We made it! Yes, it is Christmas day. Another year marked by another Christmas season.
I for one have to be honest and say I am glad it is hear and that the New Year is only a week a way. This last week, no this last month has challenged my fortitude, my health and my faith. I finally succumbed to yet another cold yesterday…and thus did not get to enjoy going to Christmas Eve service – my favorite service of the year.
Yet, as today dawned and I knew it was Christmas and that I would be alone, without my kids or with my family or friends – I am actually glad I am sick. For it definitely makes staying home by myself today a welcomed joy. And God knew I would need today with Him…away from people and the distraction of Practicing Joy with others. For while God continues to “seem” distance from me right now, I know that He is hear…sleeping in the boat with me even though storms rage all around me. And I feel that peace only He can bring deep in my soul, even though at the surface I seem to be in tribulation and lost in direction.
The last readings for this advent season came from the first chapters of Luke and Matthew, and included all the songs that the John and Nancy Ortberg had discussed in their sermons this last month. Last week’s message was about Simeon and Anna’s songs…and the main theme was “waiting”. Simeon’s Song
It struck me as I listened that “to wait” is a verb, an action to be preformed by a person, place or thing. I think so many times we look at this verb “to wait” and think that it is a passive action, something that happens to us while twiddling our thumbs. Yet, even waiters take actions to wait on their patrons. Here are the top definitions per Miriam-Webster:
We all are waiting for something in our lives: to get into college, for our lives to start, to find the perfect job, the perfect spouse, to start a family, to travel the world, to hit the jackpot. None of these things, typically, happen overnight, do they? So what do you do while you are “waiting”…staying in a place in expectation of something or hunkering down in your ready stance (as in 1a…thinking of a tennis player’s stance as she awaits the serve)?
