Wait and Pray
Are you ready for Christmas? This was my conversation-starter question, until I realized that people were only answering yes or no based on whether or not they had bought all of the presents they needed to buy. This made me somewhat sad, because being ready for Christmas is so much more than having presents purchased and wrapped. I actually told my family that I didn't want to do presents. I don't enjoy shopping to begin with, and then it's even more stressful when I have to find gifts just for the sake of finding gifts. [I'd prefer to randomly give a gift when I find something that fits that person well.]
So what kind of answer was I wanting? Personally I was feeling ready for Christmas, because I felt like I had done all of the Christmas-y things...decorated sugar cookies, eaten tamales, enjoyed the crackling woodwick candle, helped with Mr. Christmas Tree, hosted a Fleece Navidad party, went to the YL leader party, played white elephant, looked at Christmas lights, saw A Christmas Carol, wore my tacky but festive Christmas blouse (from Mega Paca) and vest on multiple occasions, and helped with Christ in Christmas.
Those are the fun, silly things, but I had also been preparing in other ways. At school, we did the Jesse Tree devotional and corresponding ornaments and sang different Christmas carols. On my own, I was reading the church advent devotional and reflecting on hope, peace, joy, and love as the candles were lit each Sunday.
Advent is all about waiting and anticipating the celebration of Jesus' birth and Christmas. Wait was the word I chose to represent 2018, so it seems appropriate to come back to it once again. Of course, my boy Henri has wise words to share about waiting in his book, Discernment.
"Whenever there is a lack of clarity or ambiguous circumstances, it is time to wait. Active waiting is essential to the spiritual life. In our mostly active lives and fast-paced culture, waiting is not a popular pastime. It is not something we anticipate or experience with great joy. In fact, most of us consider it a waste of time. Perhaps this is because the culture in which we live is basically saying, 'Get going! Do something! Show you are able to make a difference! Don't just sit there and wait.' But the paradox of waiting is that it requires full attention to the present moment, with the expectation of what is to come and the patience to learn from the act of waiting" (150).
"Waiting for the fulfillment of God's promises to us allows us to pay full attention to the road on which we are walking. It allows us to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and to live in God's present moment. Even when we are discerning for the longer term, we are called to follow the guidance we have to pray, be still, live in community, and be of service to those who cross our path. Walking with Jesus keeps us in the present. And this kind of waiting is the opposite of worrying about the future. It's tasting the presence to the full..." (150).
"Waiting for the promise always means paying attention to what is happening right now before our eyes and seeing there the first rays of God's glory" (151).
"The story of the birth of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke introduces us to five people who are waiting with expectation--Zechariah and Elizabeth, Mary, Simeon, and Anna. Besides being individuals loved by God, they are representatives of waiting Israel. They are able to wait for the promise to be fulfilled, to wait with attention to the Word, and to wait with hopeful expectation" (151).
"Waiting patiently...is an active waiting in which we live the present moment to the fullest in order to find there the signs of the one we are waiting for...suffering through the present moment, tasting it to the fullest in the belief that something hidden there will manifest itself to us" (152).
"Patience--an active dwelling in the present moment--is the mother of expectation. A way to rephrase 'waiting patiently in expectation' is 'standing vulnerable in the presence of our loving God.' This is the core of all prayer...when I pray, I am living my life before God, doing what I know to do, offering my thoughts and actions to the Holy One in expectation that I am being led when I need to go and will be given the courage to do what I need to do because I know who I am in God" (153).
"Active waiting is being open to the promise yet to be fulfilled. Patient waiting is staying fully in the present moment. Expectant waiting is trusting that this process will bear fruit" (153).
I still feel like I am in a season of waiting. As a friend said recently, I am on a quest to hear from God and seek His direction for next steps. A missionary said he sensed from God that I am anxious (yes!), but I have big ears to hear from God. My mantra has been "delight in today," because I can't continue living the "glory days" of Guatemala, and the future is so uncertain. I am certain of today and what is right before me. I will live fully in the moment and take advantage of what each day brings. I will trust this process, relying on who God is and what He has promised and believing that this process will bear fruit.
Jesus says that apart from Me you will bear no fruit, and it is through prayer that I am able to abide in Him. So may 2019 be soaked in honest, continual prayer with the One who calls me His beloved.
So what kind of answer was I wanting? Personally I was feeling ready for Christmas, because I felt like I had done all of the Christmas-y things...decorated sugar cookies, eaten tamales, enjoyed the crackling woodwick candle, helped with Mr. Christmas Tree, hosted a Fleece Navidad party, went to the YL leader party, played white elephant, looked at Christmas lights, saw A Christmas Carol, wore my tacky but festive Christmas blouse (from Mega Paca) and vest on multiple occasions, and helped with Christ in Christmas.
Those are the fun, silly things, but I had also been preparing in other ways. At school, we did the Jesse Tree devotional and corresponding ornaments and sang different Christmas carols. On my own, I was reading the church advent devotional and reflecting on hope, peace, joy, and love as the candles were lit each Sunday.
Advent is all about waiting and anticipating the celebration of Jesus' birth and Christmas. Wait was the word I chose to represent 2018, so it seems appropriate to come back to it once again. Of course, my boy Henri has wise words to share about waiting in his book, Discernment.
"Whenever there is a lack of clarity or ambiguous circumstances, it is time to wait. Active waiting is essential to the spiritual life. In our mostly active lives and fast-paced culture, waiting is not a popular pastime. It is not something we anticipate or experience with great joy. In fact, most of us consider it a waste of time. Perhaps this is because the culture in which we live is basically saying, 'Get going! Do something! Show you are able to make a difference! Don't just sit there and wait.' But the paradox of waiting is that it requires full attention to the present moment, with the expectation of what is to come and the patience to learn from the act of waiting" (150).
"Waiting for the fulfillment of God's promises to us allows us to pay full attention to the road on which we are walking. It allows us to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and to live in God's present moment. Even when we are discerning for the longer term, we are called to follow the guidance we have to pray, be still, live in community, and be of service to those who cross our path. Walking with Jesus keeps us in the present. And this kind of waiting is the opposite of worrying about the future. It's tasting the presence to the full..." (150).
"Waiting for the promise always means paying attention to what is happening right now before our eyes and seeing there the first rays of God's glory" (151).
"The story of the birth of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke introduces us to five people who are waiting with expectation--Zechariah and Elizabeth, Mary, Simeon, and Anna. Besides being individuals loved by God, they are representatives of waiting Israel. They are able to wait for the promise to be fulfilled, to wait with attention to the Word, and to wait with hopeful expectation" (151).
"Waiting patiently...is an active waiting in which we live the present moment to the fullest in order to find there the signs of the one we are waiting for...suffering through the present moment, tasting it to the fullest in the belief that something hidden there will manifest itself to us" (152).
"Patience--an active dwelling in the present moment--is the mother of expectation. A way to rephrase 'waiting patiently in expectation' is 'standing vulnerable in the presence of our loving God.' This is the core of all prayer...when I pray, I am living my life before God, doing what I know to do, offering my thoughts and actions to the Holy One in expectation that I am being led when I need to go and will be given the courage to do what I need to do because I know who I am in God" (153).
"Active waiting is being open to the promise yet to be fulfilled. Patient waiting is staying fully in the present moment. Expectant waiting is trusting that this process will bear fruit" (153).
I still feel like I am in a season of waiting. As a friend said recently, I am on a quest to hear from God and seek His direction for next steps. A missionary said he sensed from God that I am anxious (yes!), but I have big ears to hear from God. My mantra has been "delight in today," because I can't continue living the "glory days" of Guatemala, and the future is so uncertain. I am certain of today and what is right before me. I will live fully in the moment and take advantage of what each day brings. I will trust this process, relying on who God is and what He has promised and believing that this process will bear fruit.
Jesus says that apart from Me you will bear no fruit, and it is through prayer that I am able to abide in Him. So may 2019 be soaked in honest, continual prayer with the One who calls me His beloved.
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