Worth the Wait

Remember when we were kids and it started to get close to Christmas?  I don’t know about you, but I got really anxious for it.  My birthday is close to Christmas, so I’d get doubly anxious.  

I’d start thinking about all the presents I might get.  I’d start thinking about how we’d get a break from school, so I could just stay home and do whatever I wanted (well, when Dad didn’t put me to work, anyway).  And as a sports fan, even then, I’d start thinking about all the football games that were going to be on TV.  Back then, of course, we didn’t have a bunch of sports channels that showed football every night and all day on the weekends.  So the holiday football games were a Big Deal to this young sports fan.

But the point is that I was really anxious for Christmas to come.  And it seemed like it took forever.  The days went by soooo slooowwwwly.  It seemed like Christmas was never going to get here.  But there was nothing to do but wait.

That’s how I’m starting to feel about the end of the lockdowns due to the coronavirus.  We’re starting to see a few things open up.  We’re going to have some meetings to talk about having in-person worship again.  I’m getting really anxious to do that.  

But of course, I need to slow down.  Yes, we all want to have in-person worship again, but it’s not that simple.  We need to make sure, to the extent we can, that when people come, they’ll be safe.  And not only that, they need to be confident that they’ll be safe.  We need to think about what we need to do to make that happen.  Yes, I’m anxious to get back to in-person worship, but we have things we need to work through.  And so, there’s nothing to do but wait until we can get those things worked through.

But you know what?  When I was a kid, when my birthday and Christmas finally came, they were worth the wait.  In fact, in some way, the waiting made it even more special when they finally came.  And in the same way, when we do get back to in-person worship again, it will be worth the wait.  In fact, in some way, the waiting will make it even more special when it finally comes.

There are all kinds of things we get anxious for.  But sometimes, God asks us to wait.  And when God does, God always makes the waiting worthwhile.  That was true of my birthday and Christmas.  It will be true of in-person worship.  And if you’re anxious for anything, God will make your waiting worthwhile, too.