Wait – stay where you are or delay action until a particular time or until something else happens.
Wait – remain stationary in readiness or expectation.
Wait – to look forward to expectantly.
Wait – be ready and available.
Wait – remain temporarily neglected or unrealized.
Wait – a state or attitude of watchfulness and expectancy.
Waiting, like patience, is an acquired skill. At least, waiting peacefully. We all have to go through different kinds of waiting, but a great deal of the time we are not peaceful about it. We are mournful, complaining and claiming it in the name of long-suffering. And although I believe waiting is often beneficial to us, I don’t think waiting poorly gains you fruit of the Spirit.
Dr. Suess penned our possibilities brilliantly in fact:
Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, or a plane to go or the mail to come, or the rain to go or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow or waiting around for a Yes or No or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.
Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for wind to fly a kite or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake or a pot to boil, or a Better Break or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting.
Since we all have to wait, what does your waiting look like? What does it produce? What does it reflect? Those are what I want to know. Those are the questions I have asked myself over the years. And the lacking responses I had to transparently give led me to aim for something different the next time, and the time after that. And when you ask, Holy Spirit has no qualms about pointing out the moments you could have done it better. It isn’t condemning, but that internal nudge.
For instance, I found myself in on/off waiting during the seasons that my babies were nursing. Up at various hours at night, for chunks of time. My mentality had been that I was simply waiting. Waiting for them to finish and go to sleep so that I could go back to sleep. That was the goal. It had nothing to do with them; all me. And so my waiting sometimes was anxious, resentful, or complaining. Gradually, I inclined my heart and ear – in desperation – toward God. And the nudge that made all the difference was this: pray for him(her).
The nights that I held them and prayed over them, over their future, their friendships, their spouses and dreams, those were the nights I waited well. I waited actively. I waited focused on hope. I waited with my heart focused away from myself.
“Active waiting implies being fully present to the moment with the conviction that something is happening where we are and that we want to be present to it. A waiting person is someone who is present to the moment, believing that this moment is the moment.” – Henri Nouwen
Is life giving you a moment to actively wait? Are you ready and available in your waiting?
Be still.
Isa 40:31 They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
Psalm 27:14 Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!
In both of these scriptures, ‘wait’ is definitely not passive. There is expectation dripping from the words penned in Isaiah as it tells us that waiting upon the Lord will give us results. We wait and the result is renewal, overcoming, stamina and persistence. The hard part for me is that for as much as I want those results, I want that fruit in my character and spirit, I don’t want to receive the waiting period required. It’s uncomfortable.
Waiting upon the Lord can leave us feeling a bit raw. In the waiting, things are exposed. In the waiting, things may be scraped away. In the waiting, we are vulnerable. Why do you think David tells us in the psalm to be strong and take courage? Because it’s hard! We are going to want to take the easy way out, find a short cut and get away from this thing that makes us feel so raw.
Wait upon the Lord.
The widow in Mark had surely known waiting. Had known the feeling of rawness in her life. And we see what it produced in her.
One poor widow came forward and put in two small copper coins worth a penny. Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I assure you that this poor widow has put in more than everyone who’s been putting money in the treasury. All of them are giving out of their spare change. But she from her hopeless poverty has given everything she had, even what she needed to live on.” (Mark 12:42-44)
She was all in. Strength. Courage. Meakness. Confidence in the Lord. Humility.
Stay where you are, in the waiting, be watchful, be expectant. Lean into the Word and remind yourself what waiting looked like in other believers. Look at Elizabeth. Look at Mary. So much waiting, experienced differently, endured differently, yet with rich results.
As we move toward the end of our calendar year, don’t let yourself go on autopilot. Don’t simply skip from one event, obligation or check list item to the next. This is a prolonged season in which as a culture we are structured around giving – and it should be brilliant! But it so often isn’t. Because we lose the connection to why we give. We focus on how the giving reflects on us. We compare our levels of giving. But then it isn’t faithful giving, is it?
The widow wasn’t concerned with who was watching or counting. Her giving came full. And focused. It poured out of her waiting. It couldn’t compare with the larger gifts, not side by side. But she wasn’t looking.
I grew up in an Episcopalian church in New England and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I have a heritage of liturgy, faith and wonderful people that cannot be taken from me. In many churches, starting November 28, people will be walking through the season of Advent. Advent is a time of expectant waiting and preparation for both the celebration of the Nativity of Christ at Christmas and the return of Christ at the Second Coming. I hope you will join me each week to walk through this together. We will walk through scripture, pray, and wait. Together. Expectantly.
Father God, sometimes we shy away from you because it makes us feel exposed. Forgive us our selfishness. Help us to see those moments not as uncomfortable or painful, but as nourishing. Help our waiting to be filled with expectancy and peace. Transform our minds and hearts this season as we lean into You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Take a moment, wait in worship, with ‘Waiting Here for You’ by Christy Nockels.
Breath Prayer: (In) In the silent of the night, (out) You birth a holy night.
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