Mango-ficent

In my part of the world, it is mango season; a finger licking, smoothie sipping, juice swirling, lip sucking, eye rolling kinda season. Tapping into the knowledge gathered as a child in Jamaica, I know there are many types of mangoes; all with a distinct taste, size, color, and texture. These include stringy, Julie, Beefy, Blacky, and Sweety Cum Brush Me, and my favorite- East Indian. By now you probably can tell that I like mangoes. Ok, ‘like’ may be too weak of a word, so if I were to be a little bit more transparent; I absolutely love the mouth-watering thing.  
One of my students decided to take me some mangos. I was most grateful, but disappointed at the same time because she brought me mangoes that would require much patience before I could part-take of them. Yep, they were picked waaaay too early. While some people enjoy them green and unfit, I relish them the most when they are bright yellow and juicy.
In my waiting period I have learnt some lessons from those mangoes. As I prepared meals in my kitchen, I often had to face those smiling mangoes, and had to fight the good fight to demonstrate patience. The real mango lover knows very well that you have to wait for the right time to get the best taste out of this fruit. But I have learnt that “Patience is not the ability to wait, but the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting.” It is how we wait that's most important. Do we wait with a good attitude?
I had to display a good attitude while I waited on my mangoes; I smiled, carefully held, and talked with them daily. Today, I simply want to say; smile while you wait for your break through, embrace and enjoy the ride while you wait for your storm to be over, accept your disappointments, and discomforts while you wait for your divine appointments. After-all, we are told that, “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” (Isa. 40:31).  
In Hebrew, wait means to hope for, to anticipate. In a gospel context, waiting on the Lord connotes hopeful anticipation, submission to the Lord’s will, and trusting in the Lord.
I am living proof that after the waiting period, the result is “finger licking good”.
Friends, waiting on the Lord doesn’t have to be sour and disappointing, it can be “mango-ficent”.
Merry Melodious Melody