(I am over on my facebook page sharing tips and ideas for the holiday season. If you find yourself struggling to get it all together, join me there for ways we can navigate and enjoy this Christmas season.)
There they were. Pajama clad. Her with her messy, blonde curls and him with his Teddy in his arms—hollering halfway down the hallway.
“Is it time yet?” she asked.
“Did he come?” her brother followed up.
It was Christmas morning. Passing on a child tradition of my own, chairs had been placed in the hallway as a sort of blockade so my own kids would not discover “Christmas” without us parents. Instead, these early-rising munchkins, would impatiently wait for all the surprises Christmas morning held.
As they have gotten older, the suspense still carries on as the rule has not changed. They wait, Bruce and I fix a tray of goodies to snack on, pour the hot chocolate and place any last-minute goodies under the tree and then they emerge from behind the kitchen chairs. And each year, the waiting nearly does them in.
As I think about that first Christmas, I imagine a world that had been waiting—waiting for the promised Messiah, the Savior. They knew the prophesy. The stories had been passed down from generation to generation. Mary must have been nearly giddy with the anticipation, knowing she would be the mother of the Christ-child. Waiting can be both exhilarating and frustrating—every expectant mom knows.
Do you find yourself in a waiting pattern? Maybe you’re waiting on that job, that relationship, that cure. Maybe you’re waiting on God to deliver a loved one from an addiction or maybe you need relief from everyday stress that just won’t let up. Waiting is hard.
Just like my kids, we wait in the waiting area wondering if it will ever be “time.” We are ready to move forward, to get on with life and yet, God in his sovereignty says, “not yet.”
Those are hard words to deal with. So what can we do during the waiting seasons of life?
