Waiting

How are you with waiting?

One would think, we would be better at waiting the older we get. But it seems not so much. Well, at least in my experience of aging parents and, admittedly, my aging self. I seem to be more and more impatient with the “I don’t have time for this” mentality.

I remember in the last decade or so of their lives, my parents and in-laws could be impatient. It was strange because, except for my mother who always seemed a little impatient, the other three seemed to have the patience of Job.

Ask anyone who has had to transport an elderly loved one, and you will get an example of elderly impatience. The process of getting the elderly person in and out of the passenger seat, especially if the elderly person has a walker, rollator, wheelchair or any type of mobility aids, should be the new Olympic sport: one has to park the car; unhook one’s seat belt, double checking that one has pocketed the car keys (getting locked out of the car by a happy-button-pushing passenger does not make for a pleasant experience); run to the back of the vehicle; open the trunk and remove said medical assistive device; unfold and ensure that it is properly set up; wheel it to the passenger side of the car; open door, maneuvering the device in just the right place; lock the wheels (a crucial step- trust me), reach over to unhook elderly person from their seat belt. Then immediately change one’s body movements-slow down your actions (if not, your anxiety will transfer to the situation and the elderly person) and gently help them swing their legs over the side of the car ledge (protecting their head from hitting the top of the door frame) in order to have them stand and transfer to the chair or to place their hands on walker, ready to walk to the entrance of the doctor’s office or store.

This is the ideal set-up when the elderly person sits in the seat waiting for you to open the car door and help them unhook the seat belt.

What generally happens is that the elderly person starts to feel for the door handle as you are turning into the parking spot in order to open the passenger car door as soon as the car stops. “Just wait and I’ll be there to open the door for you in a sec.” you request in a gentle voice. Most times the request goes in one ear and out the other (or maybe just not “heard” at all.) Which then requires you to move through the process at double speed all the time requesting, “just wait, please” until your voice becomes an Ethel Merman bellow, “HOLD ON.”

It always amazed me that the same person who would take for-ev-er to walk from his room in the assisted living wing to the dining room less than thirty feet distance (I would trip over my feet trying to slow down my stride) could be out of the car with feet dangling or upper body dangling (if he forgot to unhook the seat belt) in a matter of seconds.

I kind of wonder- is this another sign of the circle of life or at least the bell curve of life? We start out as impatient infants and we end up as impatient elders with an apex of seemingly rationality in our adult years. There is an interesting 2024 study archived in the National Library of Medicine that seems to conclude that older adults, more so than younger adults are more susceptible to be influenced by the impulse of others. Of course, the researchers note that there are other studies that show quite the opposite. Regardless, it made me think of both my mother and mother-in-law. Both women were strong individuals with strong opinions and were never swayed by others’ opinions. And yet, in their old age, they were influenced by what the other women were doing, wearing, saying in their respective retirement communities. They were impatient to have those experiences. Many a time, I found myself taking one of the parents on an expedition because they had to do something that they had heard the others talking about. I have fond memories of taking my ninety-two year old mother-in-law jeans shopping. She got it in her head, after seeing some of the other residents wearing jeans, to purchase a pair for herself.

In some ways, why not be impulsive and somewhat rash? Time is not on one’s side.

Although, it is not just the young and elderly who are impatient. Most of modern society are more and more impatient and do not want to wait. We have devised ways around the waiting (pay for the express lane or fast pass lines) or ways to be “entertained” while we wait (short videos on Tik-tok/Facebook, etc.) We can blame our smart phones, technology, and social media outlets for causing our impatience and distraction but we seem to not be able to get out of the cycle. The truth is, we have let those tools rule our lives or at least a good part of our days.

Many years ago I went to a talk at our church. The speaker was discussing violence and television shows and the effect on children. There was concern about what to do about it since all the studies concluded that the violence on the television wasn’t good. The response- do more studies. I came home and said to my husband- I don’t think we need more studies. It seemed simple to me- just turn off the telly. Don’t watch the violent shows.

I feel the same way with our ever quickening technologies- they keep pushing us to think, react, and make decisions faster and faster, which doesn’t seem like a sustainable long term plan. Of course, there are situations where the new technology is a God-send to people. But the overall, day-to-day experience is not good in the long run- physically, emotionally, mentally even spiritually. While the modern technology has connected us globally, it also has divided us more-a modern tower of Babel.

This is the Advent season, the season of waiting. Waiting expectantly for the birth of the Messiah- the One to save us from sin and oppression. For those who follow Jesus- we know the story, we know the outcome and we know why we wait. But do we know how?

Do we wait with wonder and awe- that the God of the universe cares so deeply about each one of us, that He came to earth and dwelt among us? To rescue us from sin and death, if only we believe? How do we respond to that? Do we share that Good News with others? Do we wait expectantly for peace and joy, that can only come from God? Is there a place for impatience? Should we be impatient and demanding that justice be done? For those who are lost, to be found? For those who are hungry, to be fed? For those who are marginalized, to belong?

As our priest has challenged us this Advent season- is God waiting for us? During this Advent season, is God waiting and expecting more from us? To be more loving, more kind, more gentle, more merciful? Is God waiting for us to be more patient- with ourselves, our families, our neighbors, even our enemies?

So, how are you at waiting? Are you waiting for God to do something in your life? Are you waiting for a Savior? Is God waiting for you?

Trust

How are you in the waiting game? Having to wait for something is in some ways about delayed gratification, something I wonder if I am lacking? When I was a kid, my neighborhood playmate Kathy and I would receive cookies from her mom which we would share equally. It was always a game as to who could make her cookies last. Kathy always won. I would be so frustrated that I never won. What was wrong with me? Only later did I realize that she would hide her last cookie.

Waiting always makes me think of the marshmallow study done over 50 years ago by psychologist Walter Mischel. While the findings and conclusions have been reassessed over the years, I still find the videos of the children and their antics/strategies to not eat the marshmallow before the allotted time and thus, receive an additional one in the end, adorable. When I get frustrated waiting, this makes me laugh: Click here to watch.

How I feel most days as I wait for the remodeling to finish…

Once again, we have had a delay in our remodeling project. I must say, I am really beginning to lose patience over the delays. In all fairness, most of the delays are really out of anyone’s control. Yet it seems, once the wheels fall off the wagon, the whole thing falls apart: one error can cause a whole litany of other problems to happen. I get it. Sometimes that is just the way things occur. I remember when working with clients, inevitably there would be one client, that if one thing went wrong with the care and/or project, then sure enough, multiple things would also be off.

Yet, I also recognize that because of the issues and delays, the final outcomes have been better than if things went according to the original plan. For instance, the snafu with the cabinets caused a reassessment of the type of cabinet for the stove, which now is even a better arrangement and will provide more storage.

But, like the Psalmist I groan, “How long, O Lord…?”

I keep muttering to myself, “trust in God, trust in the process and trust the workmen.” At times I have been discouraged about the whole shebang- moving, remodeling, and the all encompassing energy that both things take. I start to doubt God and myself regarding the call to move.

Then I get an affirmation from the place where we live- the beauty of the surroundings or the friendliness of the neighbors. Reminders from God that we are exactly where He wants us to be at this time. I begin to remember God’s faithfulness in the past. Not just to me and my family but to my spiritual family and friends as well as the stories of the faithful in the Bible.

I have been reading about Joshua and Caleb- the only two spies who, after coming back from the reconnaissance in the Promised Land, were encouraged that through God, the Hebrews could overtake the area. All the other spies incited the people to reject what God promised and not trust that God would do what He said. Because of that, God decided that the whole generation would not enter the land. The Hebrew people would have to wait for the next generation to receive the Promised Land. Only Joshua and Caleb would be allowed to enter with the new generation because of their trust in God.

Only recently did it dawn on me, Joshua and Caleb had to wait forty years before the Promise came to fruition for them. They didn’t do anything wrong. In fact, they were doing everything right and yet they still had to wait. Even after entering the Promised Land it took some effort and time before things settled down and there was a period of peace.

What about you? Have you ever had to wait for some dream or plan to come to fruition? How did you handle the waiting time? Are you more like the marshmallow children, sneaking in a bite or two or more like the hound- waiting patiently for something to occur?

Interestingly that this week’s chapter in my Bible Study book was all about waiting. (Tish Harrison Warren, Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life) The author reminds us that waiting is active and purposeful like a fallow field. Even when a dirt field appears to be dormant, there are microorganisms, fungi, insects, wind and sun all readying the soil for planting.

When I am impatient, I need to remember: my past and God’s goodness as well as His goodness to others. It gives me hope and helps me to be patient and trust God.

Tertullian, an early (160 A.D.) Christian author from Carthage, states, “The singular mark of patience is not endurance or fortitude but hope. To be impatient…is to live without hope. Patience is grounded in the Resurrection. It is life oriended toward a future that is God’s doing, and its sign is longing, not so much to be released from the ills of the present, but in anticipation of the good to come.” (Robert Louis Wilken, The Spirit of Early Christian Thought: Seeking the Face of God.)

May we all look forward to the good that is to come.

400 Hundred Years of Waiting

I have a confession to make: I am an extremely impatient person. When I get an idea, thought or project in my head, I am like a dog with a bone- holding on to that idea until I can do something with it. As a friend once said to me, “you don’t let grass grow under your feet.” Some of that “get it done” mentality was learned during my years nursing. In caring for others, if I thought of something to do and had the time, then I had do it because that time would not come around again. For me, once I have an idea I am ready to work on it and then finish that idea, thought or project in order to move on to something else.

Lately, the problem I am having is that I have had to wait on others, namely the workmen to complete their work, in order for me to begin my various home projects. But in waiting for others to do something, I really cannot have that impatient “just do it, darn it” mentality towards them or at least to expect them to have my similar mentality. I need to have a little more grace and patience.

And so I am finding myself trying to patiently wait. And that is really difficult. I find myself struggling each day to not massively complain. The disarray of our home continues and if possible, has become even more jumbled. Just when we thought we had some type of organizational “system”, some new problem has been discovered or items, like the kitchen cabinets will arrive and we have to push more things aside and on top of each other. In the words of the Christmas story, “there is no room in the inn.”

In the preparation and waiting time that is called Advent, I have been thinking about the Israelites and the waiting that they had to do over the many, many years. In fact, there is about four hundred years between the Old and New Testament when nothing is recorded. Four hundred years of silence and seemingly inaction from God. Talk about waiting!

You wonder-how did they handle the wait? Tell stories of the past? Plan out scenarios for the future? Massively complain? Where are You, God? How long are we to wait until we hear from you? How long before the Messiah comes?

God is the maker of sound and silence. As noted in Ecclesiastes (3:7): there is time to keep silent and a time to speak. In the past, God had spoken to His people through multiple prophets about returning back to communion with Him, yet the people remained stubborn in their own ways. It was now time to keep silent. Similarly, there are times when we can say only so much to our family, friends and loved ones. We may have cajoled, threatened, bargained or pleaded but eventually we just need to keep silent and let the consequences or things happen as they do.

All we can do during that interim waiting period is pray, hope and love.

I guess during my waiting time- which is by far NOT at all 400 years or at least I hope it won’t be!- I need to learn the lessons of patience. I am trying to be understanding when unforeseen things happen to either our workmen and their families. To pray for them and for their safety. To know when to be silent and when to speak.

It is good practice for me to hand over control of these uncontrollable situations. As I am learning more and more, we really have no control in life. The only thing we can control is how we handle the situations- our responses and attitudes. For me, I am struggling to handle my present situation through prayer, hope and love. I know that the more I practice these types of responses, the better I will be in handling future uncontrollable situations for myself and for family.

The thing is- the waiting time will end. For the Israelites, God did not remain silent. Nor does He remain silent to us. When Jesus was born, He fulfilled hundreds of years of prophecy. His birth, life, death and resurrection were all part of God’s rescue story for both His “people”- the Israelites, and also for us.

The beauty of Christmas is that is a yearly reminder, lest we have forgotten, that God IS with us- Emmanuel. The waiting time is over. God has spoken. We can look forward to the new life (and new projects) that God has in store for us. Merry Christmas.

A Dream Deferred

Recently a friend of mine who has known me almost my entire adult life said that he felt the “old me” was back. He recognized that I had had some trying times the last couple of years and that at our last meeting he felt that I was back as the person of yore.

On one hand I felt honored that he cared enough to say something and that he recognized my distress over the years. On the other, I was embarrassed to think that perhaps I didn’t exhibit as much “grace under pressure” as I had hoped or thought I had over those years. Yikes!

But the more I thought about it, I realized that my return to the “old me” was due to resurrecting a dream deferred. Laying aside a dream is kind of like checking a coat: When you cannot keep a coat with you- whether visiting a museum, theater or dinner, you turn it in to an attendant who hangs it up on a numbered hanger. In return you get a chit or piece of paper with an identifying corresponding number or letter on it. Your items are carefully stored and watched and when you are done with whatever you are doing, you turn in your chit for your respective item. You don’t have to worry about your checked items. They are being attended to by the attendant.

For a good number of years, I had to lay aside my writing plans in order to attend to the needs of others. At the time I felt that I had thrown away those plans and the thought crushed my soul. I was internally angry, upset and disappointed. It was especially hard because I thought that writing was my “calling” and God’s plan for my life. I was doubting whether I had “heard” correctly?

I hadn’t gotten it “wrong”, I just had to wait. In essence I was just checking the dreams: they were still there. I just had to delay until the time was right for me to collect them.

My hopes and dreams were put on a shelf for a little while. At the time I thought they were completely dried up and the thought did make my heart sick. I didn’t think that many people noticed but my friend must’ve recognized something. When we are disappointed with life we do have a tendency to change our demeanor. I just wished that I had realized that even though the dream was deferred, it was still there. God was carefully storing and watching over them. If I had realized that, I would’ve appreciated that deferred time better. I wouldn’t have wasted energy kicking, screaming and behaving badly before God. In essence, I would’ve enjoyed the meal and not worried about my checked coat.

The thing is, the experiences that I had while my dreams were “sitting” have aided me in what I am doing now. In truth, nothing is wasted in God’s economy. Even our disappointments can be used for good. I realized that my feeling “heart sick” was not necessarily the delayed dream but the feeling of hopelessness that it wouldn’t happen. When hope seems lost there is despair and anger. I was mad at God. I couldn’t understand why He would put the creative desire in my soul to just let me languish. That is what I got “wrong”: God’s timing. It wasn’t that the dream was gone but that it was to be deferred. God’s timing was different than mine and so much better.

What about you? Have you had to defer a dream? How did that make you feel? How long did you have it deferred? Did the dream change while you were waiting?

While the Bible speaks to what happens without hope (“Hope deferred makes the heart sick.” Proverbs 13:12), it also speaks to waiting: “But those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and never be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31). In some translations the word “hope” is used for “wait”.

Recently I discovered that the play “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry got its title from the Langston Hughes poem, Harlem. While I agree with the descriptions of what it feels like to have a dream deferred, I would also want to encourage him to hold on- that even in a deferred dream there is hope. There is always hope.

Harlem by Langston Hughes:

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up

like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore—

And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over—

like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags

like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

Actively Waiting

You ever have one of those weeks? Your thoughts are jumbled. Your words are stilted. Your actions are clumsy. Your behavior erratic. Your concentration is shot.

This past week has been one of those weeks. In some ways it was just a week ago (maybe longer- time is another thing that gets scrambled) that my husband and I were traveling to our Cape home for a weeklong vacation. We were there just about 24 hours when we had to turn around home.

You know the drill- The one time you turn off your phone so that you can concentrate on a specific task (we were attending an online church service) that you receive a voice mail with the words you don’t want to hear, “Your mother was taken to the local hospital because she had fallen in her room.”

A quick repacking of the car, a return down the same stretch of highway we had traveled less than 24 hours prior, numerous phone calls to the hospital, recorded voice messages, the wait for return calls only to have three calls come in at once, discovering that only 1 family member may visit during limited hours (which we had now missed for that day) for the duration of the stay and that person’s name must be given to the nurse at that moment as we are barreling across the Tappen Zee Bridge.

This week has been surreal. Time is not our own. So much hurry up and wait. Not much progress or information of progress from the medical staff and then- “She is being discharged this afternoon.” What? To where? She still is in pain. Another flurry of phone calls, recorded voice messages, the wait for return calls, only to discover that once transferred out of the hospital, she will be in quarantine for fourteen days in the rehab center. Another flurry of phone calls to see if there was any possible way that we could just see her as I felt in my heart, we may never get to see her again.

Because of COVID, there really is nothing we can do- no visits, no sitting with her during the day, no being there when the doctors and health staff make their rounds, no puttering around the room trying to make her comfortable, no familiar faces to soothe her agitated dementia/Alzheimer state. Knowing that in two weeks when the quarantine rules are met, we still may never get to see her as outside visitation is trickier in these cooler months. Knowing too, it will be a marathon of daily care/visitation/phone calls, once (if) we are finally allowed inside visits.

What to do in the meantime? I have no level of concentration at the moment. In thinking over the numerous times acute crisis have happened in my life, I realized I naturally fall into a pattern of actively waiting. Probably not due to any great character quality but rather because I am more hyper than I care to admit. I need to be busy.

I need to actively wait: to do something productive that keeps my mind engaged but not too taxed. I have found that when I am doing rote physical things (ironing, painting a room, cleaning, gardening) I can think of what I need to do next and let my mind wander. Actively waiting helps me control the things I can: if I can get something accomplished while I wait, I feel that I can handle what comes down the pike. I also find that in those times I am in a perfect position to pray for others. Thinking and praying for others while I am “going through the motions” helps keep my situation in perspective. Alas, the list of people for whom my heart is broken is growing.

“Active waiting means to be present fully to the moment, in the conviction that something is happening where you are and that you want to be present to it. A waiting person is someone who is present to the moment, who believes that this moment is the moment.” Henri Nouwen

In this day and age, waiting seems to be seen as a passive and therefore negative action; waiting for the diagnosis, the other shoe to drop, the “phone call”. In essence, waiting for the next round of bad news. It is feeling that one is a sitting target for all the bad karma of the world.

I am reminded of the waiting times of life: waiting for the birth of a baby, waiting for the wedding day, waiting for the start of a new job or new career, waiting to hear if the offer on a house is accepted. The delay that is caused by waiting builds anticipation and excitement, allows time for validation of the decision and justifies the wait. The waiting becomes part of the whole experience.

What about you? Are you waiting for something? Something “good” or just the “shoe to drop”? How do you handle those waiting times?

I find comfort in the words of Isaiah (40:31) “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings of eagles, they shall run and not be weary.” I cannot say that I am the most patient in waiting, but I am trying to recognize that even as I wait, something is happening in the situation where I find myself: if nothing else, I am learning to lean and be strengthened by God.

Lilac

I love lilacs. They are one of the first flowers that I identified with as a child. I think it is because my mom loved lilacs. We had a bush around our house. Each spring my mom would cut some of the fragrant blooms and arrange them in a white with green-leaved-patterned vase and place it on the stereo system cabinet in the living room. (This was the place for any floral arrangement.) The blooms were so fragrant, wafting throughout our split-level home.

When we bought our present house, I was pleasantly surprised to find that there were lilacs on the border of our side yard. My surprise was short-lived however when I discovered that the bushes belonged to the neighbors next door. Then one year, the bush spread out and sent a root under the fence into our yard. Calling on the neighborhood law of “if it hangs or comes over to your side (the imaginary line in the middle of two properties) you have the right to do anything with it.” So, I dug up the lilac wanderer and transplanted it to another area in our garden.

When I transplanted it, the lilac was only a stick. Many times I had to remind myself not to pull it out. Over the years, the stick grew. After it grew into a recognizable bush form it appeared healthy yet still there were no blooms in sight.

This year- voila! It has not one or two blooms, but is full of them. When I first saw it, I was so excited. I did my spring clean-up late this year so was shocked to see the blooms. The more I have been puttering around the garden, the more I have enjoyed the entire bush: its delicious scent, the gentle rustling of the heart-shaped leaves, and the space it now occupies in the garden.

It has made me think about life and time.

We (and I include myself most definitely in that collective) are impatient people, wanting things here and now. Sadly, that is my nature more than I care to admit or want to behave. I am especially impatient with God. Why hasn’t this happened, NOW? Or I will demand action from Him when I think there has been sufficient time between the initial request. How absurd and foolish on my part. Who am I to think that I can speak to the Creator of time in that way?

God’s timing is not our own. There are many examples in the Bible and in people’s lives (myself included) that things happen in a completely different time frame than from what is expected. Noah and his family and ALL the animals waited inside the arc for over a week before any rain fell. Sarah and Abraham waited twenty-five years from the promise of a great nation to when Isaac was born. David waited over fifteen years from when he was anointed king to when he actually ruled.

Time and time again in my life I have had delays in situations that I thought should’ve been handled more quickly. I think of the time when we were trying to sell our former house. It was the home my husband lived in as a bachelor and then we lived there as a married couple. But, after our first child was born, we knew we needed to move into a bigger abode. We tried selling it ourselves and then with a realtor.

Nada. Nothing. No bites. I would see other houses that would sell but ours didn’t. I kept praying, “Please Lord. You know how cramped we are. Please bring the right buyer for our home.” Eventually we decided to take the home off the market and make the best of the situation.

Two years later, we were expecting another child. We thought “this is a good time to sell and look for another house.” So, we put the house on the market. We had a different agent and a different plan.

Once again, Nada. Nothing. No bites. Not that we didn’t have people look at the house: we had a blind person”feel” the walls and property, a doctor inquiring if it would be a medical office (did I say that it was located on a hill- very steep steps from the main road to the front door?), numerous people asking about the third bedroom (of which there was none- otherwise we might have stayed ourselves).

Time passed. Our second son was born and we decided, I guess the timing wasn’t right again.

Unbeknownst to us, our realtor hadn’t removed the MLS listing. We got a call about two weeks after we took our house off the market- someone wanted to look at the house. Not only look but purchase! It was an answer to prayer. The thing is, only now as we look back do we see God’s perfect timing: by the time we were to buy the house, we received some inherited funds that allowed us to not worry about mortgage payments. As we experienced some lean times over the subsequent years (another story of God’s provision) we were able to not worry about mortgage bills.

Had I had my impatient way- buying a house a couple of years earlier- we would’ve been living in a much-too-big-for-us-to-afford-type house, our children wouldn’t have lived around the corner from Grandparents nor would they have learned the lesson of financial peace and security.

God’s timing is not our timing. It is better.

If our lilac had bloomed initially when it was a stick, it would’ve been straggly. The blooms would’ve been too much for developing branches and might have caused the bush to become stressed, diseased and died. As it looks now, it is well shaped, the limbs can withstand the heavy blossoms, and I suspect that next year we will get even more blossoms.

Sometimes we are not developed enough to withstand the full force of the situation we are asking God. If I had married the person that I thought was “THE one” of my teenage years who knows what disaster would’ve befallen me. I needed to grow up and experience life before I was ready to meet and marry my husband.

Sometimes the waiting isn’t all about us and our specific needs. While God’s ways are mysterious and He has the power to meet everyone’s needs simultaneously, sometimes our waiting is what is needed for the situation to work out for someone else. In the case of our selling our former home, my husband’s grandfather was waiting to see his second great-grandson. Our son was only three days old when we brought him to the nursing home. Pop got to hold him and visit for an afternoon. The next morning Pop died in his sleep. He was a couple months shy of his 103rd birthday when he met our son.

What about you? Do you have plans or are in a situation that seems to not be moving along or growing in any way? Are you tired of waiting? Do you feel that everyone else is blooming around you and you are not?

Hang in there. I know that I am. Some days the wait is really hard but it is worth it. Look at my lilacs!

---

Here is a bouquet of lilacs from the ten-year old bush, fashioned in my mother’s old white vase.

Some verses to help keep you going. No surprise that many of the encouraging verses comes from the Psalms- the most authentic, “this is how I feel” verses in the Bible. I know that I have to hold on to them, some days more tightly than others:

I waited patiently for the Lord; He inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD. (Psalm 40: 1-3)

Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil. For those who are evil will be destroyed, but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land. (Psalm 37: 7-9)

Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD. (Psalm 27:14)

O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch. (Psalm 5:3)