Finding Sweetness in the Waiting

Waiting’s hard, whether it be waiting for a bus, a letter, important news or in my case waiting for a newborn to arrive.

Can we wait well? Can we learn and grow in the waiting room of life? In the Bible we read of Anna and Simeon. Anna was a very old lady waiting at the temple for the Saviour to arrive. She was a great example of waiting well. She served at the temple and wasted no time, serving her Master each day, even before she saw his newborn face.

Our beloved Queen waited well. She has now gone to be with her Saviour, but whilst she waited for that day to arrive she served, right to the end. There we find a lesson for us all.

Whilst Jesus waited for the cross, he prayed and served. Here I learn my greatest lesson. If I am to wait well for this tiny new arrival, I must learn to pray and to serve. I may be physically exhausted and that can lead me to impatience, but I know the sweetness in waiting isn’t found in impatience, it’s found in hope and anticipation.

Several babies ago I was eagerly and impatiently awaiting the arrival of one of our children, when the Lord gave me a word to hold onto. A song ran through my head all day, ‘All Creation’s Waiting on Tiptoe just to See’. I googled it in the hope of understanding whether God might be saying something to me. I discovered the song was based on Scripture, “For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.” Romans‬ ‭8:19‬.

I had a picture in my mind of all the angels lined up as supporters in a marathon, waiting for my little one’s arrival. I could feel their excitement, their certainty that the arrival was imminent and worth every moment of waiting. As I read on it spoke of creation groaning as in the pains of childbirth. Wow! I felt goosebumps rising up my arm as I acknowledged the fact that the song had indeed come from God and he was encouraging me to wait well.

Oh the sweetness that came in that moment as I too shared in the angels’ excitement. Just around the corner a new life was approaching, a new person with plans laid down from their Father before the creation of the earth.

Today I hold onto those verses. Today the angels are again waiting with me as we excitedly, “hope for what we do not yet have,”Romans‬ ‭8:25‬.

Waiting no longer has the same tedious sense of longing, but is filled with a certainty, an excitement, a knowledge that God has a good gift for me and it will come at exactly the right moment.

I’m 37 weeks pregnant now and beginning to have irregular, but increasing contractions. I anticipate this could go on for a few weeks, as it has done before, but with each contraction my body and mind are preparing for the journey ahead.

Are you waiting for something today? I pray God will help you to wait well, to wait prayerfully and that he may encourage you whilst you wait for his perfect timing to unfold.

Sending blessings to you all, both near and far.

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