For Someone who is, indeed,
faster than a speeding bullet,
Someone who’s swifter
than the speed of light,
Someone who could, if you wanted,
make all things happen in a flash
– you sure do take your time, Lord,
you take your own sweet time…
Or at least that’s how it seems to me,
a time-bound creature
who’s often in a very big hurry
to get from here to there,
from anticipation to fulfillment,
from dream to reality;
trying to cut corners and find shortcuts
from today to tomorrow,
from work to leisure,
from expectation to achievement,
hoping, pleading, wishing to get
from sickness to health,
hoping, pleading, wishing to get
from sickness to health,
from the storm to the rainbow,
from sadness to joy…
And while I live through all of that, Lord,
you – in what I trust is your wisdom-
you take your time
while I pray and pray and pray
that even just once
– you’d hurry things a long…
Well, after all these years
you’d think I’d understand,
you’d think at least by now
I would have accepted that for you:
a day is like a thousand years
and a thousand years are like a day,
that you’re not slow to keep your promise
but are, indeed, patient with me,
not wanting me to perish
but rather waiting for me
to turn my heart to you…*
Then give me, Lord, the desire and grace
to change, to turn, to move quickly
from my offenses to repentance,
from my ways back to yours,
from my impatience to acceptance,
and from my restlessness to peace…
Help me remember
that while you’re the Lord of all my days,
your time’s not as mine
and my time’s not as yours…
And while I wait and wait and wait
help me calmly remember:
that all shall be well,
that all shall be well,
that all manner of things shall be well
in your wisdom and your time, Lord,
in your time, not in mine…
Protect me, Lord, while I’m awake
and watch over me when I sleep
that awake, I might keep watch with you
and asleep, rest in your peace…
*2 Peter 3:8-9
In His Time by Diane Ball
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