Why wait?

We all have to wait at times.  This time of year can be particularly troublesome as we wait in grocery lines, doctor's offices, pharmacies (this one can be particularly hard when sick!). I'm kind of all over the place when it comes to waiting.  Usually I am not particularly patient, I want things to happen quickly, I want to know what is coming and I want to prepare. On the other hand, for some things I LOVE to wait!  Advent is a season I want to just drag along..... I want there to be twice as many days as there are in the advent season, the leading up to Christmas, to have more hours in the morning to ponder Jesus and his coming. 

How do you respond to waiting? It really depends on what I am waiting for that determines my response.  When waiting for a trip of a lifetime to New England two years ago I started 'waiting' months in advance.  I planned meals, I researched things to see and places to visit. The waiting and anticipating just added to the excitement of the actual trip. The waiting prepared me, and it didn't detract from the excitement when the trip actually happened. Some things were not as expected, but most were even better than I imagined in my waiting.  It is kind of like the expectant waiting for a child to arrive, or a long awaited visit from old friends.  

But waiting for hard things can be sheer agony - time seems to stand still.  Waiting for a diagnosis from a doctor, or for test results.  Waiting for that call after applying for countless jobs. Waiting for the call or visit from an estranged family member - wondering if they are even still alive.  Or how about waiting for that "love of your life" that seems to come along for everyone else but you? Waiting......  

Reading my Bible gives me comfort and encouragement in times of waiting.  It isn't always easy to read, as a large portion of God's story is about waiting on Him!  The world is a difficult place, full of strife and anger.  That is nothing new, but God's promise is also not new nor does it change.  The waiting on Him is probably the hardest of all.

This passage from one of the minor prophets, Habakkuk, encourages me to keep waiting and watching.  After another day of shootings in our country  (for many in the world this is an every day occurrence and has been for centuries) it is hard to wait for God. It is hard to wait for the grace and love that is promised in Jesus.  But like waiting for that special trip waiting for Jesus to return is a joyful anticipation.  In the waiting we can hold on to the fact that God sees it all and He has something for us to discover in the waiting.

Habakkuk 2:1-3 I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.

Then the Lord replied: 

"Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay."

This is a frivolous thing, but goes along with my 'waiting' and how sometimes hopes are dashed.  Another trip I have wanted to take is to see Hawaii.  It has been on my bucket list for over 40 years.  As I saw some of my childhood friends take honeymoons or 'after college' trips to Hawaii I just kept dreaming and hoping that I would visit there someday too. Last January the direct sales company that I work for announced that the incentive trip was to Hawaii, and the date for the trip is when my 59th birthday will happen (March 2016)!!  I literally screamed out loud, I was that excited! I printed out this tracker, and I set out to earn that trip.  I didn't just expect it to magically happen, I WORKED! You can see that mid way through the year I got a note card from one of my managers that I was on track to earn that Hawaii trip.  Then late summer happened.  The sales slowed down, the parties didn't happen and I saw my little tracker stall- but I kept believing, working and hoping.  A couple of weeks ago I knew in my heart the trip isn't going to happen for me.  I almost threw that piece of paper away, but it symbolizes my waiting.  I didn't just look at that paper each day and expect to be handed an all expense paid trip just because I wanted it so badly. Even though I worked  really hard, it isn't going to happen.  Life circumstances and business turns all came in to play.  Even though this is a 'fun' thing there is a lesson to be learned: when you wait for something and it doesn't happen it can crush dreams, it can push you down where you don't even want to try. 

The daily news is going to continue to be hard to listen to.  There will still be painful diagnosis' to hear and decisions to be made. Family strife will continue and someone will always have more, and do more, than you. But there is ALWAYS something new to hope for and always a lesson from God in the waiting.  Habakkuk urges us to wait and to believe that God will act. What are you waiting and hoping for? What are you doing to make your hope a reality? How can you draw closer to God in the waiting? How will you respond when the reality is not all that you hoped? The diagnosis may not be what you expected, the job may not come through, the family member may choose to stay gone........ask God for a revelation, ask Him to help you wait. Keep this simple prayer in your heart today "God of my heart, I give you my hopes".    Then keep waiting in joyful anticipation.