You, Lord, are my pace-setter

I wrote this earlier this morning, after a broken night of struggling with the challenge of waiting for people to reply to messages related to issues that feel like they will have a significant role in the next steps of my life journey.

As many of you know, I am not good at waiting!

here's my 'psalm'. If it is of help to you in your journey then I thank God even more for the wrestles of this morning:

You, Lord, are my pace setter

When I want to charge ahead

you know the right speed to go

When I think I can do something quickly

you know the right speed to go

When I think that my timings are a great plan

you know the right speed to go

When I get frustrated that things don’t all fit in with my timings

you know the right speed to go

When I get wound up by people not responding to requests so that my idea on timings slips

you know the right speed to go

Lord, you see the full picture of life

But I only see my little fragment

And so I have a badly distorted view

of how my idea of my best laid plans fits in with that bigger picture

Help me to see the bigger picture, Lord

To understand the reasons why my preferred timings might not be the best timings

To understand why my preferred order of doing things might not be the best for everyone else involved

And as I grow in that understanding

May I see the time of waiting as a time of growth and opportunity

Lord help me to see that a time of waiting doesn’t need to be a negative time

A time of wasted space

A time of missed opportunities to get ahead

But a time of waiting is instead a time of new opportunities

A time to get different things done that would otherwise have been sidelined

A space to build relationships that might otherwise have slipped

An oasis of quiet before a period of intensity

Lord, you are my all-wise, all-seeing, all-knowing, all-loving God

Beyond the limits of our dimensions of time and space

You know the best timings for things to happen

You know the best order of events

So that the best outcome can occur

For everyone involved

Not just me

Not just the obvious ones

But all who will be affected by the ripples

I put my trust in you, Lord

I give you my plans, my preferred timings, and my intentions

Melt them and

Mould them

Redefine them

So that they work for the best benefit of all

So that the outcomes have the greatest positive impact

So that you are glorified

And as I wait

I switch from ‘waiting’

To rejoicing in the moment

To enjoying the opportunities that come with the pause

You, Lord, are my pacesetter

In you I put my trust.

Amen