The five-year-old waits for Christmas morning. The mom waits for a full night’s sleep. The grandpa waits to see his grandkids again.
The student waits for the semester to be over. The employee waits for a promotion. The hard-worker waits for a vacation. The stressed-out wife waits for this season of life to pass.
We are all waiting.
We wait in anticipation of what is to come. And most waiting is filled with hope and excited expectations. However, the patient that waits for news from the doctor may prefer to extend the waiting and not hear that her cancer is back. The young wife who has been trying for years to get pregnant is not looking forward to another month of waiting to see if their dreams will be realized.
We are all waiting.
In Scripture, we learn of a host of the faithful who waited and never got to see what was promised:
“And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect” (Heb. 11:39-40).
Today, I am reminded that waiting is about trusting the One who sees the big picture.
During this time of year, we are reminded of the anticipation, the waiting, the expectation of the coming Christ child. God’s timing was perfect.
We may not know the exact date that Jesus came, but we know that God was waiting and planning for the precise moment.
We may not know the exact date that our waiting season will end, but God’s timing is perfect. And even if things don’t turn out as we would like or expect (I mean, who sends the King of Kings to be born in a manger?!), we can trust that God is bigger than all circumstances and that any amount of waiting will be worth it.