Wait at the gate

I like to run at night to calm my nerves and cancel out a few of the many calories I have managed to add up during the day. Belle, our lab, usually goes with me. We make a round or two up the road and then cross over by the lake. She loves to swim! I mean LOVES to swim. Last year when there was snow on the ground and the kids were sledding on the dam by the lake, Belle jumped into the freezing water because she LOVES to swim so much.

What amazes me about our recent runs together is that she beats me to the gate everytime that goes towards our lake, but she does not enter the gate. She stands there panting, hot and tired from running, and waits on me. As soon as I make the last corner up the road and tell her she can go on and jump in, she takes off running as fast as she can and dives into the water.

Six months ago, Belle did not wait on me. She did just what she wanted to do without a thought or care in the world. She also ruined four water hoses last summer playing her own game of tug of war, gnawed on our Ranger seat like it was a chew toy, and killed a few of our chickens! I think she is growing up. She is maturing and learning a bit of self-control. I hope so because she was about one dead chicken away from being someone else's pet.

The day that I finally realized Belle was waiting on me at the gate and paused there until she heard my voice tell her to go, I thought of how I too am learning to pause and wait on the voice of the Holy Spirit before I run through or to the next thing in life. I can hear the voice of Jesus Christ and I do not want to get ahead of the plans He has for me. So many times in the past and it will happen again because I am human and full of my own flesh, I have not paused at all, but marched forward.

I am learning to wait! I can pray and wait confidently! Life does not have to be instant. I do not have to have an answer right now to know that the Lord is with me. How many tears I have cried, frustrations I have felt, and time I have spent mending my messes because I did not wait, but barged my way on in. A simple pause, a quiet prayer, and a little time standing silently and still will do us all a world of good!

I do trust too, just like when I tell Belle to take off and run to the refreshing water, that when the coast is clear and the road looks good up ahead, the Lord will signal me on to what is next in my life. He will not only meet me at the gate where I am standing and waiting, but take my hand, lead me through it, and show me which way to go. This verse comes to mind from John 10:27-28 "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand."