“A Lovely Wait”

Lately I have been considering the ways in which we cope with the waiting.

Longing seems to grow deeper and wider in me as I learn what it means to dream with the Lord.

You see, the thing about waiting is that you never truly know when it will be over. You also never know when it’s going to hit its low points, and you never know when it’s going to somehow, feel lighter.

It has been said that, “The time will pass anyways.”

While this seems to be a small consolation to the depth of longing that we may feel, I believe that there really is something here.

Look back at your life.

The time has passed.

The time is passing.

The time will pass.

So, how are we going to spend that time? How are we going to cope?

First, I recommend getting out of bed in the morning - that’s a good place to start.

Then, make breakfast. Probably drink some coffee. Delights can be far and few in the waiting, so take what you can get.

Go to work.

Clean the house.

Throw a party.

Do the laundry.

Go for a run.

You must continue to show up to your life. You must continue to hold onto hope. You must learn to free-fall into trust that time is held in the hands of a God who knows pain, who knows what it’s like to have unmet longings. The Father did not allow the cup to be passed from the Son, and now we will never be alone in the waiting.

Nathan Partain looks toward eternity as our ultimate longing in his song “A Lovely Wait:”

So, I eat the dust, I wear the ash,

I bear the hunger, I keep the fast

It’s a lovely wait, to be with you.

I cry out in losses and I wait through wars,

For I know my Portion, my great Reward

It’s a lovely wait, to be with you.

The time will pass anyways, so let us dance through the waiting, knowing that we can wait with joy because our deepest longing is already promised to us in the person of Jesus Christ.