Be dressed in readiness, and keep your lamps lit. Be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks. - Luke 12:35-36
The entire world is waiting now. Waiting for the pandemic to end. Waiting for life to return to normal. Waiting to see friends. Or return to work. Growing restless. Growing anxious.
I am familiar with anxious waiting. I practiced it daily as a young bride. About 5:00 each afternoon I began anticipating Thomas’s return from school. I bent my ears toward the road, listening for approaching cars, hoping that Thomas was in each car. These were the days before cell phones, so I could not text him. He could not let me know if he was running late. I simply had to wait.
If the wait were not too long, I prepared dinner and tidied the house. I was eager to see him and wanted to welcome him well. But if Thomas were delayed, even a bit beyond my expectations, my heart began to sink. My mind filled with dark thoughts. Perhaps the car had broken down. Or worse, he had been hurt in an accident. Maybe he was injured and alone with no one to help.
If he were very late, my thoughts grew even darker. Maybe he didn’t want to come home. Perhaps he had gotten so wrapped up in work or enjoying friends that he had forgotten about home and dinner and me. Of course, those were ridiculous thoughts whispered by the enemy of my soul. I knew that even then, but I did not know how to fight back. Not at first. So I sat on the couch looking out the window, growing anxious, doing nothing.
One who waits in despair is listless. Her food grows cold. Her house accumulates dust. Her children are unoccupied and restless. When her husband finally does return, she is in a bad mood.
That is not the kind of waiting Jesus asks of His disciples. It is not patience fueled by hope. Waiting in hope is an opportunity. It is a chance to clean the house and make dessert. It is a gift of time in which we can prepare offerings of love for our Bridegroom.
Jesus has gone to the Father to prepare a place for us. We should likewise be preparing to meet Him, for He will surely come! He is even more faithful than Thomas. And far more powerful. There is no accident that can stop Him. No injury which can befall Him. No love greater than His. The One who gave His own life for us will keep His Word. He is Truth.
These days of waiting are an opportunity. It is a good time to clean out the closets of our souls. To dust off our Bibles and journals. To love our families well. To light the lamps of our hearts. To pray and do the work our Lord has entrusted to us.
Here is the promise Jesus gives to those who wait well. Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will gird himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them. Whether he comes in the second watch, or even in the third, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves. (Luke 12:37)
We cannot wait well if we wait in despair. Only those who wait in confidence are alert and productive.
Holy Spirit, please fill our hearts with courage and show us what work we can do in these days of waiting!