Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
How do you deal with frustration? We all will have to admit that frustration is a part of all of our lives. And yes, it would seem that some of us are a lot more frustrated than others.
I too will admit that there are those things that frustrate me. Most of them are with other drivers – trying to pass a semi but there is someone in front of me pacing the semi in the left lane (it’s called the passing lane!); drivers who turn from the left lane rather than the center lane on the strip around Burger King; out of state drivers who just get in the left lane and drive as slow as they want. But I digress…
Just having celebrated Mothers’ and Fathers’ Days recently, I get frustrated with parents who give their children what they want, rather than what they need. It is frustrating because so many parents are solely concerned with the immediate wants of their children, rather than willing to put the work in to accomplish long-range goals.
Another frustration that has been on my radar screen is trying to get a new Food Pantry warehouse built so that we can move everything out of our church and have a place where we can minister to the needs of folks much more efficiently and cost-effectively.
It has been several years since this dream – this vision – has been pulling at my soul. After some 25 years of hosting the Food Pantry, we simply need to get a safer and more “ministry-friendly” facility. For more than a year we have looked at a number of local buildings that may be possible to use. But all were deemed unacceptable for one reason or another.
Praise be to God that we are now taking the first steps, so that hopefully by year’s end, we will be in our new building. Land has been generously donated for the Pantry building (our new incorporated name is Bedford Food Outreach), and we will make every effort to create an attractive building, and one that will not be an imposition on the neighborhood. We have designed the building so that traffic will not inconvenience any of our neighbors, and we are working with engineers to in fact improve drainage in that area.
There are many frustrating steps that will no doubt arise, but at least we can say that we are advancing. You may ask why this is necessary. The simple reason is because we have close to 500 families that are registered and eligible to receive food in the immediate area around Bedford. That is a staggering number. This is a ministry – reaching out to all these folks with the love of Christ.
So that is some of my frustrations – how about yours? How do you deal with frustrations? Just the simple realization that all of us share frustrating times – even the preacher! – should be a comfort.
Patiently waiting is a strong theme in Scripture – it would seem that most every major character in the Bible is frustrated with simply waiting patiently for God’s will to be done. Jesus expresses His frustration with the people – “how long must I be with you?”; and even the saints in Heaven are impatient – “how long, O Lord, before you will bring all these things to pass?” Yes, we are in good company with our frustrations.
One secret I have learned is to take those frustrations and view them through the lens of “creative waiting”. God is obviously delaying the particular blessing for some reason – we need to get creative and determine what God wants us to learn in the waiting period. Remember what it was like as a child to wait for Christmas? When it finally came, the wait was worth it!
The simple truth of the matter is that when we wait for God’s time, it is always good. There are those situations that are simply beyond our control and cause us frustrations. All the more reason we need to pray to God and ask for His wisdom. Frustrations should lead us to accept the fact that God’s timing is much better than ours. We may want it today, but God says we have to wait. So we as the faithful simply need to wait patiently – creatively – and continue to trust that in God’s good time, all will be revealed and the blessings will come.
Patiently Yours In Christ,
Jeff
