Learning to Love the Wait

Waiting for Christmas Eve night proved challenging for my brothers, sister and I when we were growing up. My family always opened presents on Christmas Eve and my mom and dad allowed us on this one night to stay up as late as necessary until all the gifts had been unwrapped one by one. The night was full of magic and warmth and we couldn’t wait for it to get to us. So, every year during the day on Christmas Eve, I caught myself checking the clock, trying to busy myself, and generally just wishing the minutes and hours would speed up so that Christmas Eve night would finally arrive.

One year, in order to hurry the day, my older brother and I brilliantly planned to schedule out each minute of Christmas Eve leading up to the very moment when we would open presents. We mapped out time playing inside and outside. We added in food and bathroom breaks. The whole day was full of time together. And before I knew it, Christmas Eve night was there and our presents were ready to be opened. We didn’t feel the anxiousness of waiting that had marked so many years before. That day, I loved the wait because the day was full of adventure with someone I loved.

Through no design of my own, I’ve caught myself waiting on God more frequently during the past couple of years of my life - sometimes unintentionally, freely and innocently, and other times with tears and pleading. Although the waiting is not always what I expect or desire, God has allowed me to become more of the woman He wants me to be in the midst of it.  As I wait on Him, I gain the deepest desire of my heart…..Christ. I get to spend my days with the one I love the most and in Him I find the adventure that I seek.  In the waiting, I trust Him more.  I rest in His timing. I lean into His grace. And I see His goodness. Because Christ is with me, I am learning to love the wait. Many people have told me that waiting on God could be preparation for what He has planned for me in the future. I know that is true. However, waiting has become so much more to me than that. Waiting on God has become life itself. It is in the waiting that I find Christ and He is life.  

During this time of Advent, we turn our hearts together to waiting on the Lord. We remember and celebrate that He came once and we look forward with anticipation to His coming again. He was born as Emmanuel, God with us, and it is the reality of this name that makes the waiting on Him now something to love. He is with us. And His presence gives life to the waiting.

So I pray for you, my friends and family, and myself who are waiting….

Waiting for healing....

     Waiting for a job...

          Waiting to graduate...

               Waiting to get married or have a baby...

                    Waiting for life to get better or waiting for life to begin

I pray that in the waiting you find Christ. That He leads you into days full of adventure together. And that we learn to love the wait because He is with us.