This time of year can have me recalling the fun of anticipating Christmas as a kid, looking forward to annual festivities, and, of course, what presents might appear. We had a sort of Advent calendar, a long, soft strip of dark green which hung on the wall. Instead of numbers were 25 sets of red strings, each securing a peppermint candy. Daily, a single piece was untied, unwrapped and savored, a sweet, anticipatory pointer toward sweeter gifts to come, for which we could hardly wait. As the number of dangling strings increased, so did the excitement, until that final mint was crinkled open, and a couple kids up at dawn burst into a pine-scented living room to find a colorfully lit and star-topped evergreen with a pile of treasures beneath. The waiting was over! Christmas Day was finally here.
Even beyond the restless exuberance of youth, so much of life is spent in waiting. We await packages and parties. We linger in line or on hold. From the merry to the mundane, we are always anticipating. And sometimes this waiting is not so easy, as we watch with desire for situations to change. For bodies to heal. For relations to improve. For wars to end.
The Christmas story is one of waiting too, and all because of the difficult types and times of waiting we all face. It’s in these broken things a promise was made of someone who would bring healing to our hurting world. This promise was passed down through prophets and priests and kings, with many reminders along the way of someone greater than all of them to come. Generations watched with hope, until to us a child was finally born. A son was given. God with us, arriving to a choir of angels under the spotlight of a star. Unexpected visitors from near and far surprised His family, including one called Simeon, who’d waited a lifetime to see Him. With eternally greater enthusiasm than our childhood Christmas morning, Simeon was actually able to hold the greatest gift ever to be given—this baby called Jesus, who would live and die and live again to bring people into a right relationship with their Creator. The waiting was over! The promise was finally here.
Now we find ourselves in another time of waiting, with greater things yet to come, as God still promises to restore our world to a place for which you might already hope: A place with no tears or mourning. No death or pain. And God with us forever. We may be impatient in our waiting, but “the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” This time of waiting is our opportunity to know Jesus, to learn His ways instead of our own, to accept the extraordinary gift of friendship with God Himself while we await a day when all struggles will cease as this Prince of Peace makes everything new. But right now, today, He extends that invitation of knowing and trusting Him to you.
For all who do know Jesus, the waiting might be hard, but it won’t be forever. Even as we celebrate and look back on His birth, every moment of joy and momentary affliction can point us forward to that day we so long for—the day of Jesus’ return. Then, much like kids on Christmas Day, we can shout: The waiting is over! The Lord is finally here!
Scripture References (ESV): Genesis 3:15; Isaiah 9:6; Matthew 1:23; Luke 2:8-20; Matthew 2:1-12; Luke 2:25-35; Revelation 21:3-5; 2 Peter 3:9; 2 Corinthians 4:17-18
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