A Story

The last few years Amy and I have been picking a word to represent our year. The year of 2022 was the word "Wait (weight)" for me. I liked the word because it hit on two things that I knew I needed to do. On the one hand I needed to give some attention to my weight. I am happy to report that is going well (down 59lbs as of this writing). One the other hand I had a sense that this current season I was about to enter into was a season of "waiting."

This fall we took our youngest to college and officially became "empty-nesters." I'm not sure how we got this old.

As we entered into this season so many people asked us, "What are you going to do now? What's next?"

For the first time in my life, I didn't know what was next. I still don't.

So, I continue to wait.

A Scripture

Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:

“Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you may now dismiss your servant in peace.
For my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and the glory of your people Israel.”

Luke 2:25-32

A Thought...

I keep thinking about Simeon. He is a picture of holy waiting. He was waiting for the coming Messiah. I think the assumption here is that he was an older fella.

Simeon was not only waiting, but he was waiting with a sense of expectancy. We might call this, hope.

There is something about waiting with expectancy that is holy.

As I continue to learn how to wait, I want to wait with expectancy. I'm hopeful that the waiting is doing something in me, that it is changing me.

It's not lost on me that Simeon in his holy waiting was aware of the voice of the Spirit. He heard the Spirit's voice and knew it was time to to go to the Temple to see the Christ. That is what a holy waiting can do in us.

As we enter into Advent and set our sights toward Christmas, this is a time when all of us have the opportunity to try and use our imaginations to enter into the sense of holy waiting for the coming Christ.

Perhaps this season of intentional waiting can be a time of change for all of us?

I'm still waiting on the Divine to reveal to me what's next. I'm learning a lot just sitting in the mystery.

So, here I wait.