The Advent season is about waiting. And, watching. Those who call themselves by the name of Christ spend these weeks leading to the celebration of Christmas preparing for Christ's coming. Busy work is a part of that - decorating the house, attending parties, softening our hearts, watching for hints of the Divine to come (and already present). But, the bigger part of the work will always be waiting. That shouldn't be a surprise to us; we do a lot of waiting in our lives. We wait on everyone and everything at some time or another: at the bank, on the check-out clerk, for a call back from the Doc, at red lights and moving trains, on a family member or a friend, for lab results, a grade on our paper, or a phone call from a friend. I'm beginning to realize that how we wait is a bigger issue than if we will wait ... 'cause we're gonna wait.
The concept of waiting has caused great angst in my household in most recent days. For an entire week, Izzy (one of my four-legged girls) kept her nose in the outlet beside my rocker. Oh, she took breaks for treats or for a nap on my lap, certainly to take care of business and to get slurps of water. But, the rest of her waking moments? Trained on that outlet so as not to miss a thing. When I discovered that it wasn't the charm of the outlet but the smell of a mouse that had her wrapt attention, I set traps. In all the important places from one end of the house to the other. Fifteen minutes after the first trap was placed behind the refrigerator, I heard a loud "SNAP!" echo from the kitchen. Simultaneously, I was proud, relieved, and grossed out at the prospect of what that sound meant. And, I headed down the hall toward the kitchen only to be met by Izzy coming from the kitchen. And, licking her lips! Now, I was only horrified at the prospect of all that might be ... until Izzy turned to head back to her hunting grounds and revealed the sprung trap (minus the little hunk of cheese and smear of peanut butter meant to entice a mouse) hanging from the curls on her left back haunch! What's Izzy doing with her free time these days, you ask? Well, she's not mesmerized by the outlet any longer, but she does have a newfound hope in the tiny space bewteen the refrigerator and the wall. Waiting on whatever is there, whatever might show up keeps her occupied for the most part.
I don't believe that God baits us like I did that mouse (and, oh how I hope it's only one, the one we caught!). I do believe, however, that we give up on the promise of good stuff, of God-stuff coming to us and we don't wait like Izzy. We won't. When our prayers aren't answered the way we hoped or asked, we are tempted to think that God didn't hear, doesn't want to hear, or that somehow we didn't ask rightly. Often, when the circumstances of our lives don't get righted the way we figured God would fix them, we quickly assume that God's punishing us or that God doesn't care enough to fix things. The next step in this thought parade is to give up waiting on God and find another plan B to work on ourselves. We all need to be reminded that the Truth is that God is always right on time. Also, the truth is that we'd much rather God work according to our own agenda and timeline.
What happens when we faithfully, diligently, and confidently wait on God? Things like this ... Zechariah and Elizabeth get that baby boy they've been praying over for decades (Luke 1:5ff)), a Godly young girl is chosen to bear Salvation to the world (Luke 1:26ff), her beloved trusts God even in the face of small town small-mindedness and is, in turn, trusted to raise the Son of God in a carpentry shop and under God's law of love (Matthew 1:18ff). And, Simeon and Anna - as old and tired as they both are - not only get to see it but they hold Salvation for all people in their own arms (Luke 2:22ff). All of that ... because they were willing to wait on God.
I don't know about you, but I want to learn how to wait like Izzy. My guess is that her nosed is jammed in that little crack this very moment just because good stuff came once before and she doesn't want to miss it when it comes again. With confidence, diligence, and supreme trust, I want to wait on God to show up again ... and again, and again, and again. 'Cause that's just who God is. I get it now. How we wait is much more important than if we will wait ... 'cause we're gonna wait. And, if we're smart, we'll wait on God no matter what, or how long. My suspicion is that with God, not only is everything possible, but it will always be worth the wait!
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