One of the dentists I took my kids to had a rough bedside manner. I know, it was not technically a bed but you get the idea. One of my daughters was especially sensitive and would end up crying after a routine cleaning. 

 

"If only I knew how long it would take!" 

 

The next visit I asked him to please tell her such details, so she could soldier on. It helped. 

 

When I am watching a video, even one I enjoy, I often click on the bar on the bottom to find out the length. I can decide if it is worth three or twenty minutes of my time. Sometimes I linger, other times I scroll on by. 

 

There is a passage in the book of Revelation that I have often skipped over. It comes after the much more interesting parade of four horses: white, red, black and pale, When the fifth seal was opened the souls under the altar shouted their misery.

 

"How long?!" They had been waiting for ages, for the Lord to liberate them from the oppression of evil forces on earth. As a child I remember wondering. 

 

"What's the hurry?" 

 

I knew the end of the chapter. It held inexpressible beauty, like the woman clothed with the sun, and the tree of life bearing twelve kinds of fruit and leaves for the healing of the nations. There was a promise of no more crying, nor death, nor pain anymore. Impatience for such a glorious descent of the Holy City seemed short sighted. 

 

Some of us are wondering how long this drastic interruption to our routines will last. But it seems impossible to find the bar beneath us to indicate how much is left. We are certainly not the first people to experience this kind of limbo. Wars, famine, fires, and childbirth all have their own style of usurping everyone's attention with no hint of their duration. 

 

Is this because God is as clumsy as my dentist? Or is it an attribute that is woven into the opportunity for me to trust that He knows?

 

And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there. They need no lamp nor light of the sun for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.

-Revelation 22