Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.
                                                                                                              Isaiah 40v1

As we journey through Advent, I decided to accept the assignment of asking myself, “What am I waiting for?”  The first things which came to mind were, no doubt, part of the universal desire:  I was waiting for the pandemic to end and for the freedoms and liberties to which I had become accustomed, such as air travel, to be restored.  But as much as the world has changed in the last 10 months, so too have I.  And I realized I was not, in fact, waiting for my former “normal” life to resume.  Which brought me full circle to the original question, “What am I [really] waiting for?”

After many months of being on "pause", the world begins to ready itself to hit the "play" button. It occurred to me that what I am really waiting for is to be given my marching orders with regards to my role in creating a new normal.  What have we done to prepare ourselves for our future?  More specifically, what have I done to prepare myself? 

Going deeper, I am waiting for the ability to take all lessons: the painful, and beautiful, and gut wrenching, and uplifting and using them to not only restore but to enhance and elevate the new normal.  I could not help but feel that our Lord would never leave us to face the daunting task of rebuilding our earth without providing a blueprint for doing so.

On every level of life, from the personal interior to the global exterior, the last 10 months have exposed and magnified our flaws, our weaknesses, but also our strengths.  Within my sphere, I am waiting for an opportunity to fix what is broken, to strengthen what is weak and to celebrate what is already truly extraordinary.  And although the Lord promised us a new earth, where righteousness is at home [2Peter 3v13] we, and more specifically I, have a responsibility to work for and earn this new earth.

Which brings me to the final consideration.  Perhaps the question is not only: “What am I waiting for?”  but also, “Why am I waiting?” What preparatory work could and should I be doing right now, before the world reengages?  What internal conversions need to happen before the external restoration can take place?  Surely it must begin by letting go of all the things I cling to, which provide me with the illusion of safety and stability amidst the turmoil: my will and my understanding of how things ought to be.  And remember:

With the Lord one day is like a thousand years... The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance. [2Peter3v8-9]

Amidst all the uncertainty, I am sure of only one thing.  Nothing truly worthwhile will be achieved, nothing will be made better or whole, internally or externally, without the help of God’s Grace.