There’s a lot of unusual activity around the house. Whispered conversations. Extra shopping excursions. New music seems to be playing all day long. Then, the appearance of a big tree in the corner of the living room where the blue chair used to be. Delicious smells come from the kitchen, but nothing new seems available for eating. Then, the tree gets lights and ornaments! And new lights outside, too. It must be something big! Something really special. Yes. Christmas through the eyes of little children. All this begs their irresistible questions: ‘Is it today?’ ‘How much longer?’ And because the answers are so vague, it adds to the mystery, that giddy sense of anticipation. When gift-wrapped packages are found under the tree, it’s hard to get to sleep, the waiting is taking so long!
The waiting gets added to over the years – school vacations, graduations, college acceptance, college graduation, the job, marriage, the baby . . . For some of us, waiting periods never get grown up. They are always ‘tortured’ by that fluttery-excited, hard-to-sleep combination of sensations. Of course, it’s necessary to put on a serene, grown-up face around others. I mean, what would people think? (at his age, really! When will the pastor grow up?)
An in-depth reading of Scripture will show that, surprise! God’s timing and ours are not the same. ‘My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,’ says the Lord. ‘And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.’ Isa. 55:8, NLT. ‘Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.’ Eph. 3:20, NLT. In other words, our ‘need’ for instant, or at the very least rapid, results, do not rattle God’s Plan ‘A.’ From Genesis to Revelation there are promises whose unveilings require quiet, patient, and hopeful, waiting.
Advent is here. This sweet settling in time of embracing the non-rushed, non-anxious, ways of Jesus. Looking forward to seeing all you mature and demure saints tomorrow, 10 AM, 3 PM UK. PD
