Celebration of Waiting

Advent...it's a celebration of waiting...which makes no sense at all.

Who likes waiting?

I'm waiting for something.  Urgently.  This waiting is sort of consuming my life, blocking out the big picture.  I feel like I can't get on with things until the waiting is over.

My kids are waiting too.  They can hardly stand the wondering if they'll find what they desire most under the tree on Christmas morning.

We're all waiting for something...

So we need this season of celebrating waiting.  We're remembering that even though the waiting was long, oh, so very long, the Promise came. We're remembering all the waiting that ended with fulfilment.  Some of the waiting was hope-filled and some was anguished and despair-filled.  The fulfilment wasn't dependent upon the emotions of the those who waited but on the nature of the One who promised.  This is really good news for me.

Three hundred plus promises...endless waiting...and every promise was fulfilled.  Every single one.

The Son of God, Immanuel, became flesh and lived among us.  Light entered the darkness and nothing, absolutely nothing...no maniacal killer, no unfaithful friend, no sickness or sorrow...can EVER extinguish that light.

I don't understand the waiting.  Truly I don't.  Today seems as good a day as any for the waiting to end.  But this I know:  the waiting doesn't diminish the power of the promise.

This is the promise I'm holding on to today...

A child has been born--for us!  

The gift of a son--for us!  

...and there will be no limits to the wholeness he brings!

No limits.

Wholeness.

Come, Lord Jesus, come.

Isaiah 9:6-7 MSG

Revelation 22:20

Christmas Surprises

Sometimes they're the best of buddies, off on an adventure, and the rest of the world is excluded from the mysteries of their schemes.  Other days it seems all he does is push her buttons.  She shrieks at the slightest provocation.  He's sure that she thinks he's stupid.  She's sure he's always planning on wrecking her stuff.  Lord help us all if either enters the other's room without permission!!

The quarrelling wears on my heart and in the busyness of these recent days I've been quick to react to their petty squabbles, sighing and wondering when they're going to learn not to react to the slightest instigation.

Today a little warmth seeped into my heart...

He bought her a gift.  It's perfect.  Shiny, sparkly, purple, and he knows she going to love it.  She knows he got something for her and went to the calendar to count, and recount, the number of days she has to wait to receive it.  He can't wait to give it to her.  She can't wait to open it.  She smiles her quiet smile because she's just so happy knowing that he has a gift for her.  

He wrapped it awkwardly, cleverly disguising it, delighting in the thought of how she'll love it.  This affection between then makes me laugh out loud and some of the busy tension seeps out of my shoulders.

It's about the waiting for the coming of the gift--the advent.  That is the glorious tension of these days.  The longing and the yearning to give the gift.  The knowing that the gift is coming.  The waiting.  The utter confidence that the gift is on it's way.  The anticipation.

No eye has seen, no ear has heard,

and no mind has imagined

what God has prepared for those who love him.

1 Corinthians 2:9

When You're Weary of Hoping

What do you do in this season of joyful expectancy when it seems like you're the only one not feeling it?  The Advent...the coming...of December 25 may be a certainty...but the weariness of the waiting...the secret cry in your heart...for the coming of life to that dead place, the dead relationship, your dead dreams, your disappointments...you wonder if the fulfilment of that promise will ever come.  When the "Hope" candle was lit on Sunday did you look away?  And feel ashamed for it?  Sometimes it hurts to keep hoping.


He knows.


I could tell you hundreds of stories of the answer, the Life, the fulfillment of the promise coming after the long weary waiting.  It might encourage you to hang on a little longer, but for today I need simply to tell you that it's okay...He's made a provision for the weary days.

...the moment we get tired in the waiting,

 God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along.

 If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. 

He does our praying in and for us, 

making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans...

That's why we can be so sure
 that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.

He is so full of love for you and care about what matters to you that He's even made a way for the weary days...for the days when hope is a slim thread.  He takes all your wordless sighs and aching groans into His heart of love as if it was the most eloquent prayer...and He promises to make something good out of it all.  Just for today, just for this moment, rest in that love.

The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him.  For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust...

Romans 8:26-28 MSG

Psalm 103:13-14 NLT

Joyful Expectancy

This morning there was a joyous scramble for the pieces of our advent calendar.  Ours is magnetic and each day until the 25th a piece of the nativity scene will appear on the fridge.  The youngest always has his turn first and he carefully placed the first piece, an outline of the stable.  The other pieces and figures were lovingly spread out and talked about.  The little one can't wait to add her favourite angel, she's counted out the days and she knows she'll be the one to place it.

Anticipation.  It's everywhere.  The waiting and the hoping.  It's active, not passive.  There's an alertness to the waiting.  There's no lethargy or hopelessness.  Everyone knows that it's coming--we're just waiting.

All yearning for that which is promised and coming...

Kids can't wait to open gifts, adults can't wait for days off, families can't wait to gather...and it's all a faint reflection of the great inborn longing for the coming of promised freedom.

We received the down payment on the promise when the Son of God came and lived clothed in human flesh.  We see the promise birthed in our hearts as a hope and a love far greater than what we could conjure on our own.  We wait to see the fullness of peace on earth and in every heart...and so we wait for the advent, the coming...

These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance.

That is why waiting does not diminish us, 

any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. 

We are enlarged in the waiting. 

We, of course, don't see what is enlarging us.

But the longer we wait, the larger we become, 
and the more joyful our expectancy.

Romans 8:23-25 MSG