WATCHWORD:
I do not consider that I have laid hold of it, but one thing I have laid hold of: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal, toward the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14
Meditation:
Wait for It!
Maybe it was the time I spent in Korea during that conflict, that I’m a fan the old TV comedy show M*A*S*H, and it’s array of characters, each one adding to the fun and drama of the story. Granted, my time in Korea on the DMZ, during a time of war was not fun, was not a comedy act, but there was something about the camaraderie with my fellow soldiers that has persisted.
Ah, yes, I can remember those M*A*S*H characters clearly: Radar, Hawkeye, Trapper, Bruce and Stan, what a group! Wait a minute, Bruce and Stan? Oh, sorry, I mixed the comedy series with my actual experience. Bruce and I met in basic training and against our prayers and our hopes ended up in Korea serving together. Bruce would have been a vivid character on that show, based on the size of his personality, while Stan would be the quiet one. In real life, our friendship, forged during that time of war, has persisted, over the generations, through weddings, funerals, children, and sporadic visits.
“Wait for it,” the character Radar would say, as he would sense helicopters bringing the wounded to the M*A*S*H medical unit. We are often urged to wait! Many Psalms entreat us to wait on the Lord. Such waiting is expectant. Such waiting is hopeful. Such waiting is the movement of faith.
In a devotional, Henri J. M. Nouwen makes this statement: “Whenever you pray, you profess that you are not God nor do you want to be God, that you haven’t reached your goal yet, that you never will reach it in this life, that you must constantly stretch out your hands and wait for the gift of life“. Wait for it.
Our ultimate goal, toward which Christ has aimed us, is the heart of the Father. Christ has restored us to the Father. We will come to know his heart of love for us, more and more, as we live by faith. Ultimately, our waiting in faith will deliver us to the very presence of the Father, and so to his heart.
Now, as we wait, our waiting in faith takes place in how we live our lives as children of God. We do not sit idle. Wait as you pray, as you love, as you create, as you worship, as you live. Stretch out your hands and wait for the gift of life that is the prize of heaven. Wait for it.
Prayer:
Holy Spirit help and strengthen my prayer for waiting. Amen
