Awaiting an Advent (Pt. 1)
~by Pastor Mike Middaugh
We wait better as children than we do as adults.
Sure, children may wait impatiently. They may ask, Are we there yet? Is it time now? Why, Dada, why? But children wait with focus. They wait with diligence. Children wait with determination and unbridled hope.
As adults we often don’t wait so well. If the answer is “not yet”, we may choose to fill the void with distraction, or perhaps a reward that is, ultimately, second best. We are used to having control, to being in charge, and so waiting, is hard.
But during advent we are invited to join in the longstanding practice of waiting on God. We are called to once again rely on God’s timing and not ours. And as we wait, we are encouraged to wait with hope. To be still and see God’s promises unfolding. To again here the Words and know, God is coming. God has come. He will come again. Jesus is with us now, and yet greater things are nigh.
Most of us can remember what it was like to wait for Christmas as a child. The greatest prize then, might have been the presents under the tree. Our hope was wrapped up in those boxes. We knew that joy was just waiting to be unleashed. Of course, every one of those gifts, wonderful for a moment, were eventually broken, stored away, or forgotten. They lasted for a while.
And perhaps that is the one aspect of waiting we get right as adults. We can now understand what true hope is, and what real salvation looks like. No longer is a new toy, or game our greatest desire. Now we long for larger prizes – justice, peace, and a world without pain.
The good news is, as we are reminded again this season, God’s presents and promises are big enough to solve our deepest needs. If we wait on God, we will not be dissapointed. God’s gifts never grow old.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
-Isaiah 40:30-31