The Christmas Story was Written Slowly

The Christmas story was written slowly. For ages the Hebrew people waited for His coming. Which is why on this December day I find it strange to read James, who was writing to his fellow Hebrew believers say, “Be patient as you wait for the Lords return.” They had just spent centuries waiting for the Lords first turn.

Imagine being a devout Jew growing up in the 1st Century. You're well aware of your family's tradition and longing for the Messiah. You've prayed the prayers as a child. You've read the prophecies. You've dreamt about the possibilities. Then you witness Jesus' miracles, his teachings, his death and apparent resurrection. This is amazing. You decide to put your trust in this Jesus. This is what you and your entire family have been waiting for! Then Jesus leaves and James tells you, "wait for His return".

Patience, restraint, waiting... they're all synonymous. They're all indispensable. I've tried interacting with God without being patient. Humorous. I wonder why it is I believe God must hurry up? Am I that important? I would guess between the two options - me slowing down or God hurrying up - it would be more productive for me to slow down. But waiting doesn't come naturally to me. And restraint isn't something our society applauds. Which is a real problem... both that our society doesn't teach restraint and that I'm worried about applause. Maybe I should do as my ten-year old did recently. When asked what kind of vegetables he wanted to eat after his main course, without looking up he dryly replied in between bites, "We'll cross that bridge when we get there."

Richard Foster says, "Waiting is hidden preparation." Every biblical character we read about needed hidden preparation. Every person of authentic faith I've ever met has had to become familiar with the concept. It's likely I need to as well.

This December, once again, our frenetic culture will wind itself up in an effort to find something, to get somewhere, to purchase something. Maybe the finding is in the waiting... waiting to be found.

Meanwhile, be patient as you wait for the Lord's return.

spring

the promise
winter's blanket
renders mute

underneath
spring waits
irrepressible

Point A to Point B People

Not in his goals, but in his transitions man is great. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Have you ever driven on a highway where road construction has funneled progress down to one lane? And as you are slowly making your way past the construction site, have you ever noticed how many construction guys are working and how many appear to be watching? It seems the ratio of guys watching to actually working is about 2 to 1. When road construction guys are in the picture, there’s a lot of unnecessary waiting. In fact, just this morning I was leaving a parking lot, trying to enter a busy street. From the left side of my vision, one lone construction guy began to cross my path. One guy. He had the orange vest and hat on. The boots, long sleeves and tool belt. He was one road construction guy. I looked all around and couldn’t find anyone else dressed like him. And he just slowly strolled… all the way across my only point of outlet. I waited and thought something spiritual like, “Good grief, it doesn’t matter where these guys are, whether it’s one or many, they make you wait.”

When you see certain people in life you just know you will be waiting. Waiting is difficult because we are “point A to point B people”. We have a linear perspective. We assume point B is the goal and when we're forced to wait, we’re in between. We’re not at A or B.

In between A and B is where life happens.

In his book, Transitions, William Bridges cites three major transitional stages, which I’ll adapt here…

1. Leaving
2. Waiting
3. New beginning

All three stages are interconnected. Yes, you want the new beginning stage. That's point B. (Or at least we’ll assume its point B. In reality it might be point J but who really knows until we get there?) But to get to B you must first be willing to leave point A. (Or “end”, or “let go”. Only you know your situation well enough to know what word to use.) I firmly believe that many of us are simply not good at leaving. Can you imagine trying to drive always looking in the rear view mirror? Put another way, what do you have to do in order to grab hold of something? You have to let go of whatever is in your hand. To hint at more of a spiritual element here, you have to be willing to experience death before you can get to life. Now, here’s a crucial point…

Leaving/ending or letting go must always be processed inside out. It starts on the inside with some form of letting go of a long held belief, idea or perspective of something or someone or yourself, which in turn, triggers an external response. But it has to start on the inside. If you get that mixed up you're in for pain. You see, everyone wants to find a shortcut around the bump in the road. But, life isn’t a journey around… It’s a journey through... Your society, your place of work, your church and your family is filled with people who want to circumvent the pain of going through.

But you can’t run away from yourself.

In between A and B is where you deal with yourself. Some people never make it. What about you?