Waiting for the waiting to end

 

The difficult thing about waiting is that waiting means waiting. 

Obvious, yes?

Well, yes, but it doesn't make it less frustrating/annoying/difficult/insert your own term here. 

We want things immediately. 

I really want the pandemic to be over now. 

I really want things to get easier now. 

I really want to not have to wait for the late person to turn up. 

I really want to get on with living life now. 

I really want to know the results now. 

I really want my friends suffering from long covid to find 'normal' life again

I really want to...... 

I really want everything to be made right now. I want poverty, sickness, pain, death to be no more. It is promised.... but it's not here yet. 

In our advent waiting the waiting is often hard. 

As Mary waits for the baby, I wonder what was going through her head. She visits Elizabeth, whose baby jumps for joy when he recognises who the baby is Mary is carrying and Mary sings a song of all the great things her baby will do, and then..... 

Waiting. 

She stays with Elizabeth for three months before she goes home, but then there is still more waiting to do. 

And, the words of that song, they haven't all been realised yet. 

We still live in a world where the wrong people are in power, where corruption continues, where hunger and poverty is an ongoing problem, where things getting better seem so far away. 

God's Kingdom has come, but it's also still coming. 

As the pandemic recovery seems to have hit a roadblock, we are reminded of how fragile things still are. And as we wait this one out to see what happens next, all we can do is try and stay safe and keep on praying. 

Because the waiting will end, we just might need to stay where we are for a while. 

And Mary said

My soul glorifies the Lord

and my spirit rejoices in God my saviour,

for he has been mindful 

of the humble state of his servant

And we say

My soul glorifies the Lord

and my spirit rejoices in God my saviour

Because he knows how frustrating the wait is

and he promises us better ahead

His mercy extends to those fear him

Just like to Mary, it does to us today

He has performed mighty deeds in the past

and he will perform mighty deeds in the future

He will overthrow those who are centred on themselves

He will bring down the rulers who are addicted to power

He will lift up those who feel like they are at the bottom of the pile

He will fill those who are hungry with all the good food (and in fact they will be hungry no more)

He will not let the rich hoard everything

He will bring the waiting to an end

And the future? Just you wait and see. 

He will bring glorious things. 

Image from pixahive