Rhonda Quaney: Expect Delays

So, I’ll begin in the beginning.

This spring, I had timed my decent to town right down to the last minute.

That is what I do.

It takes sixteen minutes to arrive at the backdoor of my office, so I leave fifteen minutes before I need to be there, hoping that I'll hit all the traffic lights just right.

This particular morning I was making it happen. It involved a little bit of speed and a break in traffic at the highway intersection. Just as I was coming into the area where all the morning traffic intersects I saw the ribbon of orange construction cones and amber lights blinking this message: Expect Delays. Road Construction next two miles.

My poorly laid plan, crept to a halt. That day and every day since there have indeed been delays.

It wasn't long after that, when the little cloud who wanted to grow up and be a hail storm came over our home. I wrote a little about it here.

We embarked on a journey of gathering estimates and talking to contractors. We have a large, thick notebook full of information on all the repairs and upgrades we decided to do on our home. We started at the top with the roof. Then we worked around the outside with soffit, fascia, and siding. This revealed windows and doors that had not been installed correctly or were poorly made to begin with.

We were told once the work began, it would take two weeks… but expect delays.

2014 is screaming to the end like a movie stuck on fast forward and we are still plodding along.

When I drive to town, the sign flashes the reminder.

When I come home, I live in the dust of slower-than-expected progress.

This has been a season of learning about patience and process.

Me, the woman who wants the lines to be short at the checkout, my gratification for chocolate to be instant and prayers answered sooner than later.

One thing I can tell you with a degree of authority, is that God is not usually in a hurry like I am.

We have examples of people in the Bible who had to learn this too.

Moses spent forty years in the desert before he led God's wandering people for forty more years in the desert. Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac, the son God promised him finally arrived on the scene and Lazarus had been in the tomb for days before Jesus finally got to town and brought him back to life.

What seems slow-moving in my opinion, usually means that things are happening behind the scenes, which I am not aware of.

I want to skip all the middle stuff. You know, all the steps that arrive at the whole?

Step by step the road construction advances. Stage by stage the work on the house progresses.

Why does a ten minute delay frustrate me? And what does a few weeks later than projected matter, if the contractors all do quality work and restore our home to soundness?

I believe God cares about the details of our lives.

Yes, He cares about the construction process going on in my zip code of the world, but more, I believe God cares about the building up of my character, patience, and dependency on Him.

These delays have developed a sweet anticipation of what the completed work will be like. Not only in the tangible things but also the stirring going on in my heart.

The delays do not mean there is inactivity.