Caught Up in the Waiting

"Mom, has the mail come yet?" my son asked as he entered the kitchen where I was working.  This was the fourth time I had heard that question in the last two hours.  He had been waiting for some game cards he had ordered to arrive.  We had been going through this mail routine for three days now.  He couldn't get his mind off the coming mail.  Anticipation was literally keeping him from living life to the fullest each day.  He was caught up in the waiting for what was to come.

photo from freedigitalphotos.net

Just last week I realized I sometimes am guilty of the same thing.  I long for Christ to return.  I am waiting.  This world has lost much of it's appeal as I've seen evil and the consequences of sin run rampant.  Somehow, though, in the midst of the daily grind of life and in my anticipation of the future, I have missed what God wants me to see around me each day.

This was brought home to me a week ago Sunday.  My husband and I were blessed to be able to visit in the church where he first ministered.  At the beginning of the sermon time, the minister there had the children come to the front for a children's sermon.  He spoke to them on the topic of being a peacemaker.  As he reached the point in his talk about why we should be peacemakers, he put a picture up on the screen of Jesus being crucified. 

Suddenly one of the children cried out, "What are they doing to him?"

The minister explained that Jesus was being crucified.

In an anguished voice the child questioned, "But why?"

I could not hold back the tears when  I realized this child truly did not know about Jesus.  We were in the middle of the United States in what is considered the Bible belt, and there were children who had never heard.

My mind knew this, but my heart had forgotten.  I had gotten wrapped up in service, in worship of God, in personal Christian growth, and even in longing for his second coming.  Somehow, I lost sight of the harvest.

"Lord, open my eyes once again."

photo from freedigitalphotos.net

"The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest , therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."  Luke 10:2 NIV