My husband and I had the opportunity to go out on a date this past weekend. HOORAY for date nights, right?! We decided to go to a restaurant called Sweet Tomatoes. For those of you who don't know, it's a really nice salad bar with soup, baked potatoes, pizza, dessert...pretty much a delightful heaven of food! Hmmm...and I wonder why I didn't do well in eating last week??
Anyway...my husband and I pop in what we thought was a pretty person-less line at the salad buffet...considering there was just one lady in front of us. We wait...and we wait...while she takes her sweet time and decides to take one of each item & slowly place them on her plate, while reading the description of what each & every item is. "It's a cucumber lady!" We get to the slices of peppers & she slowly grabs one small slice at a time & slowly places them so nicely on her salad....did I mention SLOWLY! We finally get towards what we think is the end and she decides to read every kind of dressing there is and believe me, there are a lot. By this time, I turn to my husband who is behind me & he raises his eyes at me as if to say, "Oh my goodness, this lady is taking forever!" I then proceed to burst into laughter, but I can't be too loud about it because by this time I'm kind of trying to hover over her so that she'll get the hint to get going! We definitely had a good laugh.
How often have I been waiting...waiting for something in my life. We are in such a rush to get everywhere we need to go & do everything we need to accomplish for the day. What I'm finding though is that life is not waiting for me...it's rushing by. Is this of my own choosing because of my selection of busyness, or is time really going so quickly? When was the last time I picked the longest line at the grocery store in hopes of just taking my sweet time. When was the last time I took the long route to a destination in order to enjoy the view. How often do I rush through things with my kids and don't take time to enjoy their every moment....missing what could be a God-moment.
Our restaurant experience last night was a God moment. Even though we got a good laugh out of it, it caused me to pause and think...really, what is the rush? When I rush around and don't wait on Him, I feel this stressed hurried-ness inside..almost as if I'm anticipating the next dash of speed that needs to occur. How many God moments do I miss out on because I'm in such a hurry...thinking I need to get somewhere & "do", but forget that sometimes the most sweet encounters with the Lord, come in the waiting.
Maybe waiting in line isn't such a bad thing after all.........
8 comments:
Congrats on the date night!! :) You can never get enough of those!
God has been impressing upon me lately how much He speaks to us during the day. Not just in His word, or through our Christian friends and family. But in everyday occurences...situations, and even the mundane. There is a God lesson to be learned in almost anything....and we can see Him teaching us and speaking to us, all around, if we just take the time to look.
Thanks for reminding me of this lesson. I know that I need to slow down and take the time to wait, too. :)
Amen to this! Isn't it amazing how God uses these little things in our lives to get us thinking...and teach us something to simple, and yet so profound?!
I SO need to be reminded to slow down. This pregnancy has been teaching me that. I just can't keep going, and always be in such a hurry...my body just won't let me.
SO glad you got a date night out! HOW FUN!
My mom and dad have been married for over 30 years and they still have date night. They are going on a big "date" this Friday night.... all the way to Italy for 2 weeks !! :) Keep going on your date nights…. As parents, you need that alone time … as “ husband and wife”.
As I read you post today and you were talking about waiting. My thoughts immediately turned to my own waiting… for another baby. (You’ve been to my blog so you already know we lost our Gracie a few months ago.) I’m not obsessing about it this time. But I am patiently waiting for my Father in Heaven to bless us again. I know it will be worth the wait when we can bring a baby home with us. I guess for right now, there are other things I need to be doing, or figuring out, or perfecting. It’s not my time frame… it’s His ! We can learn so much when we are just silently sitting… and waiting and appreciate the here and now.
Thanks for the reminder :)
I am with ya on the waiting thing - it stinks sometimes, but the Lord uses the wait time to teach. I call it the "purpose in the process". I will be writing a post about this very thing in the next week or so.... Thanks for reminding me!
Earen,
Thanks for stopping by my Blog. You probably found me through Tara----just guessing.
What beautiful boys you have!! The Lord must want you to raise up some mighty men for His glory. Keep up the great work. Stop by and visit again----I promise it's not always so deep over at my site. :)
Great post, Earen! I agree, I am constantly all rush, rush, rush...even when I don't need to be.
What a great post! I think I tend to look at my problems as "obstacles" I have to hurdle to get to where I want to be. Instead, I'm learning to look at the obstacles as "life," and try to enjoy the journey. After all, I think God is a lot more interested in the journey than in the destination for most of us, because that is where we meet HIM.
Mmmmm - sweet tomatoes~ yum!!
okay, off the food and onto the other stuff. :)
Yay for a date night! You are so right about the waiting -- can you please remind me of that often as I'm struggling to do that with the whole house situation right now. I think that stopping to enjoy the moment of where you are now is just as important as getting to where you want to be. Good reminder, E!!
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