[Seek] To Actively Wait

Most people hate waiting.

We have to wait in line at the store or on hold on the phone. We have to wait for Christmas or a birthday or a vacation or a big life event. We have to wait for test results.. And these days, we have to wait for just about everything - for this global pandemic to be over, for things to reopen, for life to regain even just a modicum of what we previously considered normal. Waiting for the world to change.

Growing up, I was never good at waiting. As an adult, I figured out I was doing it wrong. I was passively waiting - wallowing in the waiting; agonizing over the wait; counting the seconds going by; despairing over the huge amount of time left. For example, I loved Christmas so much that Advent would nearly kill me - all that waiting to get to my two favorite days of the year.

I love Advent. Advent is a wonderful season full of preparation and anticipation. I actively wait for the arrival of Christmas by doing daily devotions to grow my faith and activities to make the world a better place for those around me. I listen to music I love, create gifts for people I love, and wrap myself in a blanket of joyful anticipation of the celebration of Jesus' birth. I have to admit that sometimes Advent goes by much too quickly and suddenly it's Christmas before I've done everything I want to do during the wait!

We are deep into a season of waiting, which I refer to at times as Quarantide. To tell the truth, I don't mind the waiting part so much. I'm quite enjoying the time spent with my family, the time spent tending to my health, the time and effort we're putting into home improvements. I am busy doing things to help others, growing in faith, being creative, connecting with friends and my church community, getting out into nature, and organizing my life and my house. I'm busy slowing down, taking the time I need to rest, to tend to medical needs that my doctors say can't wait, to nap when I need to, to binge watch every single season of Survivor with my husband and the occasional child or two.

As we slowly move forward toward a new normal, I hope we all learn from this time of waiting. I hope we are patient with ourselves and each other as we adjust to what the world will come to look like post-covid-19.