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Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Patience and Perseverance

--Photo borrowed from Nessa Dee Art (check it out - she has some great stuff!)

I am not a patient person.

Years ago a pastor said to me, "Courtney, you like to go fast. It makes you strong and efficient and a good leader. But going fast is not always for the best. Many things take time and patience."

These words ring through my head often these days as I wait for the arrival of our little one. My due date is still two weeks away, but somehow I was certain I would go into labor early. My mom did. My husband's mom did. My sister did.

I was counting on an early delivery so much that when 37 weeks came and went I had a bit of a meltdown. I was sure that my birthday would also be our baby's birth-day. But it wasn't.


Now, another week later, I am struggling to learn to live with patience. I am working to not feel every little twinge as a possible sign of labor. I am striving to trust God with the ins and outs of each day.

Mostly I am not very good at it. I have a lot to learn.

In my impatience, I've been thinking a lot about Christ's promise to return. I'm doing some early preparation for our Advent sermon series (the next series I'll be back in the pulpit for full time), and I plan to preach on the double meaning of Advent - both Christ's birth and his second coming.

--Photo borrowed from Catholic Mom.

The New Testament is full of Christ's reminders that he is coming back, that he is coming soon. In Luke, he instructs his disciples to pray "May your Kingdom come soon" (Luke 11:2).

In Luke 21, Jesus tells his disciples "this generation will not pass from the scene until all these things have taken place" (21:32).

And in Revelation, Jesus speaks words of great hope: "Yes, I am coming soon!" and the author responds, "Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!" (Rev. 22:20).

Yet here we are, in 2012, and Christ's second coming is still... coming.

What does it mean to live our lives in "eager expectation" of Christ's return? (1 Peter 1:3). How do we live lives of anticipation and excitement in light of Christ's impending return?


The secret, I think, lies in hope. We have hope of Christ's return. We have hope of a new heaven and a new earth. We have hope that this world is not all there is--that there is something far greater, far deeper, far more that awaits us just beyond this world.

It is hard to live in expectation when we don't know the when. Yet this is the challenge and call of the Christian life--to trust the one who gives us life. To allow the future to rest securely in His hands while we follow quietly behind the Good Shepherd, one small step at a time.

Our baby will be here before I know it. And when he or she arrives, I know that part of me will long for simpler days - days when I had time to finish reading a novel, when my husband and I could enjoy dinner out without packing a days' worth of baby supplies, when my quiet times were truly quiet--uninterrupted by any immediate baby needs.



So in these days, I am trying to trust. I am learning, little by little, to go more slowly. It is hard. Sometimes my striving ends in meltdowns instead of grace, or at least a big bowl of pistachio ice cream.

Yet I'm grateful for the lesson. For knowing just a little bit more about what it means to live in the already-and-not-yet that the Gospel calls us to embody. I am already-and-not-yet a mother. The church is already-and-not-yet the embodiment of Christ on earth. The Kingdom of God is here among us, and not yet a full reality.

Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

Alleluia.

Now come on, baby. ;)

1 comment:

  1. Praying for your family and loving you writing.

    ReplyDelete

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