Waiting

I’ve been waiting for a lot during my life. Many of us have. We wait to grow up, drive a car, graduate from school, meet our spouse, have children, become empty nesters, become grandparents, and more!

There are many problems that can come with waiting. One is that we can be so focused on our future and what we desire to come to pass, that we miss the blessings and experience of the present. Right here. Right now.

In our self-absorbed culture, we want what we want, when we want it. If this attitude has crept into your heart, then you may develop many problems from waiting, including but not limited to, discontentment in your current circumstance, anger towards God, and bitterness towards others who are not living through a season of waiting.

As you can see, there is much that happens during our seasons of waiting. Whether the waiting is for mere minutes or continues over the span of several years, God is at work in You through it all! Even though we know this to be truth, it can still be downright difficult and painful to suffer through a season of waiting.

Are you waiting right now?

Maybe you’re waiting for a husband? or waiting for more stability for your family? or waiting for God to reveal what He wants you to do with your life? or maybe you are waiting for test results?

Or maybe you’re like me. I’ve been waiting to become a mother my whole life. I remember being a young girl and playing with dolls while imagining in my head what life will be like when I am an adult and become a mother chasing around real life children, instead of just rag dolls.

However, this journey towards becoming a mother hasn’t been an easy one for me. I have been waiting, and still wait for the blessing of motherhood to come to life for me. I have especially been waiting for motherhood the last nearly six years while my husband and I journeyed through infertility, a failed adoption one week prior to placement, and silence from the phone while we patiently wait for a potential match.

So, what does this waiting have to do with Christmas?

It’s simple. When the waiting hurts, it’s hard to celebrate. Honestly, it is hard to celebrate another Christmas and another year passing when we thought, again this year, that we would have children by now.

However, this year especially, as I have spent the entire month of October exploring the topic of waiting, I have a different perspective. May I share?

This waiting, in life, paints a beautiful picture. You see, us Christians walking on this globe, we are waiting every day for the return of our Lord and King. Our King who came to this world as a baby to save His people and will one day return.

Waiting paints a picture of our anticipating Christ’s return.

During this Advent season, we are celebrating God’s plan for salvation through the first coming of Jesus Christ as a infant. However, we cannot celebrate that plan without realizing that we are also waiting for the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ who will be back one day to complete our redemption.

This is not our home. Christ will return one day. The waiting that we experience day to day, seems so trivial when we reflect on our waiting for our King. I don’t say this to diminish the pain that we experience while we wait, but to help you see the striking imagery.

While we wait for the things of this world, we are ultimately waiting for Christ’s return. Each season of waiting can remind us all the more that we are ultimately waiting for Him, each and every day.

So, let’s anticipate and wait during this season, not only for the things in our lives that we desire, but more so for the return of our Lord and King!

Guest post from Ashley, who blogs and Putting God First Place and is the author of How My Soul Yearns.