Because we are his we don't have to pass time in our waiting

​Many days, running for me becomes the best way to "pass time in (my) waiting." Because it does always feel like I'm in some sort of pattern of waiting.

Running is often my way of escaping the noise I create in my head when I grow weary of that waiting.

Waiting for struggles to disappear.

Waiting for hope to arrive.

Friday, I spent some time running through a beautiful park in North Carolina. There was a paved path that ran through the middle of the woods.

At one point, the path came out of the woods onto a sidewalk that tracked along a busy street. I decided to run on the sidewalk for a bit to add some miles to my run. I hadn't gone too far when I looked back down into the woods through an opening that appeared. That's when I noticed some things.

I noticed the green leaves starting to bud on the trees.

I noticed the stream that had been winding in and out of my path when I'd been running in the woods.

I noticed the rocks.

I noticed the warn down dirt path along the stream where folks had clearly abandoned the pavement for something more adventurous.

I noticed a lot of things that, while I'd been running along passing time in the woods, had been wanting to make me aware of God's presence. I noticed a lot of things that, while running to silence the voice in my head that was insisting to me God wasn't coming through quick enough, were God saying I'm right here and I'm right on time.

It was a reminder that we can go through life believing God shows up periodically - or that God is always there.

We can go through life believing God's presence is defined by his response to us, or that it's defined by our response to him. The first one involves a lot of waiting for God to knock at our door. The second requires us to run through life with our antennae up.

The first involves a lot of wishing and hoping.

The second requires seeing and hearing and smelling and touching - and believing.

I guess that's it, we're either wishing or believing. And maybe that largely comes down to an antennae up or down....