Instant Patience

Last year for Christmas, my brother and sister-in-law bought my mom a Blackberry. At first she wasn't very impressed with it, or if she was, she didn't really show it, but once we started showing her how to use Blackberry Messenger, she was pretty convinced that Blackberry phones were good things. Except there was a problem. As you can imagine, my mom isn't the most technically savvy person out there.

As my mom fiddled around with her new phone, I recalled a night several years ago. My mom was in her bedroom, and from my own bedroom, I heard her frantically calling my name. I ran into her room, expecting to come across some horrid and dramatic scene, only to find her sitting calmly on her bed with her laptop opened up. Without looking up, she asked, "How do I BOLD this line?"

Yup. This woman now has a Blackberry. Oh dear. Okay to be fair, she did eventually get the hang of it, but with grumbling and groaning.

Here's a Blackberry Messenger crash course for you iPhone fans. When you send a message, it puts a little checkmark next to it, and then letters will show up next to it. So "D" means that the message was delivered, as in your friend with the blackberry HAS a data plan and the message successfully got to him. "R" means that the message has been read, as in your friend actually has seen it and acknowledged having read it either by pressing enter, or by typing something in response. When said friend is typing their response, BBM tells you that "FRIEND... is typing a message."

So here's what a typical BBM conversation goes like with my mom:
Me: Hi mom! (R)
Me: Just wanting to know what time dinner is at... (R)
Me: Cause I have to plan to drive to your house straight from work. (R)
Joanne: "...is typing a message."
Joanne:
Joanne: "...is typing a message."
...
...
...
(3 hours later)
Joanne: "...is typing a message."

How annoying! Just give me an answer! And there's no way you've been typing a message for the last three hours! Push the send button, man! And don't pretend you didn't get my message, because the little R's are there! And to make it worse, she'll call me when I'm clearly messaging her because I can't talk on the phone!

I imagine this is how we react to God's voice sometimes. We pray to God, and we expect this immediate answer back, especially if we believe that He's heard the message. Why won't you just message me back?! A few things to ponder:

1. It is a blessing to know that with God, He's read our message.
2. We should be patient and trust that God is writing out our lives.
3. Sometimes we should be prepared to not get the response that we expect, perhaps in the form of a call to do something else. When He calls us, we cannot be too busy to answer it, and only accept the instant responses to our prayers.

Also... tell your mom to press ENTER after she types her message.

Hebrews 10:35-36 (NLT)
So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! [36] Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God's will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.

The challenge: What are you being impatient about? What response are you demanding from Him? Is He speaking to you in another way?