Wednesday, October 15, 2008

The Art of Waiting: Lord Make Me a Servant

There's something to be said about a waiter. I mean it's a decent occupation. It brings money into the house but I mean it's such a lowly position. I mean think about it, depending on where you go, there is a host/hostess at most restaurants. Some one who stands at the door and greets you. They welcome you into the restaurant and essentially set the tone for the evening or morning you will experience at their restaurant. Then after they have seated you, if you have a good waiter before you can even look at the menus he or she is over at your table or booth inquiring about your drink orders and telling you about the House Special probably something grilled over a bed of rice with way more garnish than meat but of course you listen to be polite and then rumble off your drink orders. Pretty soon your waiter (or some places even call them servers) whisks away to get your drinks. They may ask you if you are ready to order but chances are you may not be, depending on your appetite or familiarity with the restaurant. So they will continue to check in on you until you are ready and depending on how picky you are when you are ready to order then the server will undergo a series of questions about the menu, and it's entrees. You may ask, is the chicken spicy? Can I have the House Special with no onions? Is it possible to have the steak cooked medium-well with crisp edges? And by the end of it all you have ordered a completely different item then when you first began to order. Then after he or she takes your menus, they may come back and drop some bread or chips and salsa on the table to keep you at bay. All the while refilling your beverages. Waiting on you while you are waiting. I mean the occupation of waiting is truly a selfless task. You do all this running and waiting and asking all so that someone else can benefit from your service and OK yes you are getting paid to do it and there may be a fat tip involved but for the most part you are waiting on people and serving them.

Now I'm not a waitress but I was in high school. I waited and bussed tables and let me tell you that it has its up days and its down days. But can I tell you this?

It pays off, it is what it is but like anything you grow, you learn and I guess by now you get that I'm not talking about becoming professional waiters or servers but maybe eternal waiters and servers.


Waiting on a Mate


Whew...lol...this is something I know absolutely nothing about but boy am I learning. See I guess growing up I thought that you had control over your life. Well hang on let me try that again. I guess growing up I thought I had control over my life. I thought my life was my own, blah blah blah (cry me a river) but anywho as I began to grow I began to see that I didn't. See for some reason I thought I would take a long time to finish school. Finished 3 years earlier than planned. Then I thought that as soon as you are done with school you just work the job you want. You decide on it, apply and BAM it's yours...OK soooo yeah that's not true. And all while doing this I thought you met the man of your dreams and get married and have lots of babies, OK so yeah...Where is He at?LOL...but now seriously. That's what I thought now granted this was 10 years ago but that's what I thought happened until I met CHRIST. Boy did that change things. So now I'm learning that waiting on a mate is about serving. It's about serving Christ with my all. It's about really letting go of what I knew...for example, my plan to be done with school at 24, married, and working a dream job and maybe having a bun in the oven. Oh yeah did I mention I want like 14 kids (7 by me, 7 by adoption...I know but if I have the money and provision and blessing from God) Anywho so this waiting thing is about serving. So now I have to renew my mind because of course I thought receiving a mate really meant that I was seeking a mate. However I am the woman so that can't be right. Now I am serving instead of receiving...hmmm what does that look like. Waiting on a mate is essentially waiting on God whether you are the male or the female. One if you are the male yes it is your job to approach and pursue and court the woman but if God hasn't given you the go ahead you could be wasting your time. So waiting on God is a must in that situation and ladies please don't get it twisted, it's your job to wait on God as well. You will have to wait on God to know how to respond when a man does approach you. Is it really God?

Waiting on Glory

I think waiting on a mate is similar to waiting for God's Glory to be revealed. God's Glory being Jesus the son of man. It's something that we spend our whole lives looking forward to. The glorious day when Jesus comes back to get those he loves and those who love him. Waiting has a lot to do with preparation. Pastor Dre, a co-pastor at my church Hope's House preached about the gap/time/space that exists between the promise and the actual possession or manifestation of that promise using the example of Abraham and the promise God made to him to make him the father of many nations when he was old and his wife still barren. It's a perfect example of a situation where God said something was to take place but there still needed to be time before he could fulfill or make good on his word. Preparation is what needed to occur if you ask me. We want to go to Glory but we aren't ready and frankly we still need to spread the Good News. It's an individual issue with a group effort. We each are responsible for our own lives and walks but collectively we need to unite and prepare ourselves for his coming again.

Waiting in the midst of a Storm

I think the latter of the last section is important for a time such as now. We are dealing with such scary times financially. We've known for years that our motto or slogan on our currency wasn't true. IN GOD WE TRUST, no offense but I believe that we (Americans) trust God as far as we can throw him, and if you haven't noticed no man has seen God in all his greatness and fullness's so yeah...you get it. But if that's what we believe then why are times proving that our hope was really in the almighty dollar and not in God. If that's what we believe then why is there no prayer in school? Hmmmm makes you think or at least it makes me think. But more importantly if we were to prepare ourselves collectively for the group effort then I think that would make things easier for us during the storm. In the midst of it all, waiting wouldn't seem so hard. Waiting wouldn't seem like a pain or a punishment. It would seem like waiting. Nothing is wrong, God's not mad, you're just waiting.

6 comments:

Xavier said...

Preparation.
That is the key word in all of this, one must be prepared to serve. Just like you I’ve worked in a restaurant during my high school years and before you could serve anyone before the doors opened you prepared the table, you prepared the bread, you made sure there was food, ice, etc. Preparation. Have you ever had a big party come in and you were not ready, you are running around like a chicken with his/her head cut off to get everything together. Now it’s the same process as yesterday but this time you weren’t ready so it seems like such a burden on you. Even Jesus said I go so I can prepare a place for you, if he did it why shouldn’t we. When it comes to having a mate you have to prepare yourself for another person to be in your life, if nothing else you have to make sure you’re not taking tracking any old dirt into this new relationship. GOD (Abba) is a gentleman and he won’t give us anything he don’t think we’re ready for, which may make you think…why haven’t I got what I’ve been praying for. Maybe it’s because your not prepared to get it. If at this point in my life I asked GOD (Abba) for an Aston Martin and my father blessed me with it, it wouldn’t be long before that blessing turns into a curse because I wasn’t prepared to receive that blessing. On a highkey there is character building when you humble yourself to serve others, there is a west African symbol that says He who wants to be king must first learn how to serve. Amazing huh, for someone to be rule of it all he must first humble himself to serve the very people he wants to rule over. Why? Because when you serve someone you learn about him or her, their likes, their dislikes, what makes them happy, what upsets them. Now you see why it’s so important to serve the lord, to learn him. On a side note and I’ll close here, the money says IN GOD WE TRUST…it never said what GOD, anything you give all your attention to becomes your GOD.

Amber said...

Wow wonderful insight...especially about the money. It's crazy though we never did establish what God we served at least not as a country and over time it has revealed to be money. Money has ruled and now the very thing we served has failed us...how ironic? I think not but thanks for the insight, it's always a pleasure! Other comments I will keep to myself!

Xavier said...

I thought I would look into a few things. Check out what I found..

Plouton (Latin Pluto) An epithet meaning "the rich one" which was applied to the Greek god Hades, who was equated with the Roman god Dis.

Pluto The Latin form of Plouton, which was an epithet given to the Greek god Hades who was equated with the Roman god Dis.

Dis (A contracted form of dives, "rich") A Roman god of the dead and the ruler of the Underworld, also known as Dis Pater ("father of riches") and as Dives. He was equated with Orcus and with the Greek god Hades (who was also known as Plouton). The Latin name Pluto is derived from the Greek Plouton which (like dives) means "rich." The various names of this underworld god may reflect the richness of agricultural land and its underlying mineral wealth; this may mean that Dis was originally a deity of the fields and of the ground.

So the money says in GOD we trust, now you see which GOD they were talking about..it wasn't Abba

Amber said...

Hmmm good work X!

Andrew Clarke said...

Amber, reading your posts made me think of two really special hymns. You might know them. One is called "Brother Let Me Be Your Servant", the other describes Jesus: "Kneels at the feet of His friends,
Silently washes their feet."
It's true what you say. Jesus calls us to be servants not masters, and a table waiter makes a good comparison. I'm really glad I looked up your site and read this. May your spirit always be joyful in the Lord.

D said...

my blog always seems just like a foolish waste of time...yours is always thought provoking and deep...i likes it!