Women’s Ministry: Waiting
“Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you;….. blessed are all those who wait for him.” Isaiah 30:18
The season of Advent is upon us. Advent means the arrival of a notable person, thing or event. How are we waiting for the arrival? What exactly are we waiting for? If we are waiting for Jesus’ birth, it happened over 2000 years ago. Are we honestly just waiting for the holiday festivities with family and friends? As Christians we are certainly waiting for the return of Christ, but followers of Christ have been waiting for that for 2000 years! How can waiting this Advent help us grow spiritually?
Lauren Winner writes “It is commonplace to bemoan how hard it is to wait: Americans aren’t good at it – we can’t stand even waiting in line, we carry credit card debt because we can’t wait to buy stuff, and so on. But actually, we get a lot of practice at waiting. Not just mundane waiting for a phone call or waiting in the Doctor’s office for the nurse to call us back. We wait for God. We wait better or less well, with more intention or more distraction, but we wait for God a lot. We wait for God finally to hear those prayers we say all the time for someone’s cancer, for someone’s heartbreak, for peace and justice in this country, this neighborhood, this family; we wait because it all seems in rather short supply, this peace and succor and health. We wait and wait and wait. Most of the year, while we wait, we also work- hopefully for the Kingdom of God, helping to bring it about. During Advent, we set aside some of our work and focus on the waiting. During Advent, we remember how sacred a calling is this waiting.”
According to Henri Nouwen, here are some attributes of waiting that make it sacred:
1. One waits with openness and trust in our loving God.
2. One hopes new things are happening for them beyond their own imaginings.
3. One turns their life over to God to allow God’s plan to unfold.
4. One is present in this moment, hopeful and expectant in God’s grace and action in one’s life.
During these weeks until Christmas try sacred waiting as described above as you wait for anything…a stoplight, a spouse or friend, food to finish, anything that requires waiting. As you wait say this short prayer: “ Dear Lord, I give this time to you, hoping it supports the inner me as you would wish.”
Our spiritual life is a life in which we wait, actively present to the moment, expecting that new things will happen to us, new things that are far beyond our own imagination or prediction. Waiting is rarely a pleasant experience, but it is one that can bring many spiritual gains.