When I travel, and the shuttle bus to my hotel (or my rental car agency) doesn't come within a few minutes, I get out my phone and call them, demanding faster service. When I go to the grocery store, if there is a long line, I will turn around and leave. I am not a patient person.

I dislike waiting for anything. I don't like uncertainty. I don't like to have anything that is important to me to be at risk. If a relationship is strained, I want it fixed right away. If someone is unhappy with something I've said or done, I'll try and please them immediately.

"Be patient, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord," we're told in today's second reading. "See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient with it." I would not make a very good farmer. I would dig up my seeds every morning to see how they are progressing.

Waiting is not easy for most of us. We want to enjoy what we are promised right away. And then, when it takes longer than we expected, we are frustrated, even worse, we give up.

So many promises of God seem to linger, unfulfilled, at least to my limited vision. God promises us peace in our world and in our hearts, yet it seems to escape me. God promises us fulfillment and love in our relationships and families, and yet I still experience strain and conflict. We are called to keep waiting.

Farmers, too, must wait without any visible sign that their crops are growing, at least for the first part of the season. Seeds are planted and covered, and then nothing happens for months. And even when a sprig or stem becomes visible, it can still be years before any fruit is born.

God promises to bless us richly. Unfortunately, we aren't provided with a schedule. We have to wait. God doesn't come to us like a shuttle bus, every 15 minutes or so. God doesn't promise us a new clerk every time there are more than two people in line. In fact, God doesn't promise to come to us in an unmistakable way.

"Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?" This is the message John the Baptist sends to Jesus, from jail, in today's Gospel reading. Not even John the Baptist was sure that Jesus was "the one to come," so unexpected was his first entrance. We must be prepared to see and hear Jesus in unexpected ways.

We can be confident that God is present, and that Christ is at work in our world and in our lives. Like a plant growing, it may not always look like something is happening. And the plant, once present, may not resemble its final dimensions. We are called to wait, and to be open to the arrival of Christ --- however he chooses to appear to us.

Bill Peatman writes from Napa.