I went out on a shoto the other day, as I sometimes do on Tuesdays. This time I went down to Warumbul, a place in the Royal National Park that I was totally unaware of until I went there with Katrie and Rachel. (Rachel had been there before and showed us the way.)

So I’m down at Warumbul with my camera, trying to get a few nice shots of the pier, when an improbably extroverted seagull lands himself in the middle of my shot.

Naturally I click off a couple of frames – he might be just what I need to liven things up a bit. With a bit of luck, I might get a couple of really good ones when he takes off again, seeing as how I’m already set up for the shot and all. So long as I sit here with my finger on the shutter release, and keep my eye on him.

Must be nice being a bird, having nothing to prevent you sitting around checking out the world around you? Doing what you want to do, going where you want to go?

I wish you’d hurry up and take off, though – can’t wait all day, you know, and I’m starting to burn in this sun…

What’re you looking at?

I’m starting to get bored now, maybe I should just go. But I don’t want to admit to being out-waited by a bird. [Stubborn mode on]. Especially since I’ve invested all this time (a good 10 minutes by now, at least!) waiting for my avian subject to weary of his circumstances. No doubt as soon as I start to pack up my camera, he will fly off.

Here comes a boat, perhaps that will scare him off.

Nope, no such luck. Maybe I could throw a rock…

I kinda feel like the women Jesus describes, waiting for their master to come home. The ones with the lamps. Yawning, bleary-eyed, and yet hopeful of their lord’s return at any moment. When he eventually does come, only half of them are actually ready – the others have to go and refill their lamps, and so miss out on the master’s blessing.

Yeah? I can stand on one leg too, so what??

Paul expresses the same idea (about waiting, not about standing on one leg), but using different imagery. He compares the Christian’s life to a race. You see, in a race, it doesn’t matter how fast you go in the middle, it’s the end that counts. Paul encourages us to run the race hard to the end, and not to be discouraged in the middle.

Bet Paul never had to sit out in the hot sun waiting for a recalcitrant, chronologically challenged winged rodent.

Uh-oh…

Damn.

There’s a series of ads on TV at the moment – one with a pianist giving a recital, one with a golfer, probably a couple of others that I can’t remember or haven’t seen. The tag line runs something like “It takes more than a single recital/shot to be an expert pianist/golfer – it takes every single note/shot you’ve played.” Paul would’ve been right with those guys, I’m sure.

Here we go – at last!

OK, so perhaps I’ll have to take a few more before mustering up the “perfect shot”, but I am happy with the results

(For the record, I waited just over 45 mins altogether!)

Why not leave a comment? Perhaps you’re waiting on God for something, and you want encouragement in that. Or perhaps you can share a time when God made you wait, but it paid off in the end.