For Now

We wait in hope for the LORD; God is our help and our shield. In God our hearts rejoice, for we trust in God’s holy name. (Psalm 33.20-21)

Too often we confuse waiting with idleness. We’re made to believe that things get worse the longer we delay. And often they do. But this is never true in matters of spirit, where God’s timing—not our time—is the governing factor. Our Maker is very comfortable with waiting. Human traditions and to-do lists have never been of any great consequence to God. If the Christmas narrative teaches us anything, it’s that Creator’s vision for us is consistently displayed on a stately scale that cannot be rushed. While we wait, we should rejoice that God is our Help, our Protector, our trustworthy Promise.

In Night Visions: Searching the Shadows of Advent and Christmas, Jan Richardson offers some down-to-earth advice about Advent’s waiting dilemma:

The season of Advent means there is something on the horizon the likes of which we have never seen before… What is possible is to not see it, to miss it, to turn just as it brushes past you… So stay. Sit. Linger. Tarry. Ponder. Wait. Behold. Wonder. There will be time enough for running. For rushing. For worrying. For pushing. For now, stay. Wait. Something is on the horizon.

Christmas will get here soon enough—sooner than we’d like, given how much busyness we impose on it. We are waiting on God. How can that not be worth the wait? 

For now, stay. Wait.