about waiting

Her three little girls, all under the age of six, were beautiful and poised ... ready for Christmas, not a nightmare. They were dressed for the season, all of them fashionably, all of them in matching Gap accessories and their red and white Christmas dresses, with bright red shoes. All of their hair was pulled back with the same beautiful red bows matching their shoes. And the mother appeared to be in control. She had hold of those girls with great parental posture, keeping her girls in line amidst a chaotic mess of other terribly deficient and dysfunctional families, who allowed their not so well groomed and definitely raggedly clothed children to run amuck in the mall. All of these families, unkempt and attractive, waited for a picture with Santa Claus. This particular mother and three little girls had just joined the procession and the sign of the time at the end read, “Santa’s waiting for you!” And in smaller print it said, “45 minute wait from here.” I’m a closet sociologist, and father of three, and I enjoy people watching. So I bought a latte, which I had to wait 10 minutes for, just to watch this particular story unfold. Minute by minute and step by step this quartet of lovely ladies in control slowly fell apart. First the girls got tired and started to lay down in the line, and after seven or eight times of reaching down to pull them up, mom let them slide in their dresses across the floor. The smallest one fell asleep in moms arms, and her little face had imprints of moms leather purse strap. One of the bows was left at sign number three that was deceiving. It read, “Santa’s waiting for you. 10 minutes from here” but the sign did not take into account a change of elf and Santa staff. My time had already seen an hour pass, and I left as the girls were whining and crying, faces so red and sad, throwing fits with each other by pulling off their dress bows, and mom was wiped out, and the elf who had to seat them looked terrified.

Waiting seems to be one of North America’s most frustrating sociological phenomena. With abundant wants and desires, we have created a plethora of lines where we get, get, get. We wait in line for everything, from Emergency room visits to movie tickets, from car washes to lattes. We wait. We wait for what we want, we wait for what we need, and we wait for what we could care less about like traffic or the DMV or taxes; and we wait for news good or bad, happy or sad (Is it a boy or a girl? Are the results positive or negative?). We can’t wait for vacation and we can’t wait for Christmas, and when vacations are drawing to a close and Christmas Day is here, if we could, we would pause time and hold that moment in waiting.

Waiting means there is a delay of something or someone or some moments come to pass; time filled with an anticipation of happening. How many times in a child’s life do they hear, “Just wait a minute!” Waiting is a pause in our daily rush of life where we can hold our horses, catch our breath, take a nap, stare out a window, linger at a door, waste a little time, hang around, or simply stop. For many North Americans, waiting is annoying. It is considered a waste of time that could and should be filled with cell phones, the radio, clocks, reading material, books on tape, homework, a quick work out, checking e-mail or browsing the net, television, or some technological gadget of fun.

Waiting is becoming a lost spiritual art. If we think about it, the church discovered a season of waiting, of hopeful anticipation, a time to celebrate and practice pausing to reflect on and look forward to something truly worth waiting for; the birth of Jesus the Christ child. A child whose life, death, and resurrection would change the world, change the universe, and create a new form of spiritual power drawing humanity and God as close together as we had ever been able to recognize. The season is called Advent, and it simply means “coming.” We wait for the birth of Jesus.

Waiting as a spiritual practice, is something we need to cultivate all the time throughout our life. As followers of Jesus we anticipate his return, and the coming reign of God’s kingdom, and so we are always in a time of advent. It is good for us to fill this “life waiting” with prayer and reflection on God; we can “life wait” with reaching out in love to someone in need; we can “life wait” recognizing our God has sent us into a waiting world with good news of God’s love; and we can “life wait” by sharing the news of Jesus with someone on the train, or plane, or DMV building. In our busy lives, waiting for the Lord, waiting in the Lord, is an empowering gift of hope giving us a loving understanding of who we are, and it grounds us in our surroundings with God’s presence experienced in the people around us.

Isaiah 40.28 Don't you know? Haven't you heard? The eternal God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, doesn't grow tired or become weary. His understanding is beyond reach. 40.29 He gives strength to those who grow tired and increases the strength of those who are weak. 40.30 Even young people grow tired and become weary, and young men will stumble and fall. 40.31 Yet, the strength of those who wait with hope in the LORD will be renewed. They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and won't become weary. They will walk and won't grow tired. GWT

Just a Thought,

Pastor Tom