Waiting

“Let’s remember that though we may have to wait and see, we never have to wait to be.”

- Emily P. Freeman, The Next Right Thing

Pulling into the parking lot, I notice the line - people dutifully positioned on lines taped onto the pavement.  Girding myself to join the tail of the snake, I pull out my mask and step out, ready to inch forward, six feet at a time.

Nothing like a pandemic to teach you about waiting.  We wait in line for groceries, at home in quarantine, for canceled appointments to be rescheduled and favourite restaurants to open their doors, for the day we can hug our friends, eat together, hold one another…and yes - to do church together again!

How are you holding up in this season of waiting?

As much as we like to plan ahead, fill our calendar for the year, know what’s happening next…the reality is that life is a series of unknowns.  And at times, God puts us in a particularly long season of waiting and seeing.

Often, in this waiting, I feel stuck.  Restless.  It’s almost physically painful not to be able to do things right away, be productive, check tasks off my list.  To just move on!

God’s Story is a narrative of waiting.  God calls Abraham out of his home, but doesn’t tell him where he’s going.  God calls Moses to bring his people out of Egypt and he ends up spending years in the wilderness.  God gives prophets visions and dreams that they don’t see fulfilled in their life on earth.  It was generations before the promised Messiah arrived…and generations before his return.

As Paul states so powerfully in Romans 8:22-23, “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.”  Waiting is hard!

I love these Hebrew words translated as “wait” in the Bible - they give us a rich picture of how and why we are to wait.

“qavah” means “to bind together” as in twisting strands to make a strong rope
“yachal” = “to wait in hope”
“damam” = “to be silent and still”

While waiting seems like this awful waste of time between doing important things - God’s word reminds me that waiting is the important thing.

Who we are is not determined by our doing.  It is in our very being in Christ.  And we never have to wait to be.  To be bound together with him and with others.  To be hopeful, trusting in the One greater than ourselves.  To be silent and still in the presence of our Father.

We may be waiting to do church again.  But let’s not wait to be the church.  Wherever you are today, be the church.

Breathe.  Listen.  Love and be loved.