Christmas season is a reminder to wait

What’s the longest you’ve had to wait for something?

I imagine almost everyone has a memory of Christmas Eve as a child — squeezing your eyes shut and trying with all your might to go to sleep on Christmas Eve.

For those of you with orthodox parents, you knew that even opening one present before Christmas morning was akin to high heresy. And so you counted sheep and waited. I would count to 100 and start over and over and over.

I have learned as I grew older that still today, waiting is still difficult whether we are young or old. We expect everything to be at our fingertips the moment we have the desire for it. It’s a world we’re growing into and it’s addicting.

The writer of Psalms in the Old Testament reminds us to “Wait for the LORD; be strong and courageous. Wait for the LORD.” (Psalm 27:14)

We live in a world of easy downloads, instantaneous email, on demand and food prepared in a few minutes. Yet God finds ways of making us wait.

It’s hard for us to understand that waiting and faith go hand-in-hand. As a first time parents, we wait for the baby we’ve dreamed we’d hold in our arms. Some are still waiting for their prodigal son or daughter to come to the end of himself or herself and return home. Many of us are waiting for the phone to ring so we can return to a job with a normal salary and benefits.

Others are waiting for an eye-opening spiritual breakthrough. We are waiting for that epiphany moment of clarity of our faith journey. And it still hasn’t happened.

It is hard for us to understand that waiting is the embodiment of faith.

In Hebrews 11:13, we are reminded that faith involves trust in God’s promise even if the promises of God are fulfilled long after we’re gone. The writer says, “These all died in faith without having received the promises, but they saw them from a distance … ”

Advent is about faith and waiting. What are you waiting on God for this year? Remember the years of silence as God’s people waited for the Messiah. Take time today, right now, to reflect on the fact that God’s timing is quite different from ours.

The story of Jesus’ birth gives us assurance and joy because even though the waiting lingered for decades, God broke through at just the right time.

If you are struggling with a lack of faith, that’s okay. If we are honest, we all struggle with that from time to time. But, it doesn’t take much faith to get God’s attention.

Jesus encouraged his frustrated followers this way: “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20)

Most of us try to grow the Ozarks forest in one day. Jesus, however, invites you to begin with a tiny seed. Watch it grow and wait for it to become all that you dreamed it would be.

An entire nation waited centuries before their eternal king appeared. The people of Israel waited for hundreds of years for their messiah to be born. Then they rejected him.

Mary wasn’t given a full-grown son. He was born as a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes in a manger or stable in Bethlehem. The wise men from the east didn’t see the Messiah to appear at their front door. They saw his star rise in the east and made the arduous journey to Bethlehem to find him.

Are you willing to plant faith and wait upon God? A lot of times nothing seems to be appearing on the horizon today, but just wait. God always keeps his promises, even to those who have little faith. Just wait.

Rev. Frank Chlastak began work as senior minister of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Poplar Bluff on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2015. He is a graduate of Northeast Louisiana University and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.