We find ourselves in a season of waiting.
Waiting to see how much worse it is going to get. Perhaps holding our breaths a little each time we check the news to see how m
any more reported cases there are of COVID19.
Waiting to hear who among those that we know and love have been impacted by the virus.
Waiting and watching area businesses make critical decisions that are going to impact not only their individual revenue but also thousands of lives. Decreased revenue means employees will struggle to care for their basic needs. One person’s spending is a another person’s livelihood. So this impacts everyone and everything.
Waiting and watching our retirement plans dwindle exponentially.
Waiting to see when and how schools will be able to function normally.
Waiting and hoping there is a vaccine, but reading that even if there is, it won’t be available for a year.
Waiting to see when large groups will be able to gather again.
And maybe some of us even are waiting to see if we personally get the virus.
Right now – we truly are in a time where a LOT of what we can do is “Wait and see.”
Waiting is not a foreign concept. From the beginning of time people have waited. But perhaps this feels so tenuous for us because we have very firm and clear ideas of what we want life to be.
What if for a few weeks or months we let go of “what we want this to be” and accept that we are in a season of waiting.
As we wait, may we be mindful that now more than ever, every choice we make impacts not only us but hundreds around us.
May we see our time of silence and social distancing as an opportunity to learn more of ourselves and find things and opportunities that bring us peace.
May we remember to pray and send energy to those around us who, too, are impacted by this season of uncertainty.
May we remember that on the Saturday between the crucifixion and the resurrection there wasn’t an idea of “waiting.” Because they knew all hope was lost. The one they loved and followed was gone – his life taken mercilessly.
They weren’t waiting for the worst thing to NOT be the last thing.
Yet, that Sunday morning the women got up, They put their feet on the ground, and they went to the tomb because it was what they felt they needed to do. Undoubtedly it would somehow bring them some level of comfort and peace.
What they experienced changed everything.
We too will weather this very bad thing.
Somehow, someday there will be toilet paper again.
The good news is we know that worst things are not the last things, even when they feel pretty darn bad because of the ambiguity of waiting.
Today – let us be mindful how we individually define this season of waiting.
Romans 5:
“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith[b] into this grace in which we stand, and we[c] rejoice[d] in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”