DECEMBER 13, 2020
“Waiting…and Waiting….”
We spend a LOT of time in life being told to wait.
“Please wait to be seated.”
“Please wait while the updates are completed.”
“Please wait here for the next available cashier.”
The dreaded “Please wait for the next available customer service representative. Current wait time is 45 minutes.”
And, in our Covid19 world, “Please wait here to maintain proper social distancing.”
That time spent waiting for whatever we’re waiting for can be overwhelming with its wide variety of thoughts and imaginings, fears and reservations, joys and concerns, and emotions and reactions.
The 9-year old is wide-eyed with excitement, anticipating the possibility of what might be under the Christmas tree from Santa.
The nervous student, waiting with pen in hand and a mind full of knowledge and hastily-memorized dates and facts, has slight heart palpitations when finally hearing, “You may now open the test booklet and begin.”
The expectant mother and father of a baby on the way are both surely a frenzied mix of excited, scared, and hopeful. (Imagine what Mary and Joseph were thinking at this point in their pregnancy!)
The average Jane or Joe, waiting for a tow truck on the side of the road when the car breaks down on the way to work, races through a series of feelings of anxiety, anger, regret (“I should’ve paid better attention to that CHECK ENGINE light.”)
All of us, in December 2020, waiting for a vaccine and eradication of Covid19, are hopeful in our expectations that life will return to “normal” soon.
The Advent Season is our time, as a global church and local family, to WAIT. We’re waiting for the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, our Savior. This year is a good bit different than we could’ve imagined last year at this time.
Our celebrations of Christmas will be very different this year because of Covid19. We won’t all be able to “go home” and celebrate Christmas with our loved ones the same way we did in years past.
In the throes of political division, necessary physical and social distancing, and realignment of everyday life, let’s not forget the joy, hope, and love that this time of year affords us while we WAIT FOR IT.
Norris Norwood
Click here to see the complete 2020 Advent Devotional booklet.