I’m not sure where the time is going, but somehow it’s almost Christmas! As we celebrate this season of Advent, I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to be in a season of waiting.

The term “Advent” is used in Christian circles to refer to the weeks leading up to Christmas, or more literally a time of expectant waiting.

Steve and I have sat in the seasons of waiting before, and I have no doubt that we will see that season again. But that doesn’t mean that sitting in this waiting is easy.

Waiting isn’t easy. Ellie absolutely hates waiting. Being 4 does not make it any easier. I watch as she struggles to wait even a few minutes for anything. Lord knows we try to help her learn patience, but man, waiting is just plain hard.

Isaiah 40:31 says “But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”. I don’t know about you, but waiting does not seem to renew my strength. In all honesty it seems to do the exact opposite.

Waiting is hard, exhausting and draining. There is pain in waiting. A stretching of our faith and pruning of the branches that are not growing. If there is one thing I’ve learned as I’ve traveled through seasons of waiting, it is that waiting presents us with an opportunity to lean into the God who created us.

If anything, pain is a sign of something which needs to be corrected. And maybe the pain of waiting shows us we have to correct our perspective on waiting. I’ve said before that the word wait is an action word. It is something proactive not reactive. So when we experience a time of waiting, we are not standing still. In order to be “renewed” we have to wait with anticipation, or hope in what is to come.

Seasons of waiting remind us to put our faith and hope in Christ Jesus instead of the things in this world.

As we continue in this season of advent, or expectant waiting, we know what comes at the end. We know that Advent ends with the birth of a savior and therefore we can wait in hope.

What happens when we don’t know the ending? I think more often than not, we stop waiting in anticipation and become stagnant because we lack the faith to hope.

This time of waiting, whatever that looks like for you, can serve as a sentence of pain or a blessing of hope. The stretching leads to growth and a deepening of faith.

What are you waiting for?