Ready and Waiting

I have finally finished preparing my home for Christmas. Everything is ready for what’s next. Now I must wait.

Sometimes it’s tempting to add more things to the list, keep the adrenaline pumping. Nature abhors a vacuum, and the Protestant work ethic abhors an empty list. And, of course, there is always more I could do, but I am choosing not to.

Today, I think I will get a cup of hot chocolate, turn on some Amy Grant music, maybe even get a fire going in the fireplace.

Is this just age? The after-effects of an autumn of illness throughout my family; A month of surgeries and falls and heartbreaks among my friends? It’s almost as if God has been reminding me how to be still, be quiet, be at home; lessons I learned during Covid then promptly forgot.

And while waiting is difficult, I find it somehow comforting to be ready and waiting. I am not anxious. I can see God’s hand in preparing me for all that has come before; I can sense God’s hand preparing me for what is to come. More and more, I am convinced that my only real task is to share God’s love with those around me, and everything else is secondary. Whether my plans succeed or fail, whether I succeed or fail, only matters to the extent that I show love through my actions.

If I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. I Corinthians 13:2.

And if I am busy showing love as best I can to those around me, then I can be confident that when the master returns, whenever that may be, he will find me at my task. (Mark 13:32-37) Not that I have it all figured out or am always the easiest person to be around, but I do know what God wants from me, and there is peace in that.

He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8.

And because we mortals are so very bad at following even these simple directions, Jesus came to live among us as a fellow mortal, to show us how to do it. Even better than a You Tube video. And He stands for us in heaven, forgiving our failures, sending His Spirit to guide and strengthen us, allowing us entry. What a friend we have in Jesus!

So, instead of rushing around completing a million little tasks that that might impress my friends and family, I am choosing to wait on the Lord. Read His Word. Love His children. Commune with His Spirit. Listen for His guidance.

And in the stillness, in the quiet, I not only sense peace, I also sense joy and love. His presence.

For He has come; He comes still; He will come again. May He find us all ready and waiting when He does.

Happy Advent and Merry Christmas!

Betsy