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The Waiting is the Hardest Part |
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Article by Tom Gilbert — December
2007
The waiting is the hardest part
Every day you see one more card
You take it on faith, you take it to the heart
The waiting is the hardest part.
From Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, “The Waiting
is the Hardest Part”
When I was a young child the final week before Christmas
was excruciating. It seemed like the big day would never
arrive. I was nearly beside myself in anxious excitement
about what presents I would receive. I enjoyed all the
trappings of the season, but my enjoyment was mostly about
getting. Yes, I knew that we also gave gifts. And that
was an important lesson. But let’s face it, as kids
our focus is on meeting our wants. And if our expectations
are disappointed we feel that somehow Christmas has let
us down.
Sadly for many of us, not much changes when we become
adults. Oh, sure, we are now the provider of presents much
more than just a receiver. We have children of our own
giddy with hope for their Christmas gift wishes. But, we
can still be consumed by our self-centered desires. And
when confronted with our selfishness we might overcompensate
with even more spending on gifts and more activity we perceive
as giving, but is too often mistaken good intentions.
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 Advent,
the four weeks leading up to Christmas, is about waiting
with hope, expectation and preparation. During this time
we must question our priorities. Is life all about tasks
and to-do lists? Are we busy with the holiday bustle?
Or are we preparing inwardly so that our outward action
will be meaningful. |
Love and Service
One of the most important lessons I’ve
been taught in my spiritual walk is that everyday is a
day when we must carry the vision of God’s will into
all of our activities. Many people get twisted up trying
to figure out what God’s will is for them. But I
think it is pretty simple and can be summed up in two key
words – love and service.
In Jesus’ time there were plenty of people who were discovering
that life wasn’t all they’d hoped it would be. Many were
questioning why things were the way they were, particularly the Jewish
people living under the oppression of the occupying Roman Empire.
A lot of people were heading out to the river Jordan to hear the
dynamic John the Baptist. He was considered a prophet and he spoke
about getting ready for God. He was a wild man living in the desert,
wearing clothes made from camel hair and eating locusts and wild
honey. He stayed away from the hustle and bustle of Jerusalem
John was declared by Jesus to be a great prophet and man, the one
Isaiah spoke about as the messenger sent ahead of the Messiah to
prepare the way (Malachi 3:1). Isaiah also spoke of the coming redeemer
and prophesied about John the Baptist as the one in the desert calling
all to prepare the way for the Lord (Isaiah 40:3).
Sometime later, after John and Jesus had already met and John had
pointed to his cousin as the “Lamb of God who comes to save
the world”, John sat in prison awaiting his execution by King
Herod. He’d been getting reports about Jesus and apparently
had a moment of doubt. He sent his disciples to Jesus. Eugene Peterson’s
wonderful “The Message” translation of Matthew 11:2 phrases
it as, "Are you the One we've been expecting, or are we still
waiting?" Jesus’ reply was to tell John what was going
on, how the blind were seeing, the lame walking, and lepers were
cleansed. The deaf suddenly could hear and the dead were coming back
to life. This was happening on a physical plane, but we’d do
well to examine this healing as it applies to our spiritual life.
Are we deaf, blind and crippled in our faith?
Open Our Hearts and Minds
Our preparation for the way of the Lord
is what Advent is about. We must open our hearts and minds
to Jesus. We must prepare a place for him. If we do not
slow down during this time of year and spend time in quiet
contemplation we will, in effect, be turning God away.
It’s the same as telling Joseph and Mary there is
no room at our Inn.
It’s extremely difficult for us to wait patiently and calmly
for Christmas to arrive. Our modern society encourages us to be busy
shopping, consuming, partying, sending cards and gifts and all kinds
of activity that appear to be the proper way to celebrate the season.
But all that activity leads to anxiety, frustration and impatience.
It is counter to the real spirit of Christmas.
The personal experience of Jesus Christ is vital. Without it we
are not truly changed. The goal is for us to become like him so that
we can present Christ to the world. Becoming God-like is not the
same thing as being God. But the state of union we hope to attain
with God (Jesus’ prayer in the Gospel of John, chapter 17)
transforms us into a completely loving and trusting person through
whom God’s divine light shines into the world. Jesus the Christ
is the very embodiment of this (John 3:19-21). He is the Word made
flesh, the incarnation of God in human form, and the great miracle
of Christmas.
Love as Jesus Loves
God so loves us that when He gave us
His son He gave us Himself. In his book, Invitation to
Love, Thomas Keating, a wonderful contemplative Cistercian
priest and monk, describes God as the servant of creation.
Through the transforming union of the contemplative way
of life we can also become loving servants of creation.
We no longer feel the need to be distinguished among our
fellows. We can live completely dependent upon God and
expressing ourselves in true unconditional love in all
our actions. We then are living the new commandment Jesus
gave us, to love others as he loved us.
This Advent season is another opportunity to prepare a way for the
Lord to come to us anew. The intimacy God desires to share with us
is so beautiful. Jesus was born into the world in very humble conditions.
His birth brought tidings of great joy. God wants us to hold the
baby Jesus in our arms. If you’ve ever held an infant you know
what an amazing feeling that is. Who cannot love a baby?
All relationships have a beginning. Jesus preached that we should
be childlike in meeting God. But once we’ve formed a relationship
it must be nurtured. We must mature. This takes time and a lot of
waiting on the Lord. For most of us turning our life over to God
- really becoming trusting and dependent on God - is a long process.
Once we do we still have to wait for the results of this new way
of living. This process happens as we let go of our way of doing
things and step into the divine dance.
God, through Jesus Christ, is fully human, fully divine and fully
alive. His arrival in your heart is the beginning of God becoming
something new in creation. Mother Teresa said it well: “His
ways are so beautiful—to think that we have God almighty to
stoop so low as to love you and me and make use of us—and make
us feel that He really needs us—as I grow older my wonder at
His humility grows.”
You have already received the greatest Christmas present. Life
is God’s gift to you; what you become is your gift to God.
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Scripture taken
from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.Copyright © 1973,
1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved
throughout the world. Used by permission of International
Bible Society.
NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks
of International Bible Society. Use of either trademark for the offering
of goods or services requires the prior written consent of International
Bible Society.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible,
New Living Translation, copyright ©1996. Used by permission
of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189, USA. All rights
reserved.
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MALACHI 3:1
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"See, I will send my
messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly
the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger
of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says
the LORD Almighty."
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(NIV)
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