All in Perspective

When I was a child I spent a week every summer at summer camp.   I would always exchange addresses with new friends at the end of the week so we could write and stay in touch until the next year.  A few friends I stayed in contact with year after year.  As the time drew near for camp we would try to plan meeting at camp, getting in the same cabin, or into the same classes.  It wasn't easy.  Send a letter out, wait a week, get a letter back and repeat.  It always seemed to take "forever" to get a reply. There really wasn't much you could plan out anyway.  You didn't know who the counselors were ahead of time, so how could you plan which cabin to be in.  You could hope to have certain classes, but couldn't pick them out until you arrived to register and if your time was later in the day it might fill up. 
Now my daughter attend summer camp every year.  Enjoying the same youth camp I enjoyed.   Yet things have changed quite a bit.  Thanks to texting, facebook, and online registration my daughter now knows months in advance which cabin she's going to be in, who her counselor is and which classes she is going to take. Sometimes when she is in the planning stage with her friends she will get frustrated when someone doesn't text back right away. As if it could ruin the whole summer if she didn't get a response the same day! We have gotten so accustomed to this fast paced world with instant gratification.  It's no wonder so many grow weary of waiting for Christ's return and give up. 
Revelation 22:12 says "Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done." Yet what is "soon"? People have been waiting for 2000 years for Christ to return. 
Hebrews 11 talks of the giants of faith and in verses 36-40 it says:
36 Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. 37 They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated-- 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. 39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. 40 God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
None of them received what was promised, they died waiting for the promises given to them.  They died holding on to the faith of someday.  Can you imagine Adam and Eve, living for almost 1000 years watching the world degrade because of their mistakes, and yet still waiting for the promised coming of the Messiah? How can we, with such great examples not have the same fortitude to wait?  Whether it happens in our lifetime or not God promised to return and He will!! 
For me it gives new meaning to Isaiah 40: 31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew [their] strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; [and] they shall walk, and not faint.  Being willing to be patient and wait for God's promises, trusting His timing to be perfect will strengthen us.  It'll renew us and give us the energy to keep pushing onward. Not just in waiting for His return, but in all promises He's given to us. We have to trust His plan, and His timing.  When we rush ahead or try to do what we can to help fulfill His promises often we end up stepping out of His plan.  Enjoy the day, enjoy the moment.  Instead of rushing to and fro take some time to stop and simply thank the Lord for what has been given you at this time.