Learning To Wait…Again

My wife, Christina, was recently asked to speak to the group of moms at MOPS. I was so inspired by her talk, that I asked if I could post her transcript here as an article. I pray that this is as inspiring to you as it was to me.

The other day, Victoria asked me if the photos back when I was her age were in color or in black and white. Slightly offended, I answered “Oh hunny, I am not that old. Of course they were in color.”

Daniel, my husband, continued the conversation by telling our children that “Back in the day we didn’t have digital pictures. We had to take a picture with a camera that would only allow 25 pictures, then take them to be developed.”

They all had blank stares on their faces. They literally could not imagine a time when you couldn’t instantly see your selfie.

The majority of us grew up in an interesting time. We can remember not having internet, to all of a sudden having our parents yell at us to get off the dial up because they needed to make a phone call.

We remember having to wait for so.many.things.

Waiting for a snail mail letter to come, waiting to use the only phone at home, waiting to use the pay phone. Waiting was a part of our daily lives. It was just a matter of fact. We may not have enjoyed waiting, but what other choice did we have?

But nowadays, with new technology, there is an insatiable thirst for everything in an instant. In an essence, we have forgotten how to wait.

Just ask Google. Google aims to load a page in half a second, since their research shows that most people will abandon a site or try to reload if it takes longer than two seconds to appear. Can you believe that? Google knows that our expectation is for the answer to be in our faces in less than two blinks of an eye.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I love things in an instant.

The convenience of our society trying to make things easier, faster, brighter, filtered, and shinier is addicting. But, have you ever stopped to ask yourself: What is this doing to my soul? My spiritual journey? My relationship with Christ?

I am reminded of the time that I completely missed baby Jesus.

In Canada, one of our family’s Christmas traditions was to attend a local church’s Walk of Bethlehem. For those not familiar with this event, a church essentially transforms their building into an interactive city of Bethlehem. The one we attended had live animals, Roman soldiers, singing angels that came out swinging from the rafters, vendors pretending to sell you pottery and fabric and fresh pressed olive oil.

It was loud, chaotic, and crowded…probably a lot like how it was in that day.

I was so excited to take Victoria to experience this event. She was two, ferociously curious, and easily thrilled. She loved every single moment of it.

When the walk through was done, groups were brought into the church’s auditorium for cookies and hot chocolate. I think I was more excited about that than Victoria. Daniel and I chatted and laughed about every little cute thing that she did.

As we were walking back to the car, Daniel asked me how old I thought the baby was that was playing baby Jesus.

“Baby? What baby?” I asked.

“You know,” Daniel said, “The one that Mary was holding in that make shift stable where the cows were off to one side; the final part before we went to get the cookies.”

To my horror I realized that I had completely missed that whole scene! I was so busy being busy and thinking about the cookies that I missed Jesus!

I share with you this slightly embarrassing story because I think it perfectly illustrates the need to learn to wait, to slow down, and to allow space between question and answer so that we don’t miss Jesus or what He is doing.

The Bible is filled with stories of waiting.

Noah and his family waiting for the rains to stop, the Israelites waiting for the promised land, Mary and Martha waiting for Jesus to come to heal their sick brother Lazarus, the woman waiting for Jesus to pass so that she could touch the edge of his hem and be healed from her 12 years of bleeding, the waiting between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, and the waiting for the promised Holy Spirit.

While all these stories are about waiting, they also have something else in common. These stories are about trust.

These people trusted that God would come through. They knew Him, they loved Him, and they put their faith and hope in Him. They chose to turn to God during these difficult times and in the end were able to experience the promises of God.

I think one of the toughest parts about starting a New Year is the expectation that “we are starting fresh.”

We try to convince ourselves that last year’s pain – maybe a broken heart, a job loss, a death in the family, a sick child, an unanswered prayer – will not and cannot follow us into the next calendar year. So, maybe we don’t allow it. We fill our schedules to overflowing, we re-fill our coffee cups to blanket over our lack of sleep, we celebrate our busyness and our productiveness, and like Dory says, we convince ourselves to “just.keep.swimming.”

But, what if we didn’t? What if we learned to trust God? What if we learned to trust God IN our waiting and WITH our waiting? What if we learned to wait with an expectancy, a hope, a deep-hearted knowledge that God is loving, that His timing is perfect, that He is good?

And that, my beautiful friends, is my prayer for all of us today and for this upcoming year. That no matter what 2016 was and no matter what 2017 will be, that we choose to trust God and we choose to wait on Him.

Just like it says in Isaiah 40,

But those who wait upon God get fresh strength.

They spread their wings and soar like eagles,

They run and don’t get tired,

they walk and don’t lag behind.