Waiting

Oppressive.

Warm afternoon.
A high layer of thin, unbreakable clouds
Press stifling heat close to Australian earth.
No leaf or grass blade moves.

Unreliable puffs of wind promise change,
A break.
But nothing happens.
Stale, humid air remains throughout the night.

I wonder,
As sweat beads on my forehead and upper lip,
If this is just the way life is--
Waiting for change when life is uncomfortable.

I read Psalms.
I prayed many years ago for God
To rescue me from sameness and staleness and dead-ends.
I am much older, but still hopeful.

"Relent O Lord!" Moses cried.
"How long will it be?"
"Have compassion on Your servants,
Satisfy us in the morning with Your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days."

In the morning change comes suddenly.
Within an hour, a cooler wind moves softly,
Fluttering lacy curtains over open windows...
A harbinger of freshness and hope.

The temperature drops ten degrees
In the short time between gray light and sunrise.
Coherent thoughts come easier,
Daily tasks already laid out seem less daunting.

Yet I remember the request in the rest of that old Psalm:
"Make us glad for as many days as You have afflicted us,
For as many years as we have seen trouble.
May Your deeds be shown to Your servants, Your splendor to their children."

"May the favor of the Lord our God
Rest upon us;
Establish the work of our hands for us--
Yes, establish the work of our hands."

(Psalm 90: 13-16)