While I'm Waiting...
Growing up in the Marine Corps the line was "hurry up and wait", we were always in a hurry to get somewhere, but without fail every time we got there we were waiting on something; waiting for the buses to get to base from the airfield, waiting on the doctor to get back from the x-ray room (yes, I've broken too many bones to count ;), waiting on Mom to pick me up from practice (because she was ALWAYS late), waiting on orders to go back across the states for the 4th time. I know I'm not the only one waiting, many of us travel through our entire lives waiting for something; for the next best job to come around, for the perfect boy to sweep us off our feet, for the new iPhone to come out, for whatever your heart desires. We wait. And wait. And wait.
So it's not a matter about if you're waiting, but how you are waiting! In the song "While I'm waiting" by John Waller he talks about waiting patiently, hopefully, obediently. When you're waiting for something it is so easy to get caught up in the 'I want this now' mentality, to think that we deserve whatever it is we are waiting for. In Isaiah 55:8 God tells us 'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways...for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts'. God has this awesome plan for you, but sometimes we get caught up waiting in our thoughts and in our ways, thinking that we are doing exactly what's going to lead us home, but are we?
There's a line from a favorite prayer of mine by Thomas Merton that states 'and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so'. WOW...read that again...'and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so'. What does this have to do with waiting? It has to do with the way you are waiting. Are you actively waiting and seeking God's will, or are you waiting around for things to happen without doing anything at all? Are you hopeful or disinterested? Are you faithful or have you stopped praying, believing, or attending Church? Are you looking for a hand out or are you extending your hand out to someone else?
Waiting for an answer, for guidance, for a miracle can often be painful, discouraging, or even hopeless. In Romans 8:25 it says 'but if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with endurance'. So my prayer for you today as we journey through this Advent season is that you wait as Waller claims as we are told to do, boldly, confidently, and hopefully; knowing that God has created you for a specific purpose. Although life is messy and doesn't always make sense, God wants to make us the best version of ourselves, the question is will you let him or will you continue to fight him?
The next time you find yourself waiting and losing hope, think about that time that you were waiting to open your best Christmas gift, the thing that you wanted with all your might. Remember the anticipation that you had, but more importantly the joy that had when after opening it someone had finally gotten you everything you ever wanted in that moment, God wants to give you MORE!
--Live Jesus--
