But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Galatians 4:4

Time is a weird phenomena.  It marches on unrelenting- sixty seconds in a minute, sixty minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day.  If I live to be 75 years old I will live 27,393 days, not a day longer, not a day less.  Time never changes and cannot be stopped.  We move forward along the timeline of life at a predictable and unchanging pace.  But while time itself is constant, our perception of it is not.  When we are bored in the present or anticipating something good in our future, our perception of time often slows.  And so we say, after a particularly uninteresting afternoon at the office, “I thought this day would never end!”  Or, as we often hear from our children this time of year as they see the gifts piling up under the tree… “Won’t Christmas ever get here?”  In either case, we are caught in the boring, unpleasant or undesirable present, but anticipating something much better in the future.  

We call this… (wait for it)… waiting. 

My wife and I had a rough five day tutorial in waiting this past week as we anticipated our daughter Katelyn coming home from the hospital after extensive oral surgery.  We all knew she would be released eventually; we just didn’t know when.  The doctors had laid out an exhaustive (and exhausting) list of things that needed to be fulfilled in order for her to go home, including- stepping down off of strong narcotics, effective pain management, walking around the room unassisted, the ability to use the bathroom, the removal of the IV and the ability to eat semi-solid foods.  It was tough watching her go through all the pain and setbacks of recovery and the poking and prodding of an otherwise excellent nursing staff, all the while just desperately wanting to be home in her own bed.  In the monotony of sleeping, caring for Katelyn and watching endless Sponge Bob reruns, I discovered something.  We both hate waiting! 

However, waiting is an unavoidable part of the human condition and is almost always part of God’s plan for our lives.  The Christmas story is filled with waiting; a holy discontent and anticipation of the fulfillment of God’s promises.  The nation of Israel waited for almost a thousand years for the fulfillment of Messianic prophecy, Mary and Joseph waited nine months for the birth of Jesus and the wise men’s journey took upwards of two years before their eyes beheld the young king.  God himself waited thousands of years since the fall of man to consummate His plan of redemption.  But, as God’s word assures us, when the time had fully come, our Savior came. 

What are you waiting for?  Since we are all caught in this thing we call time and God’s promises are unfolding along a sure timeline, all of us have something unfulfilled, something in our future, something yet to come.  We are all waiting; but take hope.  It is coming.  God’s plan may be unfolding slowly, but it IS unfolding.  Instead of raging or checking out or succumbing to despair, allow your faith to rise and begin to anticipate and position yourself to experience the fulfillment of God’s promises to you.  There is much to do while we wait; we are all participants in His kingdom work.  

But whatever you do, don’t waste your life watching Sponge Bob!