As a kid, nothing was more tortuous than waiting for Christmas morning. The minutes seemed like hours, the hours like days and the days like months. Anticipation made the wait a weight. Christmas eve was my traditional insomniac holiday. My child’s mind harbored fanciful hopes that tomorrow’s treasures would scratch every itch. It’s funny how 24 hours later, like a rolling stone, I still couldn’t find much satisfaction.It’s no wonder he psalmist is emphatic about waiting: Wait for the Lord. Be strong. Take heart. And wait for the Lord!
Ah, but it’s just so hard to wait, even for big boys and girls. Waiting is suspended anticipation. Waiting is hanging by a moment between what is and what could be. Waiting is a slumber between dream and daybreak.
And yet patient waiting reveals a trust in God’s timing. Many biblical saints waited. Sometimes for release (Joseph was wrongly imprisoned for years). Sometimes for blessing (Israel waited 40 years to enter the Promised Land). Sometimes for opportunity (David waited years to rightly be king).
The weight of waiting is heavy. So be strong and trust. Good things really do come to those that wait.
Just like Christmas morning.
NOTABLE QUOTABLES ON WAITING:
To him that waits all things reveal themselves, provided that he has the courage not to deny, in the darkness, what he has seen in the light. --Coventry Kersey Dighton Patmore
Patience is the greatest of all virtues. --Cato the Elder
A handful of patience is worth more than a bushel of brains. --Dutch Proverb
Our patience will achieve more than our force. --Edmund Burke
It is very strange that the years teach us patience - that the shorter our time, the greater our capacity for waiting. --Elizabeth Taylor
Father, it’s hard to wait. You already know that. You have waited on me for years to grow into Your Shoes. Forgive my moments of impatience and my desire for instant gratification. Help me this day to be patient to Your Will and to wait upon Your Timing. Amen.
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