Weight of the Wait.

It has been a beautiful, hard Advent. The candles that Lea lit above are part of the Jesse Advent devotional that we have used throughout our marriage. I mentioned this last week as Emma participated in putting ornament number 9 on the tree. And 10,11 and 12:). Lord willing, she will place the last ornament on the the little tree on Christmas Day.

Lea and I sat at the table just before she lit those candles last night and talked about what this Advent has been like. We have been walking through some pressing things over the last months that have included the whole of Advent as well. The reading of the Scriptures from Creation to Christ child, telling those same stories in our own words and lighting the corresponding number of candles each night has been valuable for my soul. There has been a helpful pacing through difficult things that has hemmed my heart in as each day has lived.

There is weight in the waiting. As you read, I wonder how your heart is in these days? I wonder what we are living for? What is our point? Hamster wheel living til we're dead? Or more? What is all this waiting that I keep talking about? It actually seems silly, of no value and not very productive. What if it actually is one of the most serious things that my life could be about, has unlimited value and is producing something in us that it makes a trillion dollar payday seem like a chump?

I don't want to be clever about this.

We're waiting for Jesus.

We're waiting relationally.

We are not just waiting for the Target line to diminish so it's our turn, though there is "waiting practice" to be had there. We are waiting for the consummation of relationship with Jesus Christ, this baby that we are "waiting" for in this season of Advent. "But we're already in relationship with Jesus. Why do we need to be waiting on Him?" Inherent in that question are the words that I normally close this writing with each week. THERE'S MORE!!!!!! We wait because there is more. We wait not because we want to be greedy consumers of whatever this Jesus thing is. We wait because our Lover has allured us that there is so much more beyond our most thrilling, amazing, every fiber of us stimulated dreams. What if waiting was fuel to savor and enjoy Jesus Christ Himself, now and later? Sign me up! High Octane, Trinity Supreme fuel please. I want it. And because of that very description is the weight. The glory of the Trinity (Father, Son and Spirit) that we encounter as we wait, long and pine for more and more is SO GLORIOUSLY WEIGHTY. It's not an easy wait to bear. It's a workout. A soul workout for sure.

What does that workout look like?

Yes Lord, I want You.

I'm not sure this is even real.

Oh God, You're who I want today.

I'm such a foolish sucker for buying into this real life garbage.

Jesus, You are holding me steady in the midst of these beautifully hard days.

I hold myself steady, thank you.

You know, the soul workout. I believe it . I don't believe it. I believe it. I don't believe it.

Others before us had the weighty wait. This just lights me up and I can't even fully understand it. The Bible book of Hebrews, chapter 11, is a listing of people that have been a part of God's story hundreds and hundreds of years ago. The big picture summary of this chapter of the Bible is that all the names listed in there are people who were WAITING FOR JESUS and NEVER SAW HIM. Hmmmm. Sounds familiar. Let this land on you in your weighty wait if you are receiving it. The Who's Who of the Bible Hall of Fame waited and didn't see Jesus. They died before He came. And near the end of this chapter in the Bible are these words.

"Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated- of whom the world was not worthy- wandering about in deserts and mountains and in dens and caves of the earth."

This was the weight of their waiting.

They were waiting for Jesus.

Their waiting was relational.

Don't miss this part. The next verse says, "And all these (those described above), though commended through their faith, DID NOT RECEIVE WHAT WAS PROMISED..... (here it comes!!!!) SINCE GOD HAD PROVIDED SOMETHING BETTER FOR US, THAT APART FROM US THEY SHOULD NOT BE MADE PERFECT."

God provided something better for US! Us and them!

They are still waiting.

We are still waiting.

WE WILL EXPERIENCE THE CONSUMMATION TOGETHER!

It must be beyond our capacity to fathom how amazing it will be if there is this much waiting intentionally a part of the process.

That is weighty.

That is relational.

The weight of the wait.

Wait for it.............

.........There's more.