The Waiting Place

 

“I am about to send my messenger, who will clear the way before me. Indeed, the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his temple, and the messenger of the covenant, who you long for, is certainly coming,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.  Malachi 3:1

 I am struck once again today by the dual fulfillment of God’s promises. So much of the last two chapters of Malachi point ahead to the coming of Christ, an event that will not take place for 400 years at that point. For us, it is the simple turn of a page to hear about the fulfillment of this promise, but for the Israelites of the time it would be many generations before they would see it come about. We, though, are found in a similar place with anticipating the second coming of Christ, an event that has also been promised to come “soon” (Revelations 22:12). Having waited over 2,000 years at this point, soon seems like an inappropriate word, but remember, to God a thousand years is like a day (2 Peter 3:8).

 Waiting. The blog for today’s passage highlights this concept, and I hate to repeat a theme, but it speaks to me on so many levels. I am reminded of “Oh the Places You’ll Go” by Dr. Seuss:

You can get so confused that you’ll start in to race down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space, headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.

The Waiting Place…for people just waiting.

Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, or a plane to go or the mail to come, or the rain to go or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow or waiting around for a Yes or No or waiting for their hair to grow. Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for wind to fly a kite or waiting around for Friday night or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake or a pot to boil, or a Better Break or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants or a wig with curls, or Another Chance. Everyone is just waiting.

 This book speaks negatively of “The Waiting Place.” It gives the impression that it is wasted time and energy, and if used inappropriately, it can be. But it doesn’t have to be! I think the key to making “The Waiting Place” a fruitful place is what you do with it and how you approach it.

 If I am just standing in front of the stove waiting for a pot to boil, my time is, indeed, wasted. But if I am at the counter chopping the potatoes and preparing the seasonings in anticipation of the water boiling, then I will be ready when it boils, and my time will have been useful. On a much larger scale, if I’m just sitting around waiting for Jesus to right all the wrongs in the world and collect us to be with Him in Paradise forever, then I’m criminally wasting my time. Instead, if I am actively praying for and taking part in living justly in this world today, if I am interceding for my loved ones and sharing the good news about His return, then my waiting time is redeemed!

 You also have to consider your heart attitude while waiting. Do you believe, truly believe with all your heart, that what you are waiting for is imminent? That it will truly happen and it matters deeply? If you do, it will change how you live in the waiting. Here’s an interesting perspective, I have read thoroughly about my brain tumor and I know what the literature says will happen. According to the data, my tumor will grow and it will kill me – if my adventuring doesn’t do it first! According to the data, once it has clearly begun to grow, a noticeable 20% increase in size, the clock starts and I’ve got 5 years at the most. According to the data, radiation will make my symptoms worse, but then will flatten the curve for a bit, giving me a little more time before my symptoms are at their worst. None of this data is encouraging. So here I am in the waiting time for this to happen. So, do I really, really believe it will happen? If I did, it should change my every day. I should be living each day like it could be my last healthy one. Well, relatively healthy that is 🤔. But I don’t want to believe the data. I don’t want to think that is my unavoidable, predestined fate. So I sort of live like my time is limited, I take more trips than I would if I thought I’d have a healthy, strong retirement, but I also don’t. I have goals in life and I act like I have decades to make them happen, but I might not. Realistically none of us might have that. We could all be hit by a bus tomorrow or Jesus could come back tonight. But do we live like that?

 I don’t think we can, really. I think that’s part of why God doesn’t tell us the specifics of our future. If we knew, we couldn’t live today. If I knew how hard some of the things in my life would be, I’d never have the courage to step into them. Also, living each day like it could be your last is EXHAUSTING! You just can’t maintain that kind of pace. I took a two-week trip in both January and February. In March I took a one-week trip. I’m wiped out! In April I have a restful week at the beach planned and a five-day trip to Texas. I really don’t think I’d be up for a two-week cruise this month if you gave it to me! Yes, I want to see the world and cruise on every Norwegian ship, but I really, really would like the time to do it in such a way that I could enjoy it. I want to have decades ahead of me. But I might not, and that’s ok. I trust God’s plan for that and I’m going to do my best to live my best life in the time I do have available, and that might not include completing all the travel I desire.

 In addition to the energy consumption, you also have to consider the financials of living like your time is short. What if it isn’t and you still have to pay for retirement? I love the movie Last Holiday with Queen Latifah. In it, she’s been living a life of scarcity and saving for an imagined future, and then when faced with her imminent death, decides to literally live her last two weeks like they are her last. She is free! We all love to see her in this, but then the movie ends and no one says, how is she going to pay her rent? My husband ponders this very reasonably. Yes, his wife has travel dreams, but he has retirement dreams for her as well, and we need to make both dreams possible!

Here's the Thing: I absolutely believe that Jesus is coming back, that He will judge the “quick and the dead” (1 Peter 4:5 KJV), and that He will bring us to be with Him in the perfect world He has been working on since His Heavenly return at the beginning of Acts. I try to live each day with this knowledge in mind, encouraging me to take opportunities given and not put them off until later. I try to share when given the chance. I focus on my relationship with Christ above all else, knowing that ultimately that will be all that matters to me. I sort of believe that my brain tumor has some potential to cause me further harm. I allow this understanding to inspire me to “seize the day” so to speak. But I don’t let it control me or drown me in fear. It’s a “sort of” belief. What do you absolutely believe in and what do you “sort of” believe in? How do your choices in life prove that out?