
Below is a nature video (not mine) to relax you this weekend, and it is complete with soft music.
Here is a photograph (not mine) guaranteed to make you smile this wonderful weekend.
Psalm 130:5-6 ....I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in His Word I hope; my soul waits for the LORD more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.
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