H8 2 WAIT

So I shot this house this morning in Rancho Penasquitos, and I did something kind of dumb. When I got there, my gut told me to shoot the exteriors fast because there were a lot of thick clouds rolling in. But when I opened the door and started working, it was so sunny that I just ignored my intuition. So when I got ready to photograph the outside, it was totally cloudy. I had the room in my schedule. (It's not like I'm doing that much work anyway!) But I ended up standing around outside for almost 40 minutes. It always seemed that the next breeze would move the blue skies over the home I was shooting, but the clouds reformed again and again and kept the backyard looking gloomy. So I waited.

At first I was just waiting patiently. Then I started getting annoyed. Then I tried praying about the clouds for a while and it occured to me that maybe God wanted me to be delayed. Maybe there was some wreck on the freeway that I was missing. Or maybe God just wanted me to wait and think about waiting. After a while, a plane took off from Miramar and flew near where I was. I could hear it for a long time, and then it popped out of the clouds not too far away:

I could see the sunlight reflecting off the side of the plane. I was thinking, why couldn't some of that sunlight be down here where I needed it so I could be on my way?

Eventually, the clouds moved long enough to get a nice clear opening, the photos turned out nicely, and I was on my way. But it made me think about waiting. When I got home, Jenetta was bummed that a seemingly positive lead went with another photographer and cancelled their photo session for tomorrow. She is waiting for business to return and for encouragement. I am waiting to hear about another job opportunity. We are both waiting.

When I thought about other people waiting, I wondered what the bible had to say about waiting, and I was reminded of the story of Simeon in Luke 2:

25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ. 27 Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:
29 "Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you now dismiss your servant in peace.
30 For my eyes have seen your salvation,
31 which you have prepared in the sight of all people,
32a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel."

Here was a guy who waited until the end of his life for something that was important to him. I have a hard time with 40 minutes! I can't fathom waiting my whole life!

I don't have any profound conclusion. I just think God wanted me to think about waiting today. I think He wants me to consider my response to Him when circumstances affect my life. I think He wants me to wait some more and just trust Him.